Proof-of-Stream: A Robust Incentivization Protocol for Blockchain-based Hybrid Video on Demand Systems

Yudi Tan, Swanand Kadhe and Kannan Ramchandran

EECS Department
University of California, Berkeley
Technical Report No. UCB/EECS-2021-42
May 11, 2021

http://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/2021/EECS-2021-42.pdf

The rise of the Video on Demand (VoD) industry led to un- foreseen technical challenges, ranging from scalability issues to network bottlenecks. As VoD platforms increasingly rely on large content delivery networks (CDN) to lower the bandwidth requirements on the origin servers and to improve latencies, we observed that the streaming costs are still unbearably high. In response to these challenges, in recent years, hybrid VoD architectures started gaining traction both in academia and in industry as an alternative to traditional CDNs. However, amongst all of the systems which we’ve analyzed, to the best of our knowledge, none of them are robust enough to prevent collusion-based attacks against stakeholders, and this limits the viability of these solutions. In this paper, we present the design and implementation of a robust incentivization protocol for blockchain-based hybrid VoD systems, Proof-of-Stream, which we argue is the critical missing piece of the many proposed hybrid VoD systems available today.

Advisor: Kannan Ramchandran


BibTeX citation:

@mastersthesis{Tan:EECS-2021-42,
    Author = {Tan, Yudi and Kadhe, Swanand and Ramchandran, Kannan},
    Title = {Proof-of-Stream: A Robust Incentivization Protocol for Blockchain-based Hybrid Video on Demand Systems},
    School = {EECS Department, University of California, Berkeley},
    Year = {2021},
    Month = {May},
    URL = {http://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/2021/EECS-2021-42.html},
    Number = {UCB/EECS-2021-42},
    Abstract = {The rise of the Video on Demand (VoD) industry led to un- foreseen technical challenges, ranging from scalability issues to network bottlenecks. As VoD platforms increasingly rely on large content delivery networks (CDN) to lower the bandwidth requirements on the origin servers and to improve latencies, we observed that the streaming costs are still unbearably high. In response to these challenges, in recent years, hybrid VoD architectures started gaining traction both in academia and in industry as an alternative to traditional CDNs. However, amongst all of the systems which we’ve analyzed, to the best of our knowledge, none of them are robust enough to prevent collusion-based attacks against stakeholders, and this limits the viability of these solutions. In this paper, we present the design and implementation of a robust incentivization protocol for blockchain-based hybrid VoD systems, Proof-of-Stream, which we argue is the critical missing piece of the many proposed hybrid VoD systems available today.}
}

EndNote citation:

%0 Thesis
%A Tan, Yudi
%A Kadhe, Swanand
%A Ramchandran, Kannan
%T Proof-of-Stream: A Robust Incentivization Protocol for Blockchain-based Hybrid Video on Demand Systems
%I EECS Department, University of California, Berkeley
%D 2021
%8 May 11
%@ UCB/EECS-2021-42
%U http://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/2021/EECS-2021-42.html
%F Tan:EECS-2021-42