Topic: Decentralized distribution line using Bitcoin/Altcoin and Torrents - Possible? (Read 392 times)

Yes, it is possible technically through the blockchain.
Ethereum blockchain is best suited for this type of data sharing, from peer to peer with some custom applications built on the ethereum blockchain with access restriction also will be possible if you don't want it to be public. I believe torrents are exactly working similar to blockchain/full nodes hence data sharing will be highly possible.

That's somehow what I was looking for. The project seems stale though, also, no open source?

You can have a look at joystream project which is pretty similar

Example problem: Someone wants to distribute one of his/her creations (i.e. a song in MP3 format) through the internet.  Unfortunately, the artist can't have a computer running all day to distribute the song exclusively from his/her own place. This is my practical solution:

1) Creator's CoinTorrent Client:

- The creator loads the file into the client.
- The app divides the file into multiple pieces, for example, 100 pieces.
- The fragmented pieces are broadcasted to the CoinTorrent network, with price and payment rates embedded.
- Payment rates define the rate at which the creator and the distributor will be receiving payments once a buyer pays for something. Example:
The creator decides to have  70% returns of whatever the price of the song is in this case, so the remainder must be distributed among ALL ACTIVE distributors. This means that, if in this case there are 100 pieces of data available, the maximum amount EACH distributor can expect to receive is 30%/100 = 0.3 % (This is the ideal case, but complex because there is no data redundancy among the network). If the amount of distributors is increased (more data redundancy, which is good), then the expected amount is 30% / (Number of total of distributors ONLINE AT A GIVEN TIME)

2) Distributor's CoinTorrent Client:

- CoinTorrent Client listeners willing to receive and distribute files accept the data of their choice (with the most interesting payment rates) and store it for as long as they want. In this case, initially 100 DIFFERENT clients receive data from the creator (later on more distributors can decide to hold pieces of data as well). When they decide to delete their holdings, they send a copy of their holdings to another CoinTorrent Client to make sure the data is always available.

3) Creator's CoinTorrent Client:

- After the successful broadcast, the artist will have a special initial encrypted link-file, that holds the instructions inside to ask for the original file to the distributors. The link-file contents is dynamic, in the sense that it is being constantly updated with the state of the distributor network by the distributor clients themselves.

4) Buyer's CoinTorrent Client:

- The buyer pays (using Bitcoin/Altcoin), and gets a copy of the link-file from the owner that can be used to get the original song from the network. Multiple payment modes are acceptable: one time only payment, pay-per-stream, etc.

5) Creator / Distributor's CoinTorrent Client:

- Now that a payment has been received, it is automatically distributed among the owner of the song and the data holders according to the previously agreed  payment rates (They have setup their clients with the required Bitcoin/Altcoin addresses for automated payments).

Note 1: the CoinTorrent Client can be one single app, with every feature (Creator, Distributor, Buyer) available in one package, or specific and differentiated apps. For example, this could allow the CoinTorrent Distributor Client to run from a smartphone.

Note 2: The pair Bitcoin/Altcoin + Torrent lies inside one single app, hence the name.

TL;DR: You get paid for storing data IF YOU ARE CONNECTED TO THE NETWORK when a transaction related to the data you are holding happens.

Is this too difficult to implement?