Kim Dotcom, the legendary founder of the since defunct file sharing platform Megaupload, is working to change the world. Dotcom rose to popularity along with Megaupload which at one time boasted as many as 50 million daily users. Megaupload, however, could not keep up with the vast amount of copyrighted material being uploaded on it and was eventually shut down by the US Justice Department.
Dotcom, it seems, is undeterred. Over the past year, he has announced plans to create a new platform, dubbed Megaupload 2.0 which aims to avoid the mistakes of the past and change the way content is shared. This is where Bitcache comes in.
What is Bitcache?
The basic concept is simple enough. Content providers like musicians, artists, writers upload their content on Megaupload 2.0 for free. User can then download this content from Megaupload 2.0 by paying a small amount through Bitcache. However, Bitcache is not only limited to Megaupload 2.0. Third party users can also use the Bitchache mechanism to drive traffic to their websites and use Bitcahce payments as the sweetener.
So Bitcache essentially becomes a mechanism which allows content creators to get paid quickly and safely for the content that they have produced.
So, why only Bitcahce?
There are a lot of popular crypto currencies out there but they have a problem with scaling. Typically there is a financial cost to each blockchain transaction and this makes small micro-transactions economically unfeasible. It’s also tricky from a technical standpoint to account for so many transactions simultaneously on a blockchain network. Bitcahce is aimed specifically to address these problems. How it does this is not entirely clear at the moment but more details are expected in the coming months. The big reveal by Dotcom is expected in January 2017.
But wait, there is more!
In addition to allowing micro-transactions for content sharing, Bitcache can also potentially revolutionize online advertising. In a world weary of advertisements and potential malware, ad blocker usage has risen exponentially. Bitcache would provide a way for third party sites to pay people who drive traffic to their websites. Content creators would thus have an option to get paid via Bitcahce micro-transactions if their content is good enough to drive traffic. There are already a few projects underway which aim to provide this functionality. However, Dotcom is known for generating the kind of hype that could spell success by driving up usage.
Editor’s comments:
The next big thing?
Whether Dotcom’s ambitious projects succeed or not will depend on their implementation. It may be argued that there is enough interest already in the online community to achieve the scale that is required for success. However, technical challenges in terms of using crypto currencies for micro-transactions remain.
We have seen online technologies and ideas change the face of the planet before, and we have also seen a few spectacular failures. Either way, January would prove to be an exciting month when Dotom finally reveals crucial details about the project which the community has been clamoring for. The devil, like they say, is in the details.
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