SKALE Labs has announced the launch of SKALE Storage, a cost-effective and native decentralized storage solution for Ethereum-based applications, powered by its Elastic Sidechains.

Storing items directly on the Ethereum blockchain is cumbersome and prohibitively expensive. Storing just 1GB of data would take roughly 8,000 blocks and cost on the order of 1250 ETH. Alternative options such as IPFS add additional complexity and can be cumbersome to manage on an ongoing basis.

Additionally, most notable projects intended to provide a decentralized storage solution leveraging IPFS have yet to fully launch, leading to dApp developers being forced to make significant concessions to efficiency over decentralization, including relying on Amazon Web Services (AWS) to host the data for their theoretically decentralized app.

SKALE Storage leverages its Elastic Sidechain architecture for Ethereum apps to provide a native storage experience without relying on AWS or any other third party decentralized app service.

Each SKALE node comes with a modified Ethereum Virtual Machine – supporting storage for files of up to 100MB with just a few lines of code for setup. SKALE storage is thousands of times cheaper than storing direct to the Ethereum blockchain and requires just a couple lines of code to upload files or data.

In conjunction with the product launch, SKALE will commence the application process for the third cohort of the SKALE Innovator Program which is an exclusive partner program where dApps gain early access, engineering support, and other benefits as part of the program.