South African startup uses Bitcoin to fight piracy, Bitcoin becomes bonus

There is no doubt that Digital Currency Group is interested in the project, and this is part of the company’s second round of seed investment.

Bitcoin and digital currencies offer many different use cases, many of which still need to be researched and explored. Custos Media Technologies is researching how Bitcoin can be used to combat piracy, particularly in the film industry.

Using Bitcoin to Stop Movie Piracy

For years, movie industry experts have been trying to come up with a way to reduce the number of pirated copies of movies on the Internet. As soon as a movie is released in theaters, it doesn't take long for the first pirated copy to appear online, even though the quality of these copies is usually very poor.

That may change if South African startup Custos Media Technologies has anything to say about the matter. They are planning to offer bitcoin rewards to those who put films online. Of course, the company is doing more than just that, it has also put in place the necessary technology to make the process as seamless as possible.

Assuming the startup can reach an agreement with a film content producer, all pre-released copies of the film will have a Bitcoin wallet code that identifies the recipient. This is a digital watermark in physical form, visible on the surface but cannot be removed. Every time a movie is uploaded to a pirated site, bounty hunters can look at these Bitcoin wallets and send the data of the pre-released movie to the Custos Media Technologies blockchain.

There is no doubt that Digital Currency Group is interested in the project, and this is part of the company's second round of seed investment. Regardless of the promise of this project, remember that the Bitcoin startup is not targeting downloaders themselves. Questions like this must be determined by the source, not those of the final product.

It would be much more expensive to prevent pirated copies of movies from being downloaded. Instead, individuals or groups that create these pre-released versions of movies on the Internet need to be held accountable and punished. Offering a bitcoin bounty might be a good idea, but how the film industry will respond to such ideas is hard to predict.