How to Buy Theta (THETA)

Beginner’s Guide

What Is Theta (THETA)?

Theta (THETA) is a blockchain powered network purpose-built for video streaming. Launched in March 2019, the Theta mainnet operates as a decentralized network in which users share bandwidth and computing resources on a peer-to-peer (P2P) basis. The project is advised by Steve Chen, co-founder of YouTube and Justin Kan, co-founder of Twitch. Theta features its own native cryptocurrency token, THETA, which performs various governance tasks within the network, and counts Google, Binance, Blockchain ventures, Gumi, Sony Europe and Samsung as Enterprise validators, along with a Guardian network of thousands of community-run guardian nodes. Developers say that the project aims to shake up the video streaming industry in its current form — centralization, poor infrastructure and high costs mean that end users often end up with a poor experience. Content creators likewise earn less revenue due to the barriers between them and end users. The Theta team has created a customer-centric business plan for their growing ecosystem of services focused on esports, music, TV, movies, and education. The list of Theta Network partners includes video platforms like Samsung VR, Cinedigm, Shout! Factory, Pandora.tv, Play Labs, and THETA.tv.

How to Buy Theta Summary

Get a Theta wallet (e.g. Ledger, Trezor , Exodus, Guarda, AtomicWallet)
Find an exchange that sells Theta (e.g. Crypto.com, Binance , OKX, Bitfinex , Kucoin)
Deposit money and make the trade
Withdraw the Theta to your wallet

Buying Theta in 3 Simple Steps

Desctop & Mobile

Theta Hardware Wallets

Theta (THETA) can be stored in several hardware wallets that support ERC-20 tokens. Here are some popular options for storing Theta in a hardware wallet:

Ledger Nano S: Ledger Nano S is a popular hardware wallet that supports a wide range of cryptocurrencies, including Theta. The wallet offers secure storage and access to your Theta funds, as well as the ability to send and receive THETA transactions.
Ledger Nano X: Ledger Nano X is another popular hardware wallet that supports Theta and other cryptocurrencies. The wallet offers Bluetooth connectivity and an easy-to-use interface for managing your Theta assets.
Trezor Model T: Trezor Model T is a high-end hardware wallet that offers secure storage for Theta and other cryptocurrencies. The wallet features a large touch screen display and advanced security features to protect your Theta funds.
KeepKey: KeepKey is a hardware wallet that supports Theta and other cryptocurrencies. The wallet features a large screen display and a simple interface for managing your Theta assets.

It’s important to note that hardware wallets offer a higher level of security compared to software wallets, as they store your private keys offline, away from potential hackers or security breaches. It’s recommended to choose a reputable hardware wallet and to follow the manufacturer’s instructions carefully when setting up and using the wallet to ensure the security of your Theta assets.

The best option for storing any cryptocurrency would be to use a hardware wallet. These are pieces of hardware that store the private key to your coins offline.

Today, there are two leading hardware manufacturers to choose from – Ledger and TREZOR. Both companies have different models of hardware wallets that will get the job done.

If you want deeper insights on specific models, you can read my Ledger Nano X review or my TREZOR Model T review.

Theta Software Wallets

Theta (THETA) can be stored in several software wallets that support ERC-20 tokens. Here are some popular options for storing Theta in a software wallet:

Theta Wallet: Theta Wallet is the official wallet for storing Theta and Theta Fuel (TFUEL). The wallet offers secure storage and access to your Theta funds, as well as the ability to send and receive THETA and TFUEL transactions. The Theta Wallet is available as a web wallet and also as a mobile wallet for iOS and Android devices.
MyEtherWallet: MyEtherWallet (MEW) is a popular software wallet that supports ERC-20 tokens, including Theta. Users can store and manage their Theta funds in MEW by creating a new wallet or importing an existing one. MEW is available as a web wallet and also as a mobile wallet for iOS and Android devices.
Exodus: Exodus is a software wallet that supports Theta and other cryptocurrencies. The wallet features a user-friendly interface and supports multi-currency storage, as well as the ability to exchange Theta and other cryptocurrencies directly within the wallet. Exodus is available as a desktop wallet for Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Trust Wallet: Trust Wallet is a mobile wallet that supports Theta and other ERC-20 tokens. The wallet offers a simple and intuitive interface for managing your Theta funds, as well as the ability to send and receive THETA transactions. Trust Wallet is available for iOS and Android devices.

It’s important to note that software wallets are more vulnerable to hacking or security breaches compared to hardware wallets, as they store your private keys online. It’s recommended to use reputable software wallets and to enable two-factor authentication and other security measures to protect your Theta assets. Additionally, it’s recommended to store larger amounts of Theta in a hardware wallet for added security.

Hardware wallets cost money, so if you’re not sure how serious you are about cryptocurrencies and just want to get a taste of what they feel like, perhaps you would be better off starting with a software wallet.

