Ocean Protocol: The Future of Data Monetization Revealed!

Ocean Protocol, also known by its market ticker OCEAN, is a decentralized data exchange protocol built on top of the Ethereum blockchain that enables individuals and organizations to share, sell, and monetize data securely and transparently.

The OCEAN token is the fuel that runs the Ocean Protocol economy. OCEAN token is used to validate transactions, vote in governance, and allows users to buy and sell data on the network.

Ocean Protocol was founded in 2017 by Trent McConaghy and Bruce Pon and is maintained jointly by the Ocean Protocol Foundation and OceanDAO.
The name OCEAN comes from the idea of an ocean of data available for discovery and utilization. The protocol allows data providers to publish their data on the network and set their pricing and terms of use.
Data consumers can then access the data by purchasing it using OCEAN tokens, which serve as the native cryptocurrency for the platform.

In short, Ocean Protocol aims to create a decentralized, secure, and transparent data marketplace that can benefit both data providers and consumers.
By leveraging blockchain technology and innovative cryptographic techniques, the protocol enables a wide range of use cases for data exchange, including AI learning, machine learning, supply chain management, and more.

Typically, in any transaction, you’ve got people who provide a good or service and people looking to buy it.

In the case of Ocean, the providers create a data token that has the right to access datasets not found naturally on the blockchain, known as off-chain information.

A simple example of where data may be needed could be on a decentralized betting app. For the app to know which team won the game you were betting on, it would need to access information off-chain, as the results of a just-finished sports match wouldn’t be information naturally found on the Ethereum blockchain.

Those who buy these data tokens can redeem and access the encrypted dataset inside. In our example, this would be the sports betting app looking to buy just-finished sports fixtures results so they can settle their open bets and see how much money they’ve made or lost.
The purpose of Ocean Protocol is to connect these providers and buyers, and the purpose of the OCEAN token is to facilitate the trading between these two parties.
On a technical level, OCEAN is an ERC-20 token, and like all ERC-20 tokens is a project running on the Ethereum network.
In short, an ERC-20 token is a standardized token creation blueprint that allows the token to work seamlessly with all Ethereum-based apps and smart contracts.
As Ocean Protocol runs on top of Ethereum this means it is a Proof-of-Stake-based blockchain, and users stake their OCEAN tokens to the network to verify its transactions.
We’ve been over Proof-of-Stake in our previous videos, so I’ll leave some links to those here and here.

However, for those looking for a quick recap, as we just mentioned users stake – meaning
deposit – their tokens to the blockchain to verify transactions. Those with the most staked are likely to be selected to verify transactions for two reasons.
First, they have the most invested in the ecosystem and it is assumed they are less likely to act in a way that could jeopardize that investment.
Second, those with the most staked to the network have the most to lose if caught submitting fraudulent transactions, as their staked deposit can be taken or burned as a punishment.
Of course, no system relies on one individual, and some validators are selected to check the verifier’s work.
All those who participated in verifying or validating will receive a small reward for doing so.

Ocean Protocol is unique because they have an open approach to data tokenisation, allowing anyone to monetize data efficiently and securely.
By allowing almost anyone to tokenise data and sell it, they have created a large data marketplace where data analysts, developers, researchers, scientists, and more, can access data at a competitive price.
Additionally, Ocean has several features to incentivize data providers to contribute high-quality data to the network.
For example, providers can earn rewards for contributing data that is in demand and is used by consumers. This incentivizes providers to contribute valuable and relevant data to the market.

To start, there will only ever be 1 billion OCEAN tokens, with around 62% of that amount in current circulation.
According to their whitepaper, to ensure the long-term funding of Ocean Protocol, they have aimed to create a positive price loop that over time continues to grow the value of the OCEAN token.

In short, the more Ocean tools are used in the data marketplaces on Ocean Protocol leads to more OCEAN being staked overall. This leads to more demand for OCEAN but with less in circulation due to staking, growing the value of the token as a result.
Additionally, more usage also equals more revenue for Ocean. This is known as the network revenue and with Ocean, it goes to one of two places.
It either gets burned, meaning destroyed, or it goes to the OceanDAO, where the community can get a say in where the funds are spent.

Naturally, if there is a fixed supply of OCEAN tokens, with a need for OCEAN to exchange data on Ocean Protocol, and a burning mechanic that removes OCEAN from circulation permanently, in theory, it could lead to a great recipe for growth in the value of the asset.
Well, at least, in theory. But, of course, nothing is guaranteed in crypto.

In conclusion, Ocean Protocol is trying to revolutionize how we interact with data by creating a marketplace where individuals can create, sell, and purchase data not found on the blockchain but is required for an app or smart contract to function.
By allowing anyone to tokenize data, Ocean Protocol has created a marketplace that allows individuals to access off-chain data for a competitive price, with the OCEAN token being the digital fuel that powers this economy.