Storj Coin: A Decentralized Answer For Cloud Storage

Storj will definitely get you thinking, have I heard this somewhere else? Turns out it is a tweaked version of the word storage; perhaps for uniqueness. Well, that should sort of giving you an idea as well as to what the coin is all about.

Storj is essentially a decentralized cloud storage service.  This file storage solution presents an opportunity for a user to have secure, low-cost storage on their terms. The platform utilizes encryption, file sharing and a blockchain-based hash table to make file storage online more efficient and private.

Problems With Traditional Storage Facilities

Centralized cloud storage facilities like Dropbox and Google Drive are decent options but have shortcomings like:

• Low redundancy backup as they rely on bandwidth from a centralized data center. This can mean unexpected outages which can restrict access to your files.
• Privacy is a big concern for centralized storage facilities. This is because the controlling agencies have control over your data including the ability to access them.

Storj solves the problem by utilizing the blockchain and peer-to-peer technology to solve these issues. The network distributes files meaning that redundancy is well established. Notably, only you can access your files.

Torrents As A Precursor To Storj

In the early 2000’s torrents were a massive hit for free downloads of file likes movies, albeit mostly illegally.

Basically, certain users (seeders) would maintain a copy of the same file. Whenever someone wanted a copy of this file, they would make a request to the peer-to-peer network and the seeders share fragments of the file. The torrent software recompiles these fragments to form the original file for the requester.

As a result, you have a decentralized system of downloading that can even be faster than centralized sourcing. In effect, Storj utilizes a similar model only that it does not major on pirated content,

Sharding

File sharding is a concept eerily similar to the torrent process. Accordingly, the Storj networks break down the file you wish to share into several pieces. The advantages of sharding include parallel transfers of file components of your files meaning that file transfer is quicker. Moreover, there is no single person who holds a complete file meaning that only you have control.

The twist comes in with shard location. Torrents publicize shard location meaning that anyone can download the files. Since privacy is obviously the priority for Storj, the owner of the files is the only one who knows all shard locations. The user has a decentralized hash table to locate all the shard locations for the original file. This is possible through the use of personalized private keys.

Encryption

Sharding is one layer of security as no single host can read the entire original file. However, the fact that they can read even a component of the files stored is potentially a problem. Storj adds encryption meaning that users can compress and encrypt a file before sharding.

This means that to hack a Storj file, you not only have to locate all shard locations but also have the private encryption keys. Anyone who has delved into cryptographic details knows the degree of difficulty the double protection provides.

Storj Price

Shawn Wilkinson is the founder of the Storj project and has a competent team of technocrats and executives to go along.

The Storj token facilitates payments within the network. This means that users can pay hosts for the storage and bandwidth services to the network. After all, the storage is a service and elicits some remuneration.

At the time of writing, the price of a Storj token was $0.22. This is definitely markedly lower than the highs of January 2018 but isn’t that the story for pretty much every coin? The bear market of 2018 was devastating for cryptosphere and the jury is still out on how 2019 will go.

Conclusion

Decentralized storage services have the ability to eliminate high costs and the privacy inefficiencies of mainstream cloud storage facilities. Storj Coin is a welcome addition to this space as it provides low cost, scalable and private storage to users across the world. The facility has better usability and adoption than competitors like Sia and is a leading light in this sector. Accordingly, this is project primed to benefit fully from the crypto-revolution.