Sia – Distributed Cloud Storage

Who is Sia?

Launched by Nebulas in 2015, Sia aims to reinvent cloud storage.  Headquartered in Boston, they are funded by companies such as the Raptors Group, Fenbushi Capital, First Star Ventures, and INBlockchain.

Sia fully believes in blockchain, and is utilizing a combination coin structure to achieve their goal of becoming the ‘backbone storage layer of the internet.’

What is the problem?

Humans are digital hoarders.  We create more than 2.5quintillion bytes of data daily – and that number is growing.  This accumulation of data presents a major problem when tasked with the question, ‘where do we store it?’

While new technology has afforded us the ability to carry terabytes of data in our pockets, many individuals and companies are fully reliant on cloud storage.  Unfortunately, cloud storage is an expensive endeavour.  The server farms that are required to make such services work are very power intensive, and require constant maintenance.

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While people may believe that cloud storage is cheap because there are companies out there that offer it for free, consumers are still paying in indirect ways.  This may be through increased advertisements, inflated fees on other services, etc.

Aside from this, arguably the biggest concern with our current storage solutions is censorship.  When utilizing cloud storage, the server hosts often have the ability to filter, evaluate, report, or censor information.

In an age where privacy breaches occur on the regular, and people are subjected to filtered media, a solution needs to be presented.

How will Sia solve it?

The team at Sia is aiming to solve all of the problems we just addressed.  They recognize that this is not an overnight fix, and understand that their main objective of becoming the internet’s storage backbone is a long term goal.

To achieve this, Sia is combining cloud storage with blockchain technology.  In doing so, they are able to create a decentralized cloud storage network.  Rather than rely on a centralized storage point, such as a server farm, the company will use blockchain to rely on unused harddrive space of various devices.  This means that the 50gigabytes of data sitting unused on your cellphone may be used in conjunction with millions of other devices to form a cloud network.  While the whole process will be achieved through the use of smart contracts, SIA has turned to a multi-token structure to entice participants in their network.

Tokens

• SiaCoins – The first of their tokens is known as SiaCoin.  This is a utility token that is used as an intra-platform currency.  It will be used to reward those that lend out their unused harddrive space, and required of those that store their data on the network.
• SiaFunds – These are a security token.  This means that each token represent a single equity share within the company.  Each time a user purchases storage space on the network with SiaCoins, a transaction fee occurs.  These fees are divvied up between token holders, and represent 3.9% of contract spending.

By turning to a method such as this, the team at SIA is able to avoid the construction and maintenance of costly server farms.  More importantly, the issue of censorship is addressed.  As the network is a decentralized service, with no single party controlling the flow of information, users can rest assured they are not being spied on or manipulated in any way.

The Team?

David Vorick – CEO, Cofounder, and Core Developer

Luke Champine – Cofounder, and Core Developer

Chris Shinerral – Core Developer

Zach Herbert – VP of Operations

Steve Funk – Head of Support

Whats Next?

SIA successfully held a security token offering in April of 2018.  It was held as a modified Dutch auction.  During the auction, 750 SiaFund tokens were sold to investors.

Now that this sale has taken place, the company has procured funding to continue along their journey.  The company plans on continuing development towards their goal of becoming the internet backbone storage solution.

Like any security token, a big draw is the liquidity associated with digital assets.  Look for these tokens to make an appearance on security trading platforms in the future.

Weekly updates can be found on the SiaTV.

To learn details about the project, please view our Sia Token Listing page.