With many blockchain projects now competing for a slice of the cloud storage market, how is 0chain dStorage (now being branded under 0box) positioned to compete?

First, some context for this article.

(I am a blockchain enthusiast, fairly active in the 0chain telegram with ambassador status. My comments and views are not necessarily that of the 0chain team)

0chain brief

0chain, has since its inception been centered around being free. The dStorage (distributed storage) aspect is a crucial early step in the 0chain roadmap. With a solid blockchain technology centered around speed and security, an effective dStorage implementation will set the foundation for the success of all future 0chain development.

Although future enhancements such as smart contracts and dapps are more suited to industrial applications, dStorage universally appeals to individuals and corporations alike, and there is no reason why the proposed dStorage cannot be marketed across the entire spectrum of potential users.

Recent 0chain protocol updates

There have been some recent key changes to the 0chain storage and reward protocols that I will be key to its success.

Uploads, not capacity.

Previously, there was to be set 'prices' for reads, writes and capacity (GB). The recent protocol update now only has prices for reads and writes. This gives a much more predictable system that is fair to the miners (blobbers). Effectively, the writes are the capacity, so if the client is overwriting existing data, they will use up their write quota even though the size of files stored will be less.

It states in the latest protocol paper that these previous file versions would be discarded, however, a versioning system could be implemented in the client software instead that incrementally indexes files to allow access to these previous versions.

This forms an excellent revision to the protocol and closes a potential area of concern where frequent changes to data may have resulted in a disproportionate amount of work for miners and blobbers.

Subsidizing.

So the original zero-cost model remains intact (you get you locked tokens back) but the option has now been added for clients to subsidize miners/blobbers some of their locked tokens.

E.g. so if a client has 200 tokens, and they want xGB storage for a set period that would normally earn 10% interest, the interest a blobber would receive over that period is 20 tokens but the current offering is only half of xGB required, (or 40 tokens for xGB), the client can opt to subsidize some of the locked tokens to make up the difference. In this example, they would subsidize the 20 tokens and they would only get back 180. The blobber gets the other 20 from the 200 plus earns a share* of the 20 tokens interest generated over the locked period.

(* share depends on amount actually used).

The potential of 0box (dStorage)

Now the protocols have matured, the stage is set for 0box to enter the competitive marketplace of cloud storage providers. With a unique combination of features, I believe that the ingredients are in place for 0box to become a major player in the cloud storage arena, here are some of the key ingredients:-

Runs on ultra-fast* blockchain

Own chain technology (not sat on top of someone elses blockchain)

High redundancy planned through erasure encoded ‘striped’ storage (can withstand several points of failure, far superior to most cloud providers)

Super-fast access potential (via parallel downloads from multiple ‘striped’ blobbers)

Forkable chains (specialized forked chains with specific adaptions or for specific industries can be deployed)

Not just a storage platform ( smart contracts and dapps also on the horizon)

Free and ‘paid' options (as discussed above, a 100% subsidized storage option would compete directly against other paid cloud/distributed storage providers)

Considerations

Achieving a superior (distributed, fast, secure, high integrity) storage system and at a price that is competitive with cloud (centralized) or other distributed systems may be a difficult task, but due to the efficiency of the chain and the generous reward system utilized, this is a real possibility.

If users value the privacy and security of their data and are interested in the potential of future blockchain developments, then 0chain represents a great option. Either with a free solution, or even a (partially) paid option, 0box promises to be a quality offering in the distributed storage marketplace.

In summary

0chain is one of the most exciting blockchain developments today.

By creating an excellent foundation for the storage, with a dedicated infrastructure (dedicated blobbers separate to but answerable to the mining core) all on top of an ultra-fast blockchain, the stage is set for 0box to compete in the mainstream.

Of course, the full potential of 0chain will only become clear when additional planned technology such as smart contracts and dapps are launched to further exploit the power of 0chain technology.

Glossary/references

Ultra-fast

run on consensus protocol with incredibly efficient throughput and finality rates

https://0chain.net/research