Payment methods:

Credit/debit card

Wire

Buy Theta (THETA) through Crypto.com

Crypto.com is a cryptocurrency exchange company based in Singapore. As of May 2022, the company reportedly had 50 million customers and 4,000 employees. The exchange issues a token, Cronos. The company was initially founded in Hong Kong by Bobby Bao, Gary Or, Kris Marszalek, and Rafael Melo in 2016 as “Monaco”. In 2018, the company was renamed as Crypto.com following a purchase of a domain owned by cryptography researcher and professor Matt Blaze. Domain sellers valued the domain at US$5–10 million.

Buy Theta (THETA) through Binance

Binance is a cryptocurrency exchange which is the largest exchange in the world in terms of daily trading volume of cryptocurrencies. It was founded in 2017 and is registered in the Cayman Islands. Binance was founded by Changpeng Zhao, a developer who had previously created high frequency trading software.

Buy Theta (THETA) through Okex

OKX (Chinese: 欧易), formerly known as OKEx, is a Seychelles-based cryptocurrency exchange and derivatives exchange. It was founded by Star Xu (徐明星) in 2017. OKX is owned by Ok Group, which also owns crypto exchange Okcoin. It is not available to US based investors. The company’s CEO is Jay Hao and CMO is Haider Rafique. Initially headquartered in Beijing, China, OKX is now under a blanket ban by Chinese regulators. On October 13, 2021, it issued a “Notice on Regulatory Policy in Mainland China”, announcing that it would continue its policy of “withdrawing from the Chinese mainland market” and would not establish an office or team in the region. However, according to Caixin, although the exchange officially announced that it would no longer set up an office in Mainland China, it still has a large number of R&D staff working in the region, including engineers, who continue to work for OKX in the form of third-party outsourcing companies.

Buy Theta (THETA) through Bitfinex

Bitfinex is a cryptocurrency exchange owned and operated by iFinex Inc registered in the British Virgin Islands.Their customers’ money has been stolen or lost in several incidents, and they have been unable to secure normal banking relationships. Bitfinex was founded in December 2012 as a peer-to-peer Bitcoin exchange, offering digital asset trading services to users around the world. Bitfinex initially started as a P2P margin lending platform for Bitcoin and later added support for more cryptocurrencies.

Buy Theta (THETA) through Kucoin

Kucoin is a global cryptocurrency exchange for numerous digital assets and cryptocurrencies. Launched in September 2017, KuCoin has grown into one of the most popular crypto exchanges and already has over 8 million registered users from 700+ countries and regions. According to Alexa traffic ranking, KuCoin’s monthly unique ranking is in the top 5 globally. Known as the “People’s Exchange”, KuCoin operates in Seychelles, providing users with multi-language and 24/7 customer service. Meanwhile, KuCoin has established local communities all over the world in South Korea, Japan, Spain, Italy, Vietnam, Turkey, Russia, India, and other regions, providing users with the most local services. Currently, 1 out of every 4 crypto holders in the world is with KuCoin.

Step 3 – Withdraw Theta (THETA)

Once you decide on an exchange, open an account and buy your Theta. Make sure to withdraw the Theta from the exchange to your personal wallet.

Never leave coins on an exchange, as you risk losing them all if that exchange gets hacked or shuts down (which has happened in the past) and always double check address before send coins because you can send the coins to wrong address .

OVERVIEW

Who Are The Founders of Theta?

Theta was co-founded by Mitch Liu and Jieyi Long in 2018. Liu has a long history in the gaming and video industries, co-founding video advertising firm Tapjoy, mobile social gaming startup Gameview Studios, and THETA.tv, the live streaming platform whose DApp was the first to be built on the Theta protocol.

Long is Theta’s second co-founder and CTO, following similar multi-year experience in design automation, gaming, virtual reality, and large scale distributed systems. He authored multiple peer-reviewed academic papers and holds various patents in video streaming, blockchain and virtual reality.

Theta now has a modest team, and its official website lists strategic corporate investors as Samsung NEXT, Sony Innovation Fund, media investors BDMI Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments, CAA Creative Artists Agency, and traditional Silicon Valley VCs including DCM, Sierra Ventures and the VR Fund.

What Makes Theta Unique?

Theta (THETA) is a unique blockchain-based video delivery network that aims to revolutionize the online video streaming industry. Here are some key features that make Theta unique:

Decentralized video delivery: Theta’s decentralized video delivery network allows users to share bandwidth and computing resources to relay video streams, creating a peer-to-peer network that reduces the reliance on traditional centralized video delivery platforms.
Faster and cheaper streaming: By using a decentralized network, Theta aims to reduce buffering times and increase the speed and reliability of video streaming. This can provide a better user experience for viewers and potentially reduce costs for content providers.
Rewards for users: Theta incentivizes users to share their resources by offering rewards in the form of Theta tokens for contributing to the network. This can help create a more sustainable and scalable video delivery system.
Integration with blockchain technology: Theta is built on the Ethereum blockchain, which allows for transparent and secure transactions on the network. This also enables Theta to use smart contracts to automate processes and provide a decentralized platform for content creators and consumers.
Partnerships with major players: Theta has established partnerships with major players in the video streaming industry, including Samsung, Google, and Binance. These partnerships provide opportunities for Theta to expand its reach and provide value to content creators and consumers.

