Livepeer is entering 2024 coming off an action packed year-end, having just released its new AI-powered docs, a clear and ambitious roadmap for the year ahead, and an protocol update that has taken the project into a new phase: an upgrade called Livepeer Delta.

Several of these areas have been touched upon in recent blog posts. But given Delta’s importance to key elements of the Livepeer mission, it’s helpful to dig a little deeper into what this upgrade entailed, and how it is designed to contribute to greater decentralization and long-term financial sustainability in 2024 and beyond.

When it was approved in October, Delta moved Livepeer forward on a number of fronts. Most critically, it established a sustainable public goods funding mechanism designed to further the project’s shift toward full decentralization and to stimulate the next generation of video innovation. In other words, an on-chain community treasury.

Video has become integral to all of our lives. We use it to entertain and educate ourselves, to research consumer goods before and after purchase, and to interact with those around us. Some 96% (and climbing) of marketing professionals use it to promote brands and engage with consumers. Indeed, almost 80% of internet traffic is video.

Since its inception in 2017, Livepeer’s mission has been clear: to build the world’s open video infrastructure. This can democratize video innovation and free app developers from the costs and access restrictions of centralized infrastructure providers by building an open, low-cost video architecture.

The key to making this mission a success over the long term is innovation. The intention has always been for Livepeer to serve as an incubator for initiatives conceived by video technologists and builders that add new capabilities to the network or stimulate demand for its services.

Before Delta, the Livepeer Grants Program was the main vehicle for rewarding and incentivizing builders in the ecosystem. Since its introduction in 2019, the program has done tremendous work. In the first three quarters of 2023 alone, it handed out more than a quarter of a million dollars to 32 pioneering projects.

Nevertheless, in order to realize the project’s vision of true decentralization and community governance, the protocol needed to go further. Livepeer needed additional self-sustaining mechanisms for public goods funding that were both decentralized and community-governed.

Enter Delta and the community treasury.

A Treasury Run by the Community, for the Community

The approval of Delta is designed to further the Livepeer mission. Community members with innovative ideas can submit proposals for funding, which will then be voted on by token holders. And crucially, Delta is a major step toward achieving true trustlessness.

Any token holder staking a minimum of 100 LPT can submit a proposal to the community treasury. If a quorum is reached, via greater than 33% of active stake voting on the proposal, and a majority votes in favor of the proposal, then funds will be released automatically from the treasury.

With its introduction of a sustainable financial mechanism for public goods and tools that enable the community to further decentralize the world’s open video infrastructure, Livepeer is set for an innovative and bright new year.

Learn more about how to use the community treasury and play your part in making Livepeer the future of video.