Viuly: A Blockchain-Based Decentralized Video Sharing Platform
The Viuly whitepaper was released by the Viuly core team (Viuly Media LTD, CEO Ruslan Popa) around October 2017. The whitepaper was written against the backdrop of growing dissatisfaction with centralized online video platforms like YouTube, which face issues such as unfair revenue distribution, censorship, and content monetization. Viuly aims to provide a decentralized solution for the online video sharing industry through blockchain technology.
The core theme of the Viuly whitepaper is “decentralized video sharing platform.” Viuly’s uniqueness lies in its blockchain-based architecture, using the IPFS protocol for distributed data storage, and facilitating transparent and fair value transfer among advertisers, content creators, and users through its native VIU token. The significance of Viuly is to change the online video market by ensuring fair compensation for creators, eliminating high commissions for advertisers, and providing freedom from censorship, thereby establishing a fair and unrestricted video content environment.
Viuly’s original intention was to disrupt the multi-billion-dollar online video sharing industry. The core viewpoint expressed in the Viuly whitepaper is that by leveraging blockchain technology, decentralization, and transparency, a fair and open video network can be established, operating under a fair revenue sharing model, so that all participants benefit.
Viuly whitepaper summary
What is Viuly
Friends, imagine the video platforms we usually use, like YouTube—they’re like a giant central TV station, where all videos are uploaded to their servers, and they decide which videos can be broadcast, which cannot, and how ad revenue is distributed. Viuly (project abbreviation: VIU), which emerged around 2017, aims to build a “decentralized video sharing platform.”
Simply put, Viuly’s goal is to use blockchain technology to make video uploading, viewing, and sharing no longer controlled by any central authority. It seeks to create a fairer and more transparent video network, allowing content creators and viewers to receive their due rewards, rather than having most of the revenue taken by the platform. You can think of it as a “blockchain version of YouTube,” but with a stronger emphasis on freedom, transparency, and fair revenue distribution.
On this platform, users can upload and watch videos, content creators can publish their works, and viewers can even earn rewards by watching videos. Advertisers can also place ads directly on the platform and pay both creators and viewers.
Project Vision and Value Proposition
Viuly’s vision is “to change the current online video market through blockchain innovation.” It aims to create a fair and open video network through decentralization and transparency, adopting a fair revenue sharing model.
The core problems it mainly wants to solve are the pain points of traditional video platforms:
- Unequal revenue distribution: Traditional platforms often charge high commissions, greatly reducing the income of content creators. Viuly hopes to eliminate intermediaries so creators can receive a higher share of the revenue.
- Content censorship and regional restrictions: Traditional platforms may have content censorship and regional restrictions, affecting freedom of speech and content dissemination. Viuly aims to provide a platform for “free expression and free access,” while complying with relevant laws and regulations.
- Centralized data storage: Traditional platforms require massive data centers to store videos, which can lead to single points of failure and censorship risks. Viuly plans to use distributed storage technology to solve this problem.
Compared with similar projects (such as YouTube at the time), Viuly’s core difference lies in its “decentralized” philosophy. It does not want a central authority to control everything, but rather lets participants in the network jointly maintain and share value.
Technical Features
As a blockchain project, Viuly’s technical features are mainly reflected in the following aspects:
- Blockchain foundation: The core operations of the entire platform are based on blockchain technology, which means transactions and data records are open, transparent, and immutable.
- IPFS protocol: Viuly uses the IPFS (InterPlanetary File System) protocol to store video content. You can think of IPFS as a globally shared giant hard drive, where video files are not stored on a central server but are distributed across many participants’ computers in the network. This makes videos harder to delete, potentially faster to access, and avoids single points of failure.
- Ethereum blockchain: Viuly’s token VIU is issued on the Ethereum blockchain (ERC-20 token). Ethereum is a blockchain platform that supports smart contracts, enabling Viuly to automate reward distribution, ad placement, and other functions through smart contracts.
Tokenomics
The core of the Viuly project is its native token, called VIU.
- Token symbol: VIU
- Issuing chain: Ethereum
- Total supply and issuance mechanism: The total supply of VIU is 1,000,000,000 (1 billion) tokens. According to the project’s statement in 2017, no new VIU tokens will be issued after the crowdsale (ICO) ends.
- Current and future circulation: As of now (November 2025), the circulating supply of VIU is about 771,905,775.335 tokens.
- Token utility: VIU tokens play multiple roles in the Viuly ecosystem and are the main tool for value transfer within the network.
- Rewards: Content creators can earn VIU tokens by uploading and getting views. Viewers can also earn VIU token rewards by watching videos, especially ad videos.
- Ad payments: Advertisers need to use VIU tokens to purchase ad packages and place ads on the platform.
- Tipping and donations: Users can use VIU tokens to tip or donate to their favorite content creators.
