Sia

The Sia cloud storage marketplace, developed by the Sia Foundation, offers a decentralized solution for securely storing and accessing data. According to the vendor, Sia is designed to cater to small to large enterprises across various professions and industries, including data storage and backup providers, IT and technology companies, media and entertainment industry, financial services, and healthcare industry.

Key Features

Rent: Users can lease storage space on the Sia network and securely store data on a decentralized cloud storage marketplace without intermediaries or third-party access.

Host: Individuals and businesses can monetize their unused storage capacity by providing storage services to the Sia community through the network.

Wallet: Manage your digital assets securely with the Sia wallet, which allows you to send and receive siacoins.

Grants: The Sia Foundation's grant program supports projects that promote the mission of user-owned data, fostering innovation and growth within the Sia ecosystem.

Decentralized data storage: Sia ensures redundant file distribution across a global network of hosts, minimizing the risk of single points of failure and enhancing data reliability.

Files are divided prior to upload: Sia divides files into smaller shards, preventing any individual host from having complete control over the data and ensuring access even if some hosts are offline.

Each file segment is encrypted: Sia encrypts each file shard with a unique key, providing robust data privacy and preventing unauthorized access by hosts.

Storage is incentivized with smart contracts: Renters and hosts establish file contracts using the Sia blockchain, enabling transparent pricing, storage duration, and other terms through cryptographic service-level agreements.

Renters and hosts pay with Siacoin: Transactions between renters and hosts are conducted using Siacoin, the native cryptocurrency of the Sia blockchain, with micropayments occurring alongside data transfers.

Contracts are renewed over time: Renters prepay for storage within file contracts, and the renter software automatically renews contracts as they approach expiration, ensuring uninterrupted storage.