
Why blockchains are the future of cloud storage - zherbert
https://blog.sia.tech/why-blockchains-are-the-future-of-cloud-storage-91f0b48cfce9#.69830p5o4
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phs318u
The article neglects to mention that there are already such services
available.

[https://storj.io](https://storj.io)

[https://maidsafe.net](https://maidsafe.net)

An interesting reddit (though aged):

[https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/2b4sl4/storjio_lik...](https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/2b4sl4/storjio_likely_a_disaster_in_the_making_does/)

Having briefly scanned the above company's reddits I get the feeling that the
motive for participation is primarily people hoping for another altcoin
unicorn. Which begs the question, what will happen to the available storage
(and your files along with it) once people get (inevitably?) disappointed and
withdraw from the service?

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dozzie
>> Why blockchains are the future of cloud storage

> Having briefly scanned the above company's reddits I get the feeling that
> the motive for participation is primarily people hoping for another altcoin
> unicorn.

I didn't even need to that to know that the company is being stupid with this
service. Blockchain is a document timestamping service, it doesn't fit
_storage_ scenario in the slightest. It would be much, much better to use DHT
for storage, but DHT is not hype anymore.

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zherbert
Blockchains can be used to create a decentralized storage marketplace. Data is
not actually "stored" on the blockchain – it is stored by distributed hosts –
but the entire marketplace is managed by a blockchain.

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dozzie
And how does the timestamping that blockchain provides help in managing the
storage? To me it still looks like a job for a DHT. The only thing I can think
up is that the registry of files is replicated in the whole through the
blockchain, but then it needs a ton of excessive work just to put a timestamp
that will not be used, and the whole system would be better off with a gossip-
based registry replication.

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zherbert
The blockchain is used to create storage contracts between renters and hosts,
and send payments to hosts.

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dozzie
Oh, so it doesn't concern data storage in particular, is as relevant to
storage as to distributing excess of turnip.

Thank you for clarification.