- Token distribution and unlocking information: In the early stages, the project distributed tokens through Pre-ICO, public crowdsale (ICO), and large-scale airdrops. For example, in 2017, Viuly airdropped 458 million VIU tokens to about 900,000 Ethereum addresses to expand its user base.
Team, Governance, and Funding
- Core members: Viuly’s founder and CEO is Ruslan Popa. He has over 12 years of IT entrepreneurship and management experience and has served as CEO of several payment service providers.
- Team characteristics: Team members have extensive experience in business management, blockchain business, marketing, and project development.
- Governance mechanism: Early materials did not specify a detailed decentralized governance mechanism, but its decentralized vision implies that community participation may influence platform development in the future.
- Treasury and funding: In its early days, Viuly received €150,000 in funding from blockchain investment firm Krypton Capital.
Roadmap
The following are some important milestones and events in Viuly’s history:
- October 2017: Released the Alpha test platform, allowing users to experience video viewing and sharing features. Pre-ICO was also launched.
- November 1–15, 2017: Conducted the public crowdsale (ICO).
- November 2017: Conducted a large-scale airdrop, distributing about 458 million VIU tokens to around 900,000 Ethereum wallets to promote mass adoption of the platform.
- December 15, 2017: Mainnet went live, and advertiser features were launched.
- December 2017: VIU token’s trading volume on the Ethereum blockchain once ranked among the top 50 tokens.
- January 2018: VIU token was listed on the cryptocurrency exchange OKex.
- June 2018: Released the Beta version of Viuly.io.
- September 2018: Announced the launch of VIU token staking functionality.
- October 2018: Completed the token SWAP.
Future key plans and milestones: According to currently available information, Viuly has released very limited public development and update information since 2018. Its official website viuly.io currently displays “This domain may be for sale!”, and data platforms such as CoinMarketCap show its trading volume and price data as inactive. This suggests the project may have ceased active development or maintenance.
Common Risk Warnings
Investing in any blockchain project carries risks. For projects like Viuly, pay special attention to the following points:
- Project activity risk: According to the latest public information, Viuly’s official website is no longer accessible, and its token’s trading volume and price data on major data platforms are inactive. This strongly suggests the project may have ceased operations or is inactive. This means its technical updates, community support, and ecosystem development may have stalled.
- Technical and security risks: As an early (2017–2018) blockchain project, its technical architecture and smart contracts may have undiscovered vulnerabilities. If the project is no longer maintained, these potential risks cannot be fixed.
- Economic risk: Due to low project activity, VIU token liquidity is extremely poor, with almost no trading volume. This means you may not be able to buy or sell tokens at a reasonable price, or may not be able to trade at all. The token’s value may have already dropped to zero or near zero.
- Compliance and operational risk: Early blockchain projects may have compliance uncertainties. In addition, if the project team has disbanded or is no longer operating, the security of user assets and the sustainability of the platform cannot be guaranteed.
- Information asymmetry risk: Given the project’s age and inactivity, it is difficult to obtain the latest and comprehensive project information, increasing the difficulty of research and evaluation.
Please note: The above information is for reference only and does not constitute any investment advice. Be sure to conduct thorough independent research before making any investment decisions.
Verification Checklist
- Block explorer contract address: VIU token is an ERC-20 token issued on Ethereum. You can search for VIU’s contract address on Ethereum block explorers (such as Etherscan) to view its on-chain data, such as the number of holders, transaction records, etc.
- GitHub activity: Given the project’s age and lack of updates, its GitHub repository (if it exists) is expected to be very inactive or may have been archived.
- Official website: Viuly’s official website viuly.io currently shows the domain may be for sale, and project information cannot be obtained.
- Social media/community: Early projects usually had communities on Telegram, Twitter, etc. But these communities may now be inactive or abandoned.
Project Summary
Viuly emerged around 2017 as a pioneer of “decentralized video sharing platforms,” with a vision to use blockchain technology to solve problems of revenue distribution, content censorship, and data centralization in traditional video platforms. It proposed an attractive model where, through its native VIU token, content creators, viewers, and advertisers could all share value in a fair and transparent environment. The project also made some early progress, such as releasing Alpha and Beta platforms, conducting large-scale airdrops, and successfully launching its mainnet and exchange listings.
However, based on currently available public information, Viuly appears to have ceased active development and operations. Its official website is no longer accessible, and the token’s trading volume and price on the market are almost zero. This suggests the project may have failed or been abandoned. For anyone considering this project, this is a very important risk signal.
In summary, Viuly represents an early attempt by blockchain technology to disrupt traditional internet models. Although its concept was forward-looking, the project’s actual development and sustainability did not meet expectations. For learners in the blockchain field, it can serve as a case study for early decentralized application attempts. But for potential participants or investors, given the project’s current state, the risks are extremely high, and any form of participation or investment is not recommended.
For more details, please conduct your own research and be sure to stay alert to risks.