What would drive the next billion users to the blockchain ecosystem? Green price charts for related coins, or perhaps more acceptance from governments around the world? Both can help draw the masses’ attention to blockchain-based technologies. However, the real-world uses would generate enough interest for the average user to try out the technology — an app or a service that provides utility for the end-user.
Data storage is a crucial area plagued by centralized monopolies that take away user control and data ownership. According to a Fortune Business Insights report, the market was valued at $217 billion in 2022 and is expected to grow to over $777 billion by 2030. Large corporations have been able to dominate data storage effortlessly due to the lack of competition, causing a stagnation in data storage improvements for end users.
The average user’s growing need to store and manage data, coupled with privacy concerns and the high costs associated with centralized platforms, enabled the growth of data storage powered by decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN), including FileCoin and Arweave. DePINs provide easy scalability, enhanced security and data storage through a network of interconnected physical resources, such as servers and storage devices distributed across multiple locations. By utilizing DePINs, data storage services can offer their customers cheaper pricing options.
In a world where most smartphones don’t have additional storage features while an average 4K video is holding about 1 GB of storage at minimum, it’s no surprise that Big Tech is pushing users toward cloud storage. Since both Google and Apple have cloud offerings for end users that provide native-level support for their respective devices, these centralized entities don’t see a reason to lower prices.
DePIN employs tokens to initiate the setup of physical infrastructure, subsequently fostering a network effect that enables the building of decentralized applications (DApps). Centralized solutions like Amazon S3 cost up to 121 times more than Filecoin. However, the price discrepancy doesn’t directly translate into new users, as these protocols are focused on the infrastructure and enterprise-grade solutions instead of the general public. So, while the costs are low, the lack of consumer-oriented applications restricts the proliferation of more use cases.
Web3 data storage
A new Web3 data storage platform called GhostDrive is putting the end user in focus…
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