Data storage is a leading industry that is currently dominated by some of the biggest corporations like Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Apple among others. It is also an industry that is ripe for disruption as people move to decentralized entities. Here are some of the top storage cryptocurrencies to consider.
Siacoin
Siacoin is a relatively small blockchain project that is attempting to solve the pressing challenge of centralized file storage. The company works with more than 600 file hosts from around the world who offer their free bandwidth.
To ensure the safety of files, the network first divides and encrypts them and then stores them in hundreds of servers globally. These files are sent to their hosts using the smart contract technology. In exchange, file owners store a small fee to the hosts using the SIA coin.
Anyone can become a file host using Siacoin’s technology as long as they have the necessary storage capacity. Like most cryptocurrencies, the Siacoin price has dropped in the past few months. It has crashed by more than 86% from its all-time high, giving it a market capitalization of more than $434 million.
Arweave
Arweave is a storage cryptocurrency that uses the so-called blockweave technology that helps people store their files permanently. The goal is relatively simple. Instead of a developer storing their web documents in centralized web hosts, they can store them in its network.
Like Siacoin, Arweave matches people with data that they want to store and those with free space. It works in a similar way to Uber, Lyft, and Airbnb. Arweave also uses the permaweb, which is a global permanent web of pages that are set to live forever.
The Arweave price has dropped by over 72% from its all-time high bringing its total market capitalization to more than $1.4 billion.
Storj
Storj is another storage cryptocurrency. The blockchain project is also built using the power of a community. Anyone with free storage can provide it to the network and then get rewarded using the STORJ token.
Storj is different from other storage platforms because it mostly targets developers who want a reliable service while saving money. Like Siacoin, the process of storage is easy. It starts with splitting files, then encrypting them, and then delivering them to multiple hosts globally.
While the file storage industry is ripe for disruption, the challenge is that people are already used to using centralized options. For example, iCloud and Google Drive work well across devices.
