Decentralized Storage as the term suggests is a collection of storage whose data is stored in a network that is decentralized meaning without any central monitoring, storage facility or central authority that is the data you store will not be on a single server but across many different nodes at multiple locations through a protocol named IPFS (InterPlanetary File System).

The benefits of decentralized cloud storage over centralized cloud storage is a data breach, data outages, lack of ownership, the rise in the costing of storage, security and privacy, fair market price, better speed, monitoring, and censorship.

Listed below are the 4 top known Decentralized Cloud Storage Networks:

• STORJ

Website: https://storj.io/

Storj is an S3 compatible platform consisting of DApp facilitating to store data in a decentralized and secure manner. Storj is a well known Decentralized cloud storage which is based on cryptocurrency on the Ethereum Blockchain platform. Its operation started in the year 2014 and was founded by John Quinn, Tome Boshevski, Shawn Wilkinson and James Prestwich. Storj has more than 100 million dollars in market cap.

Storj facilitates a faster service to retrieve the files from the different storage nodes. It provides high security through end-to-end encryption meaning only the owners will access its respective files. In Storj the users also get paid if there is an extra disk space and if the user allows it on ride-sharing for the other users on the cloud. It strives in making Storj the largest, cheapest, private and higher in security decentralized cloud storage service.

• Filecoin

Website: https://filecoin.io/

Fielcoin states to be decentralized cloud storage that turns its storage into an algorithmic market. Filecoin enables its users to earn filecoin for hosting the files, the filecoin can be exchanged for BTC, ETH, USD and many more, and it strives to facilitate a reliable storing file at a competitively affordable price. To be the miner, one has to download the Filecoin mining software and it is available for anyone. Filecoin facilitates Proof-of-Replication and Proof-of-Spacetime and they strive to achieve integrity, public auditability, and verifiability, retrievability, compatible incentive, and confidentiality.

Filecoin is a part of the Protocol Labs which is the parent company of IPFS. 

The Protocol Lab, stated, “We believe the internet has become humanity’s most important technology. We build protocols, systems, and tools to improve how it works. Today, we are focused on how we store, locate, and move information.”

Filecoin had made and raised $257 million in its ICO which was said to be the highest and the largest amount made by any ICO. It was stated to have subscribers more than 1,374 on the Reddit Page.

Also Read, Everything You Need To Know About DeFi - Decentralized Finance

• Siacoin

Website: https://sia.tech/

Sia is one of the most popular and top-notch Decentralized cloud storage. Its parent company is Nebulous Labs and is a Venture Capital startup which is located in Boston, Massachusetts. Sia utilizes the underutilized space of the hard drive across the world. The stored files are encrypted and distributed on various servers on various nodes meaning the file is not stored at a single location and the user can have access with the private encryption key and besides it also strives to make it cheaper than the other decentralized cloud storage including the security.

Siacoin is a currency that is utilized for execution of the file storage contracts on the Sia Blockchain. At the end of the procedural term, the payment releases to the host through the file contract in Siacoin. Sia uses the Proof-of-Storage algorithm and smart contracts for the renting, storage, PoW validation for the transaction, and producing the mining hardware for Siacoins mining.

Siafunds is the second cryptocurrency for Siacoins that has a successful contract paying out 3.9% to the holders.

• MaidSafeCoin

Website: https://maidsafe.net/

MaidSafe is also abbreviated as Massive Array of Internet Disks - Secure Access For Everyone. It is the first autonomous data network and is known for keeping a large amount of data in the small encrypted chunks. It runs by the algorithm of Proof-of-Resource.

SAFE an autonomous network has been stated by David Irvine as, “SAFE at its core is an “Autonomous Network“, not a set of federated servers, or owned storage locations, or identifiable nodes, but actually an autonomous network. This means no human intervention, no humans setting prices, no altering configurations to make things work, no tweaking data on disk, no altering rules of the nodes, absolutely no human intervention apart from running a piece of self-configuring, self-healing software. The network decides prices, rewards and how to protect data, communications and calculations, not any human!”

A decentralized cloud storage network with the solving of the roadblock of its originated idea can turn out to be the future of web storage.