LBRY Inc., Parent of open source video platform Odysee is out-of-business.
LBRY Inc. must die, there is no escaping this. It has lost a judgment to the federal government, has several million dollars in debts, and has pledged to shut down.
What’s happening to LBRY, Inc?
LBRY Inc. has debts to the SEC, its legal team, and a private debtor that it cannot pay. Its assets, including Odysee, are being placed into receivership. As of this post, all LBRY executives, employees, and board members have resigned. All will be doing what is required to satisfy any outstanding legal requirements, but no more.
What’s happening to the LBRY network?
Fortunately, LBRY isn’t our network. It’s a decentralized network, and all the code powering it is open source.
But the LBRY network might die, too. Decentralization isn’t magic – it only works if enough people use it. Could LBRY still swallow all digital publishing like we intended? Could this be the beginning of a descent to obscurity? Who knows? It’s not like we’re LBRY experts.
The truth is that even writing this post fills us with anxiety. Everything we say is being scrutinized by people with immense resources that aren’t big fans of us, free speech, or any technology that enables dissent. And if we violate another one of the United States’ incredibly clear and easy-to-follow laws, we might end up in jail.
However, we got into the game by being honest in the cryptocurrency space when few were. We then got in trouble for being so honest. It only makes sense to go out the same way. It’s our nature.
What’s happening to Odysee?
Odysee, the flagship LBRY app, continues to serve more than 6,000,000 people each month, even while it has been iced. CoinGecko rates Odysee as the most popular web3 social media site in the world.
Odysee’s popularity makes it the most valuable asset of LBRY, Inc. While it’s nearly certain the Odysee assets will be assumed by someone interested in resuming its growth, it’s unclear if Odysee will continue to use the LBRY network in the future, switch to another cryptonetwork, or switch to being a traditional web2 platform.
For the data nerds and founders, a full log of our monthly and weekly Odysee user data is here. When much of the crypto industry was burning money, we succeeded at building useable web3 software that people actually wanted to use.
What happens to LBRY channels and content?
Over 1,700,000 identities and 30,000,000 pieces of content have been published to the LBRY blockchain. As long as the LBRY blockchain continues to be mined, those identities and records will continue to exist.
However, the content itself is not published to the blockchain, and requires host nodes to function. If Odysee chooses to stop utilizing LBRY, then content that is not actively seeded by others will stop being available. Using LBRY Desktop is the best way to ensure your content remains available.
Can Odysee switch from LBRY?
Maybe? Maybe not? It’s unclear whether Odysee has permission to port content that was published from LBRY to somewhere else. Additionally, at one point Odysee promised users that it would always use LBRY so long as it was legal to do so.
But we’re feeling pretty done with legal fights, and we’d rather see our friends at Odysee continue to do productive work supporting free speech. Ultimately, this will be decided by users, not by us, and we encourage users to wait and see.
Is the LBRY token still a security?
Hahahahaha, we’re not falling for believing this question is answerable again.
In our case, the judge was clear that only LBRY Inc. broke the law, and only because it kept a significant premine of the LBRY token. Plus, there was the Ripple decision, and if you add those together, then [sentence redacted by legal team].
he Art of Liberty Foundation will be co-sponsoring a conference in Sedona, Arizona on November 3rd, 4th and 5th entitled: Liberty on the Rocks!
The conference brings together some of the leading lights in Liberty to discuss our current political situation and SOLUTIONS, including how to create local Liberty groups and Freedom Cells and how to move yourself out of organized crime’s crooked admiralty law system by correcting your status and standing. Friday night, there will be a VIP Dinner and concert Featuring Grant Prezence. Saturday we are at the Global Center for Christ Consciousness in Sedona for talks, workshops and a panel. There will be a Liberty expo with the ability to table. It is free for all on Saturday after 3:00 PM. Sunday we are taking folks for yoga and hiking in the most beautiful place on the planet. Get the details at
https://Sedona.ArtOfLiberty.org
Thanks for this, I have been aware of this ongoing event in the past but you have brought me up to date.
If I understand you correctly, Odysee, whatever happens will continue to exist?