Blockchain-based YouTube alternative LBRY announces closure after shouldering SEC fine

The document sharing protocol LBRY was accused by the SEC in 2021 and confirmed to have lost the lawsuit in 2022. The official recently announced that assets including domain names, community accounts, GitHub, and all other assets will be used to repay debts, expressing deep apologies to its users.

What is LBRY?

LBRY is a content publishing platform known as a decentralized version of YouTube. Its token is LBRY Credits, which serves as a medium for platform revenue sharing, content publishing, purchasing, and viewing transactions. The total supply is 1 billion, distributed as follows:

• 10%: Marketing, strategic partnerships

• 10%: Operating costs

• 20%: Adoption promotion program

• 60%: Mining rewards

It has been criticized that this means the official team controlled approximately 40% of the total circulating supply of tokens in the early stages.

Timeline of LBRY's Legal Battle

According to previous reports, the events unfolded as follows:

• March 29, 2021: Accusations of LBRY violating the 1933 Securities Act, seeking civil penalties

• November 2, 2022: LBRY releases transcript of hearing with SEC

• November 7, 2022: LBRY confirms defeat

• May 12, 2023: SEC applies to reduce a $22 million fine to $111,614 citing "lack of funds, nearing bankruptcy"

• September 7, 2023: LBRY attempted to appeal

• October 20, 2023: LBRY announces closure

LBRY: We Have to End

LBRY stated in their final article that due to the defeat, they owe millions of dollars in debt and have committed to ceasing operations, with all executives, directors, and employees resigning.

Assets including the lbry.com domain, LBRY community accounts, GitHub, and all other assets will be used to repay debts; the Odysee platform may be taken over by interested parties, but it is uncertain whether it will remain on the LBRY network, migrate to other public chains, or move to Web2.

The article reveals the team's weariness and fear of litigation, refusing to address again whether LBRY is a security, and disclosing that the team holding a significant amount of LBRY tokens is a blow, while also indicating no intention to appeal further.

The article concludes:

We are grateful to creators, users, and investors - in that order - and also sorry, but we will not apologize to the government. We strive to be a force for internet freedom, and we are proud of that, but we are also sorry for what comes next.