Welcome to Open Pool, a public decentralized compute pool specifically built to expand the capacity of the Livepeer network. Open Pool allows Livepeer Orchestrators to easily aggregate GPU resources from external Workers, thereby offering more scalable video transcoding and AI inference services.

Below is a detailed overview of Open Pool—how it works, who it benefits, and how you can get involved.

1. Introduction
2. Why Open Pool?
3. Key Features & Benefits
4. Business Model & Incentives
5. Performance & Benchmarking
6. Onboarding Guide
   • For Orchestrators
   • For Workers
   • For Delegators
7. Use Cases: Beyond Transcoding
8. Future Plans
9. Conclusion

Livepeer is a decentralized video transcoding, AI inference, and streaming platform that leverages a network of up to 100 active Orchestrators at any given time. Each Orchestrator stakes or receives staked LPT (Livepeer Token), processes transcoding/AI requests, and earns rewards plus fees.

Open Pool was created to solve a critical need: scaling. Since there’s a cap of 100 Orchestrators, each one must be able to handle increasingly large volumes of transcoding and AI inference work. This is where Open Pool steps in:

• Orchestrators can invite external GPU Workers to join their pool.
• Workers can easily plug their GPU into the Livepeer network without needing to set up a full Orchestrator node.
• Delegators can stake their LPT on an Orchestrator that’s part of Open Pool, effectively supporting the growth and decentralization of the entire network.

1. Scalability: Livepeer is poised for massive growth. By pooling GPUs, one Orchestrator can accommodate 10x or 100x more compute than they could on their own.
2. Decentralization: More independent workers = less reliance on a few “super operators,” making Livepeer more resilient to failures or attacks.
3. Earn Rewards & Fees:
   • Workers earn a share of transcoding/AI fees for their GPU power.
   • Orchestrators can expand their capacity (and revenue) without owning every GPU.
   • Delegators can stake their LPT on Orchestrators contributing to a stronger, more scalable network.
4. Simplified Management: Open Pool provides out-of-the-box solutions for:
   • Dashboards and metrics
   • Fee sharing
   • Event logs and data pipelines

1. Open Source & Customizable

   • Open Pool is fully open source, allowing anyone to deploy a pool—public or private.
   • Hooks enable custom revenue-sharing logic or feature extensions.

2. Transparent Dashboard & Metrics

   • An event log records all Orchestrator and Worker activities.
   • Operators can generate real-time dashboards showing earnings, job counts, and performance.

3. Flexible Fee Sharing

   • Default setting: 25% commission for the pool, 75% payout to Workers.
   • This can be reconfigured easily in a YAML file or environment variable.

4. AI Inference Ready

   • From speech-to-text, image recognition, content moderation, to large language models, the platform can handle GPU-intensive AI tasks.
   • Helps Livepeer move beyond video transcoding into a general-purpose decentralized compute marketplace.

5. Worker Performance Tracking

   • Response times, transcoding speed, and real-time ratios are tracked.
   • Underperforming or malicious Workers can be deprioritized or removed.

1. Inflationary LPT Rewards: Livepeer mints LPT tokens that are distributed to Orchestrators (and their Delegators).
2. Transcoding Fees: Paid in ETH or another token, based on actual jobs processed.

Orchestrators can set:

• Reward Cut: The share of LPT inflation they retain versus distribute to Delegators.
• Fee Cut: The percentage of transcoding fees they keep before paying Workers.

• Transcoding Fees: By default, 75% of transcoding fees go to Workers, with a 25% pool commission.
• In the future, Orchestrators can customize to share LPT rewards as well, incentivizing Worker loyalty.

• Stake LPT on an Orchestrator running Open Pool to help them scale.
• Earn a portion of inflationary LPT (minus the Orchestrator’s reward cut).
• Support a more resilient and scalable Livepeer infrastructure.

• Event-Log-Based Metrics: Every job’s performance (e.g., real-time ratio, response time) is recorded.
• Dashboards & Alerts: Run your own monitoring tools (like Grafana) to spot anomalies or track historical data.
• Fair Work Distribution: High-performing Workers get prioritized for future tasks, incentivizing good behavior and hardware maintenance.

1. Deploy Open Pool:

   • Clone the repository and follow the documentation to set up your Orchestrator node with the Open Pool software.
   • Configure your commission rate and decide whether (and how) you want to share LPT rewards.

2. Connect Workers:

   • Publicly advertise your pool so Workers know how to join, or keep it private if you want a curated group.

3. Monitor & Scale:

   • Use the dashboard to track job throughput, Worker performance, and earnings.

1. Prepare Your GPU Environment:

   • NVIDIA: Install CUDA, cuDNN, and drivers as needed.
   • Other GPUs: Follow recommended drivers or open-source libraries for compatibility.

2. Run the Open Pool Worker:

   • Initial versions may require manual installation.
   • (Upcoming): A Docker container will simplify setup by bundling drivers/libraries.

3. Start Earning:

   • Your Worker node will receive jobs from the Orchestrator.
   • Monitor your payouts in the pool’s dashboard.

1. Stake Your LPT:
   • Delegate LPT to an Orchestrator node running Open Pool.
2. Earn Inflationary Rewards:
   • Receive a share of the newly minted LPT minus the reward cut set by the Orchestrator.
3. Contribute to Scalability:
   • By delegating to pools, you help ensure the network can handle more transcoding and AI tasks.

Open Pool is not limited to video transcoding. It supports GPU-intensive AI workloads, such as:

• Text-to-Speech & Speech-to-Text
• Image-to-Text (OCR) & Image Segmentation
• Object Detection & Content Moderation
• Large Language Model (LLM) Inference
• Real-Time Video Analysis

As demand for AI solutions grows, Open Pool enables Orchestrators to seamlessly scale their GPU capacity without spinning up separate infrastructure.

• Dockerized Onboarding: Simplify Worker setup via a pre-configured container.
• Optional LPT Payouts: Allow Orchestrators to swap ETH fees for LPT and pay Workers directly in LPT.
• Automated Provisioning: Provide scripts or CLI tools to automate driver checks, system configurations, etc.
• Community-Driven Enhancements: Invite the Livepeer community to contribute new features, bug fixes, or custom revenue-sharing logic.

Open Pool is your gateway to a more scalable, decentralized, and AI-ready Livepeer network. By uniting Orchestrators, Workers, and Delegators under a flexible, open-source framework, it unlocks new possibilities for:

• Massive GPU scaling beyond the 100-orchestrator limit.
• Transparent revenue sharing and performance tracking.
• Diverse AI workloads handled alongside video transcoding.

If you’re an Orchestrator seeking to expand your capacity, a Worker ready to monetize your GPU, or a Delegator looking to support the network’s growth, Open Pool offers the tools, transparency, and incentives to make it happen.

Join us in building the next phase of Livepeer’s decentralized compute future!