Overall, Theta’s unique combination of blockchain technology and decentralized video delivery has the potential to disrupt the online video streaming industry and create a more sustainable and scalable system for all stakeholders involved.

How Does Theta Network Work?

The Theta ecosystem includes the following types of participants: Influencers (content creators), Viewers (end-users who consume video content), Advertisers (sponsor influencers and place ads on the platform), Caching Nodes (computers/servers that help improve content quality and delivery speed), Ingest Nodes (assists Caching Nodes and also provides bitrates/stream resolution).

Since the protocol is open-source, any provider can use the Theta blockchain and create decentralized applications (dApps) on the platform. Users are rewarded in THETA tokens for sharing videos through the decentralized video streaming dApp for transcription and distribution of content called EdgeCast.

Theta aims to reduce the operating costs of streaming video services. The load on a content delivery network (CDN) can be reduced by moving some content to the peer-to-peer network. The platform operates on thousands of nodes, which makes the network resilient to content delivery failures and solves the problem of digital last-mile delivery.

At the heart of Theta is a peer-to-peer (P2P) protocol that is responsible for content distribution and transaction processing. The Theta blockchain uses a modified Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism like the staking-based Tendermint system.

Theta Network Nodes

The most important component of the platform is a mesh network. It consists of a set of nodes that connects the network into an integral ecosystem, ensuring the function to share bandwidth. Theta Network nodes are users who provide various equipment/resources and are rewarded for sharing bandwidth and attracting new participants to the platform. Nodes cache and relay video data.

Theta Network is powered by three types of nodes: Edge Nodes, Enterprise Validator Nodes, and Guardian Nodes.

Edge Nodes are hosted by members of the community. They are the most numerous. This type of participant shares their bandwidth or relays video streams over the network in exchange for TFUEL tokens. TFUEL is the of two native tokens on the Theta blockchain, a utility token designed to support operations.

Enterprise Validator Nodes are one of Theta’s security layers, companies that stake THETA tokens and get the right to process transactions. This group is also responsible for producing new blocks on the chain. Currently, Validator Nodes include Google, Samsung, Creative Artists Agency, and Sony.

Guardian Nodes allow accurate block operation and maintain consensus by adding the second layer of security, right after Enterprise Validator Nodes.

How Many Theta (THETA) Coins Are There in Circulation?

Theta Network is based on a dual token system, where THETA is the protocol’s governance token. With THETA, the community determines the direction of development. Meanwhile, TFUEL is a micropayment currency. It’s used to perform all operations on the network. Whenever users share content, Theta encourages it and gives them an opportunity to earn rewards in TFUEL. To earn TFUEL, THETA holders must join either Guardian Nodes or Validator Nodes, which will allow them to participate in transaction validation and block creation.

THETA exists only for governance purposes, with 5 TFUEL tokens issued per 1 THETA held at the time of the mainnet launch in 2019.

THETA itself launched in 2018, at which time it was distributed to buyers as an ERC-20 token on Ethereum. Afterwards, all ERC-20 THETA were converted to native THETA on the mainnet.

The total supply of THETA is capped at 1 billion (1,000,000,000) tokens. It is distributed in various proportions among all network participants, as well as the Theta team itself and a reserve pool.

TFUEL is used to power transactions in a similar way to gas on Ethereum (ETH). Its total supply is 5 billion (5,000,000,000) tokens.

How Is the Theta Network Secured?

Theta uses a financial incentive scheme to ensure user participation in governance activities, and hence its network is secured by its own users.

The network relies on proof-of-stake (PoS), and employs a multi-level Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT) consensus mechanism to balance security with high transaction throughput.

With the launch of Guardian nodes in June 2019, Theta ensured that no single entity controls the majority of THETA tokens being staked at any one time.

Where Can You Buy Theta Network ?

Theta (THETA) can be purchased on several cryptocurrency exchanges. Here are some popular exchanges where you can buy THETA:

Binance: Binance is one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges and offers THETA trading pairs with Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Tether (USDT), and Binance Coin (BNB).
Huobi Global: Huobi Global is a cryptocurrency exchange that offers THETA trading pairs with BTC, ETH, and USDT.
Kraken: Kraken is a US-based cryptocurrency exchange that offers THETA trading pairs with BTC, ETH, and USD.
Gate.io: Gate.io is a cryptocurrency exchange that offers THETA trading pairs with BTC, ETH, USDT, and Gatechain Token (GT).
OKEx: OKEx is a cryptocurrency exchange that offers THETA trading pairs with BTC, ETH, USDT, and OKB.
BitMax: BitMax is a cryptocurrency exchange that offers THETA trading pairs with BTC, ETH, USDT, and BitMax Token (BTMX).

It’s important to note that cryptocurrency exchanges have different trading fees, deposit and withdrawal fees, and trading volumes. It’s recommended to compare the features and fees of each exchange before making a decision on where to buy THETA. Additionally, it’s recommended to store your THETA assets in a secure wallet, such as a hardware wallet, to ensure the safety of your funds.