Co-founded in 2017 by serial entrepreneur Mitch Liu and virtual reality live streaming expert Jieyi Long, Theta is a peer-to-peer blockchain network that enables free and decentralized delivery of high-bandwidth video content.
Users of Theta network can voluntarily contribute spare bandwidth and computing resources in exchange for rewards. The more the number of users, the more the bandwidth available, and the better the quality of the videos.
The Theta blockchain has two native tokens — Theta Coin (THETA), which allows token holders to vote on updates and changes to the protocol, and TFUEL, which is required to pay for transactions on the blockchain.
Like Ethereum, Theta is also smart contract enabled, allowing developers to build decentralized applications on the network. The Theta coin’s enterprise validators include Samsung, Sony Europe, Binance, Google, and Blockchain Ventures, among others.
THETA price
Since its inception in 2018, THETA token price grew consistently without any major spikes or drops. THETA coin’s first price rally started in late December 2020, two years after its launch, according to our live price chart for THETA/USD. From just over $2 on Jan. 2, 2021, THETA price continued to climb, reaching almost $16 on April. 16, 2022.
However, the price of THETA declined sharply over the next three months, dropping below $3.5 by July 2021. By the end of 2021, THETA price had fallen below $5, losing most of its gains during the year. Amid the larger crypto market bear run, THETA price continued to trade well below $5.50 during the first half of 2022.
How Theta works
The Theta network utilizes the proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism to record transactions on its network. There are three groups of users that play crucial roles in the network's functioning and security.
The enterprise validator nodes stake their tokens in order to validate transactions on the network. The guardian nodes then confirm that the transactions suggested are accurate — adding an extra layer of security to the network. Finally, the edge nodes add bandwidth to the network to receive TFUEL as reward.
In order to become validators on the network, users need to stake THETA coins — the validator nodes need to stake a minimum of 10 million THETA coins and guardian nodes need to stake at least 100,000 THETA tokens. Additionally, THETA coins are also governance tokens and the voting power of token holders is proportional to the amount of staked assets.
Theta fuel (TFUEL) token can be used to send and receive payments, to pay for transactions on the Theta network, and for the deployment and processing of smart contracts.
THETA news, updates, and highlights
In February 2018, the Theta team raised around $20 million to fund the development of the ecosystem via a private token sale to investors including Nirvana Capital, Sierra Ventures, and Venture Reality Fund, among others. Live streaming platform Twitch's co-founder Justin Kan and YouTube co-founder Steve Chen were also advisors to the Theta team.
In May 2020, Samsung added gaming and esports video streaming platform Theta.tv to its smartphones — vastly increasing the ease of accessibility to the network. A few days later, Google partnered with Theta Labs to help the network onboard users using Google Cloud. A year later, in June 2021, the Theta mainnet was launched, which then caused a major movement in THETA price action.
Frequently asked questions about THETA
Can you mine THETA or stake them for rewards?
Like other cryptocurrencies that use the PoS mechanism, THETA coins cannot be mined. But you can stake THETA tokens to become validators in the network and earn rewards in TFUEL in exchange for securing the network.
What is the maximum supply of THETA coins?
Like most cryptocurrencies, the number of THETA tokens is also limited — its maximum supply is capped at 1 billion coins.
What can you do with THETA?
Apart from staking THETA coins to secure the network, token holders can use them for payments and vote on proposals to improve the ecosystem.
What are the best wallets for THETA?
You can store both THETA and TFUEL tokens in the official THETA wallet app, or other compatible third-party cold or hot wallets including Trezor, MetaMask, Atomic Wallet, and more.
How to buy and sell THETA?
You can use cryptocurrencies like BTC, ETH, USDT, and others to buy THETA coins on exchanges like OKX, KuCoin, HitBTC, and more. You can also buy THETA with local fiat currencies on exchanges including NEXO, or swap other tokens for THETA on decentralized exchanges like ThetaSwap.
