If you’re wondering what Sia project is all about, here is the short version, Sia stores tiny pieces of your files on dozens of nodes across the globe. This eliminates any single point of failure and ensures highest possible uptime, on par with other cloud storage providers.
Sia is a cloud storage service. It’s the decentralized option to an array of centralized giants such as Apple, Microsoft, Dropbox or Amazon. It enables people to access and host encrypted storage. All transactions are registered within the Sia blockchain and verifiable through its public ledger.
Ecosystem
We’re looking at a peer-to-peer ecosystem; there, anybody can rent out spare hard drive space and receive Siacoin in exchange. This can be done safely, through filing contracts and storage proofs. Obviously, renting space on such hard drives will cost users Siacoins.
Providers can set their own prices, set standards for penalties if storage or files are lost and even deny people service depending on the nature of their data. Users can choose to split their files between more spaces in order to ensure security, and both parties can agree on contractual specifics, such as bonuses for faster uploads, etc. All contracts are stored on the Sia blockchain defining conditions and ensuring that parties conduct accordingly.
People on the platform will make choices depending on what the best match for their needs is, trusting people according to their reputations and requirements, while being safeguarded, in part, by the contracts, which will govern the platform making sure users and providers have a set of rules and regulations to respect. Every time a contract is created, Siacoin are paid as files are uploaded.
Providers also need to present proofs of storage within different time frames, so to show they’ve been compliant. In case they don’t, they won’t receive payments that are instead going to be held until proof is submitted. If the behaviour continues the provider will be penalized up to potential termination of the contract.
Costs
Sia is very cheap compared to other services. If you find the right provider, 1Tb might cost you as little as 2$ a month. All data on the Sia network is encrypted and cannot be accessed by providers unless they are given the key; this is very different from traditional centralized companies that have access to anything you upload on their servers. The fact that all data is processed through a decentralized network also makes it immune to potential hacks.
Siacoin
Siacoin is available onseveral exchanges like Bittrex, Upbit or Poloniex can be stored on Siacoin official wallet.
In the future, Sia wishes to implement video streaming and give more features to users, enabling the upload of bigger files in shorter times, also implementing mobile support and allowing people to share files with platforms outside of Sia.
Conclusion
As a project, it is very promising and quite ambitious in its goal of becoming the storage layer of the decentralized internet. It is a very interesting peer-to-peer ecosystem that is already up and running and might prove very popular in the next few years.
