{"id":28287,"date":"2014-08-16T08:18:27","date_gmt":"2014-08-16T08:18:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ci027cfe66200c26c3"},"modified":"2014-08-16T08:18:27","modified_gmt":"2014-08-16T08:18:27","slug":"storj-vs-dropbox-decentralized-storage-future-1408177107","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/business\/storj-vs-dropbox-decentralized-storage-future-1408177107","title":{"rendered":"Storj Vs. Dropbox: Why Decentralized Storage Is The Future"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In April 2014, Storj, an open source decentralized storage platform, won the Texas Bitcoin Conference\u2019s hackathon, netting them $250,000 from the BitAngels Fund. The<\/em> crowdsale for their token SJCX and early access to the software has begun and will be running until August 18th (3 days).<\/em><\/p>\n

The future of cloud storage is decentralization. Imagine being able to rent out your extra hard drive space through an autonomous network and getting paid for it in a cryptocurrency. This is being made possible thanks to Satoshi Nakamoto and platforms such as Storj, Maidsafe, Ethereum and others. Now that we have the ability to tie P2P currency to resources such as storage space, bandwidth usage, and CPU power, services like Dropbox and Google Drive will be getting a run for their money.<\/p>\n

Unlike other 2.0 platforms, Storj has decided to take a \u201cbaby steps\u201d approach for developing their software. They want to build their system out in small, modular pieces first so that they can be used as working prototypes. The first of these pieces is a drag-and-drop file hosting web app called Metadisk, which recently had its whitepaper<\/a> and video tutorial<\/a> released. It\u2019s important to note that Metadisk is just one piece of Storj, and as development progresses, more of these web apps, such as DriveShare (used for renting out your own hard drive space), will be coming together to form a more cohesive whole.<\/p>\n

Cost<\/strong> Storj has come out with an infographic<\/a> on the comparative costs of storing data between a decentralized system like Storj and a traditional centralized system like Dropbox. The results are staggering. Storj claims that buying and selling hard drive space in an autonomous network would reduce the cost of cloud computing by orders of magnitude, 10-100x cheaper. Currently, one can rent out 100GB of storage space from Dropbox for $99 a year. Even if a user does not employ the full 100GB, he or she still has to pay the price. With Storj, one would be able to rent out a VPS (Virtual Private Server) from a service such as Digital Ocean and run a 100GB MetaDisk webnode for only $1.47, which includes redundancy backup copies. Add $0.49 for cost of retrieving the data, and we\u2019re looking at $1.96 for the same amount of storage as Dropbox\u2019s $99 offer. On top of that, a user may rent out their extra hard drive space and make a substantial profit with Storj. In Dropbox\u2019s model, if you pay $99 for 100GB a year but don\u2019t use half the space you end up paying for what could potentially be profit.<\/p>\n

The cost of storage generally gets cheaper and cheaper over time, since storage media capabilities double every 12 months. If a decentralized storage system was completely autonomous, the price of storage could eventually drop near the 0 mark. For current centralized cloud services, this would be impossible, as explained best in the Metadisk whitepaper: \u201cThis is competitive with centralized file hosts because even if their cost for storage media halves each year, their ongoing operating costs in data center rents, employee salaries, accounting costs, regulatory burden, legal fees, etc. will remain fixed or increase year over year, limiting their ability to compete with a decentralized model that has no such costs.\u201d \u2013 MetaDisk Whitepaper<\/p>\n

Security<\/strong> In an interview with The Guardian, Edward Snowden called Dropbox<\/a> a \u201ctargeted wannabe PRISM partner\u201d that is \u201cvery hostile to privacy.\u201d With Storj, client-side encryption would ensure that files are secure.<\/p>\n

Blockchain<\/strong> Storj wants to use multiple blockchains to store metadata as a sort of directory for where files are stored and how much redundancy they have. Once the blockchains are too large, they\u2019ll use Merkle tree configurations to speed up this process, similar to how Bitcoin SPV wallets work.<\/p>\n

Speed<\/strong> I asked Storj\u2019s founder Shawn Wilkinson about the expected speed of the network once scaled to expectation. \u201cCompare Dropbox and any peer-to-peer network. At scale, peer-to-peer networks will blow any centralized service out of the water. My goal is maximum throughput, so fast that your internet connection is the bottleneck not the network because at the base we have rewarded transfer.\u201d <\/p>\n

Crowdsale<\/strong> Storj recently started their crowdsale on July 18th, selling their token SJCX on Counterwallet in exchange for Bitcoin. 15 of SJCX goes to the developers, 15 goes to the community and 70 goes towards the crowdsale. Only participants in the crowdsale will be allowed to sell their hard drive space in the early network through DriveShare. Metadisk is already available to participants. What is SJCX good for?<\/p>\n