> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.livepeer.org/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Livepeer Whitepaper > Read the original Livepeer whitepaper and understand how its decentralised video vision evolved into the current network. export const MarkdownEmbed = ({url, className = '', style = {}, ...rest}) => { const [html, setHtml] = useState(''); useEffect(() => { fetch(url).then(res => res.text()).then(md => { const converted = md.replace(/```(\w*)\n([\s\S]*?)```/g, '
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    ; }; Livepeer’s original whitepaper (published 2017) outlined an ambitious design for a fully decentralised live video streaming network. The goal was to build ***“the world’s open video infrastructure”***, where anyone could contribute or access video encoding and delivery on-demand. Livepeer was one of the earliest DePIN (Decentralised Public Infrastructure Network) projects in the blockchain space, a blockchain use case that is only more relevant today as AI reshapes industries and the way we work, collaborate and communicate. Key ideas outlined in the whitepaper included: * **Incentivised Participation** with a native token (Livepeer Token, LPT) and a trustless verification mechanism for video transcoding work. In the whitepaper’s design, anyone running a node could perform video transcoding (reformatting videos for efficient streaming) and be rewarded in LPT, while verifiers and game-theoretic protocols would ensure outputs were correct without a central authority. * **Trustless Verification:** A standout proposal was to use Truebit (a decentralised computation oracle) as a “black box” to verify transcoded video segments. Transcoding nodes would commit results on-chain, and a Truebit-based challenge could detect incorrect outputs, ensuring correctness without manual oversight. * **Open Participation:** The whitepaper envisioned a fully open market of transcoders (nodes providing compute) and broadcasters (users submitting video) interacting via smart contracts. There would be no built-in central server – “no central party or company needs to be relied upon for the continued operation of the network”. * **Economic Security via Token:** LPT was introduced as a coordination mechanism – nodes would stake LPT as a performance bond to earn the right to transcode video, aligning their incentives with honest work. This concept survives today: staked tokens act as collateral against malicious behaviour, similar to a security deposit. Did you know? Livepeer’s token distribution had no [ICO](https://messari.io/report/merkle-mine) LPT was distributed in a novel way called a [Merkle Mine](https://github.com/livepeer/merkle-mine), allowing a wide set of participants to claim tokens at network launch.
    You can view the [github code here](https://github.com/livepeer/merkle-mine).     ### Livepeer Now Livepeer today both honors and extends the original whitepaper’s vision. The core idea of a decentralised video network powered by a crypto token has been proven in production – Livepeer handles millions of video minutes and has hundreds of node operators on five continents. Key technical shifts like off-chain scaling (Streamflow, Arbitrum) and the expansion into GPU-based AI workloads have kept the project on the cutting edge of what “open video infrastructure” means. What began as a decentralised live streaming protocol has grown into a general platform for real-time media computing. View the Livepeer Whitepaper on Github