The Livepeer network is now in its 21st round since launch on May 1, 2018 (called Round 981, since the first round was 961 due to counting based upon Ethereum block #'s). Here’re some of the latest observations on the network economics so far:
| Parameter | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| LPT generated | 32,267 | Inflationary token generated by calls the reward() by transcoders, and distributed towards those who stake and delegate their token. This is in addition to the 10,000,000 LPT which is being slowly released over 36 months via the MerkleMine + Vesting. |
| Total staked LPT | 55,124 | How much LPT is currently staked. |
| Current mintable token | 2,006 | LPT that will be minted this round, and distributed towards those who do work on the network by staking and delegating LPT. |
| Participation Rate | 0.55% | The target is 50%, which should take at least 12-18 months to approach due to the slow release of LPT in the Merkle Mine |
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The protocol had it’s first 10-for-10 day of all active transcoders in the set calling
reward()in round 979. No LPT left on the table. -
Gas prices continue to be a challenge for using the Livepeer video broadcasting network in short bursts. While it can still be cost effective to do long running broadcasts or transcoding jobs, the high cost of gas on the Ethereum network mean that there’s a lot of overhead for doing a short job or broadcast. It’s a high priority to work on scaling solutions to mitigate this cost, which include: long running/resumable jobs, offchain job negotiation, and L2 scaling solutions.
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Partial unbonding seems to be one of the most requested features, so that transcoders or delegators can unbond some of their LPT without having to unbond all of their LPT. Discussion has started here.
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Transcoder withdrawl addresses will allow experiments around community governance of transcoding nodes. Transcoders will be able to withdraw into a smart contract, which can then be governed by a DAO, community, or group. Check out discussion here.