A blockchain-based cloud storage technology called Filecoin has already raised $52 million from investors. The company is poised to raise millions more on Thursday when it begins selling units of its bitcoin-like cryptocurrency to a larger set of wealthy investors.
Filecoin aims to disrupt conventional cloud-based storage platforms from Amazon and others. If it succeeds, the technology could be worth billions of dollars. But the company will need to overcome some significant hurdles first.
First and foremost, Filecoin's technology doesn't actually exist yet. The Filecoin team has done extensive research and planning, producing a series of white papers describing the technology it's building. But an actual, working Filecoin network is still months away. When it launches, Filecoin will compete with rival blockchain storage networks, including Sia, which has been available to the public for two years.
"Filecoin currently is just a white paper," Sia co-founder David Vorick told us earlier this week.
Have any Soylentils encountered or used blockchain storage, and if so what did you think of it?
Source: Ars Technica
Also at Medium, TechCrunch, and CoinDesk.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by driven on Saturday August 12 2017, @12:36PM (1 child)
Interesting concept, but I didn't notice a "region" concept in the white paper. So you could have a large storage provider (eg. 100 hard drives in their basement) suddenly go offline or even 100 people in a single city go offline due to a power outage. There don't seem to be any guarantees that the data will be replicated to a separate geographical location.
Second, if the data is private I would be hesitant to share it encrypted in public, as someone has as long as they want to try and decipher it offline. With quantum computing around the corner, this is even more of a possibility.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Saturday August 12 2017, @06:22PM
Good point.
In addition to requiring massive redundancy, you would also have to assure massive dispersal.
Then you would also have to limit the percentage of files from any one source that would be allowed to exist in any specific replicate.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.