"Streamr can play a pivotal role in how NFTs regulate access to data streams” An interview with Streamr head of crypto relations Marlene Ronstedt

What is the practical application of your project? Please try to formulate it as clearly as possible, avoiding technical terms.

Streamr is a decentralized pub/sub network for real-time data transport. Anything that moves today in the cloud at real-time speed can also run on Streamr. When building on Streamr, dApp developers no longer have to rely on centralized message services like AWS or Google Cloud for data transport. The Network serves as a seamless plug-and-play solution that connects to the data economy without intermediaries.

Streamr has been in R&D for the past four years. We are building something that has never been built before, as real-time data messaging in a decentralized architecture is a difficult nut to crack. Looking at the current cloud infrastructure provider landscape, we expect that there are thousands of different use cases for the Network. Just to name a few, the Streamr Network can serve as the underlying infrastructure for decentralized in-browser gaming for huge open world games, or monetizing transportation data for new mobility operators and providers, as shown in the Streamr partnership with Pave Motors. This is really just the beginning and we’re excited to see what will develop in the Streamr ecosystem.

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Today there are thousands of cryptocurrencies and blockchains. How do you position your project and what is your difference from other similar projects?

Streamr is not a blockchain but a p2p Network for decentralized data transport. Streamr enables real-time data transportation through the Network and individual data monetization for Web 3.0 with the Data Unions framework. The Streamr Network is as fast as centralized cloud solutions at 300 ms in global latency, as shown in our Network whitepaper. In comparison to cloud based solutions, Streamr is fully permissionless and the perfect solution for Web 3.0 apps such as DeFi or NFTs. 

Besides, Streamr has a growing ecosystem of teams and developers building with Streamr. Some examples include:

• Swash: An app that lets you monetize your data as you surf the web. Over 70k users.
• Unbanks: An upcoming app to securely monetise your banking data.
• Tracey: An upcoming app to digitally record and trace seafood products in the first mile of the supply chain for greater traceability.
• Kraken. An upcoming brokerage and market platform for personal data.  
• Pave Motors: An upcoming decentralized ridesharing service where riders trade and monetize their data. 

Should DATA token be considered as a full-fledged cryptocurrency, or is it primarily a token to support your ecosystem?

The full DATA tokenomics are currently in development and will be introduced to the Streamr Network in the Tatum milestone, coming in 2022, but along the way the token is used to bootstrap the growth of the Network, for payments on the Marketplace, and for governance. Network participants can mine DATA by contributing bandwidth and by staking DATA tokens to earn yield, as was the case in the recently concluded Brubeck Testnet, where 90k node runners were incentivised to run nodes and mine 2M data tokens, equalling around 300k USD. Starting from February 2021, holders of DATA were able to vote on Streamr protocol governance decisions and propose their own from June 2021. Decentralized governance allows anyone with a stake in the project to contribute to steering it.

Is the price of your token somehow related to the price of bitcoin? Is there some kind of correlation?

For legal reasons we cannot comment on this

What are your plans for the near future?

We just concluded the Brubeck Testnet with nearly 100k node runners. Next stop Brubeck Mainnet! Once the mainnet is deployed, we will start introducing the tokeneconomics incrementally. This will give token holders the opportunity to stake DATA and earn rewards for running a node. Running a node is really as simple as running a couple of lines of code on an idle laptop or a raspberry pi and you’re good to go. Take a look at the roadmap here. 

We’ll also focus on growing our ecosystem, onboarding builders that leverage the Network and Data Unions framework for real world use cases. We’re seeing more and more builders choosing Streamr as a decentralized alternative to tap into the power of Web 3.0. You can see more on our ecosystem page or the use case section of the website. 

How do you see the development of the project in the long term, for example, by 2030?

By that time we hope that Streamr has become a fully established data transport and monetization protocol for the decentralized web. Co-Founder, Henri Pihkala wrote about what this future might look like in this blog post back in 2018. 

Do you have an understanding of what is causing the current fluctuations in the price of bitcoin?

No and we will not comment on price here ;)

What trends in the cryptocurrency industry can you highlight right now?

More and more people are getting into the crypto space drawn by the recent interest in NFTs. This is amazing to see and we hope that Streamr can play a pivotal role in how NFTs can for instance regulate access to data streams. Going forward many more people will be onboarded to the decentralized web not evening knowing that they are interacting with blockchains and Web 3.0 tech - that’s when we’ll get mass adoption. 

There is also a growing interest in how our data is used and monetised by third parties, with solutions like Swash and Unbanks building on top of the Streamr stack to offer a way for individuals to moneisite their own data.