Meet DLive: The Blockchain Platform PewDieDie Fled to From Youtube & Twitch

Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg, YouTube’s most popular content creator has penned a deal with a “decentralized live streaming platform” called DLive. Kjellberg announced that he would be doing a new weekly live stream on DLive in a YouTube video posted Tuesday that has been viewed 4.6 million times. His reasons, he explained, were largely economic.

DLive, the “world’s first and largest streaming platform on blockchain” launched in 2017 as a way to help people that make content for platforms like YouTube keep more of the earnings from advertisers. The platform is built upon the the Lino Network blockchain, uses its own currency system, and doesn’t take a sizable cut of the revenue generated by streamers. DLive even has a mechanism for rewarding viewers, who can earn something called “LINO Points” for engaging with their favorite streamers (88 Lino Points translates roughly to $1.22, according to the company).

To kickstart the migration, Kjellberg promised to donate between $10,000 and $50,000 worth of LINO Points to up to 100 content creators on the site during his first live stream, which is set for April 14 at 1 p.m. Eastern. Since Tuesday’s announcement, his DLive account has amassed roughly 85,000 followers, and his fans have donated more than $23,000 to support the channel.

“I’m really excited about DLive and to be live streaming again,” said Kjellberg. “I’m going to be live streaming there soon, very frequently. Also my first stream is going to be pretty epic. I’m going to donate to people live streaming on DLive.”

He’s still got a bit of catch-up to play when it comes to his YouTube, which has more than 93 million subscribers, many whom subscribe so they can tune in whenever Kjellberg streams live. While he says he won’t stop uploading his widely popular “Meme Review” videos on YouTube, Kjellberg has stated that DLive will be the exclusive place to catch his livestreams for the foreseeable future.

DLive: Making an Account

Creating an account only takes a few seconds. You hit the yellow “Sign Up” button at the top right of the screen and enter an email address, create a password, and wait for an email to come in with a verification code to get started.

If you plan to try and monetize your time spent on DLive, then make sure you sign up with an email that is linked to a PayPal account (DLive claims its tokens are converted into dollars and added to your balance in a process that takes about three days after cashing out). Users outside the U.S. can alternatively transfer DLive funds to a bitcoin wallet by supplying their bitcoin address.

DLive: Browsing the Site

Twitch and YouTube Gaming users will find DLive to be very familiar. The front page is now populated by a banner promoting Kjellberg’s channel, but scrolling down reveals a roster of other available content creators that have already been recruited to the site.

A majority of the content on DLive is about video games. A list of the most streamed game titles can be found directly under the PewDiePie banner, and underneath those you can see which individual videos currently have the most viewers.

Hitting the “Browse” tab at the top center of the screen will bring up a roster of all of the games being streamed at the moment so users can look for exact games they want to watch.

DLive offers an iOS and Android app that take the site mobile.

DLive: The Basics

From the viewer’s perspective, DLive is basically exactly like Twitch. Viewers can subscribe to streams by paying a monthly fee, which will get their messages noticed by the streamer more often.

LINO Points are DLive’s currency of choice. The cryptocurrency is how users give donations and get rewards across the platform. 88 Lino points translates to $1.22 and can be purchased on the site using PayPal or a credit card.

Viewers can donate a little as one LINO Point, referred to as a “Lemon,” or up to 10,000 LINO Points, known as a Ninjet directly to a streamer.

DLive explains that 90.1 percent of subscription earnings and one-time donations go straight to the content creator. The remaining 9.9 percent is deposited into a pool of “Locked LINO,” which is awarded to the most engaged users.

DLive: Viewers Can Get Rewards, Too

Viewers who subscribe to steamers and avidly converse with DLive’s community will gain a little reward in the form of Lock LINO Points every day. Based on their engagement rate, a small sum of the online currency will be redeemable by simply logging in and clicking the yellow “Redeem Now” button in the notification window at the top right of the site.

DLive explains that these points can be immediately gifted to a streamer or transferred to PayPal or into Bitcoin if they want to cash out. Locked points holders also get access to a few unique perks.

DLive: Locked Points Perks

Anyone with locked LINO Points in their account will be able to shape the direction DLive moves in the future. The live streaming site offers daily questionnaires available only to Locked LINO Point owners.

These questionnaires will allow engaged users to vote on decisions relating to the network, and put in requests or vote on future feature upgrades. This way the most active participants in the community have a voice as to the direction of where the site is going (and where the decentralized part comes in.)

The more locked points you have the more daily rewards you get and the more DLive clout you will eventually have. Users can “lock” their standard LINO Points to boost this number, but they’ll need a minimum of 1,000 to make that transaction.

DLive: How to Cash Out

If users are in this for the money, you can easily transfer your points to a PayPal or Bitcoin by navigating to the “Get Paid” tab found in the top right drop-down menu.

To liquidate your LINO points you’ll need a minimum of 2,000 and you’ll need to request a payment at least three days before Thursday and Sunday. Users can either plug in their Bitcoin wallet address or use their email to transfer the funds to their PayPal. If you signed up a for the site with a different email address than your PayPal account, you’ll either have to make another DLive account with your PayPal email address or make a new PayPal.