Cloud data warehouses have already become an integral part of our reality. With their appearance, external hard drives and flashcards began to recede into the past. Because now storage of any data is possible in the data centers of any company. The leaders of this market are well-known corporations that are very difficult to compete with – Google, DropBox, Microsoft, and Amazon. However, the development of technology is proceeding at a rapid pace, and today companies are offering innovative ways of storing information. In this article, we will talk about Sia, a new decentralized cloud storage platform, as well as the digital currency Siacoin, created for this project.
What is Siacoin (SC)
Taking a closer look at Sia, we can say that it is a decentralized cloud storage platform. Thanks to its use, you can store your files using free space on hard drives anywhere in the world. Although this service appeared relatively recently, it can be called a worthy competitor to other world-famous platforms.
Now let’s look at what Siacoin is. It is a product of this platform used to store information on the blockchain. This altcoin is designed to pay for cloud storage services.
Distinctive features of Siacoin
The Siacoin digital coin in the project under consideration is used as a convenient payment instrument when concluding agreements on the lease of free disk space between users. Besides, the Siacoin cryptocurrency is the only means of payment that users can use. In the Sia network, this coin is one possible reward payment instrument. Among the most important distinctive features of Siacoin is the low cost of storing information. For example, you only need to pay $ 2 per month to store 1000 GB of information. Compared to all possible competitors, this is the best combination of quality and price.
In the Siacoin network, the user’s files are cut, after which they are encrypted and transferred to the hosts. To become a host and be eligible to offer users storage space, you need to have at least 2,000 SC and install a special software called Sia-UI.
The distributed data is necessarily copied several times – this helps them to be mobilized at any time. The economic system blockchain Sia makes it possible to use a service similar to those offered by competitors – Dropbox and Google Drive. However, in Siacoin, the user will need to pay a much lower reward for this.
According to the developers’ ideas, Siacoin should become the most voluminous storage of a wide variety of data. With its help, users will be able to listen to music, watch movies, and view photos. Today the team is working on creating an application that performs functions similar to torrenting. In other words, Siacoin is striving to carve out a niche in the market that is powered by giants such as Microsoft OneDrive and DropBox.
Siacoin advantages and disadvantages
Now let’s consider what the advantages and disadvantages of Siakoin exist today. Let’s start with the benefits:
- confidentiality – the user can fully manage their encryption keys. In this case, third parties are not involved who could find out personal data;
- encryption – segments are sent to hosts in encrypted form. It is possible thanks to the Twofish algorithm. It makes Sia much safer than other well-known cloud storage services. For example, Amazon does not offer automatic encryption of user data;
- decentralization and a high degree of reliability. The files are split into 30 segments before being loaded and then sent to 30 hosts;
- payment using SC. Mutual settlements between holders and hosts are carried out in this cryptocurrency. Also, the host leaves a pledge with SC in smart contracts concluded, therefore, strives to ensure the uptime of the hard disk. It is also beneficial for the holder – he/she will be sure that the host will not disconnect for no reason and lose its Siacoin;
- smart contracts between hosts and holders. All important aspects of cooperation are recorded in these contracts;
- renewal of a smart contract. When registering it, the holder sets aside a certain amount of SC. Then these coins are gradually spent during the storage and transfer of files. In most cases, the contract is for 90 days;
- Proof of storage. It is the responsibility of each host to prove that the segment is retained.
We will not be silent about the shortcomings of this project, although there are much fewer of them. The most basic is the specifics of SC mining. Since Siacoins can be mined only by using video cards, mining this cryptocurrency on specially created mining farms or using the computing power of processors becomes impossible. Also, Siacoin has other disadvantages:
- there is a threat of opposition from competitors – large corporations;
- the very specificity of blockchain technology is such that it causes difficulties in legislative regulation;
- the target audience still regards the possibility of decentralized data storage with a great deal of mistrust.
Nevertheless, it can be noted that the listed disadvantages of Siacoin are related not so much to technical difficulties as to the distrust of users, and their moral unwillingness to actively use and distribute the tools offered by this service.
