This Startup Is Disrupting Decentralized Data Storage Industry StorX is one of the newcomers to the market of decentralized cloud data storage, but has gained popularity

Storage coins deal with the exchange and measurement of cloud storage services by means of blockchain technology as a means and cryptocurrency as medium of exchange. The products primarily respond to the current condition in the cloud storage market, where the majority of capacity is saturated among a handful of large service providers. The current market situation exposes the user to a plethora of risks, from censorship to single point of failure. Decentralization is paramount, and this is where storage coins and blockchain technology can make a difference in the benefit of the user.

Storage coin market today has expanded by leaps and bounds from its debut back in the 2017 bull-season. The concept behind the storage coin as a product began back in the early 2010s as academic research around synchronizing decentralized storage by means of blockchain technology. The first storage coin to get introduced in the market was Siacoin, a result of a MIT HackMIT hackathon in 2013, and launched in 2015.

Different types of storage coins have entered the market since the 2015 to 2017 bull season. Some current offerings deal primarily with decentralized cloud storage, while some others focus on their dedicated niche applications. While each niche has its advantage, the largest players in the storage coin sector have a focus on providing neutral file storage. The market leader in quarter 3 of 2021 is Filecoin.

Filecoin is built upon IPFS, the InterPlanetary FileSystem, a storage network and a native blockchain. The protocol acts as a neutral layer between users, who provide storage services in the storage market with floating rates. These services may consist of provision of storage space, running a node or processing data.

StorX vs. Alternatives

StorX is one of the newcomers to the market of decentralized cloud data storage, but just in a few weeks, the service has already gained more than 100 thousand users, and almost 3,000 nodes work in its ecosystem within two months of launch. Also, the $SRX token price spiked in a few minutes after listing with the starting price of $0.1 and maintains the continued ATH with $2.1 while writing this article.

StorX stands out from the crowd by offering a robust desktop app and a fast throughput native blockchain. Compared especially with the Filecoin network, Storx offers a simple alternative. The network is built around proof of stake technology, dedicated storage servers and strong encryption. While in Filecoin the user is responsible for running a node, in StorX the user's files get distributed on storage providers in an encrypted format. This is the fundamental difference between StorX and Filecoin – StorX users may act as hosts and clients, while Filecoin users interact with the IPFS protocol.

Decentralized cloud storage in the Storx network is offered through standardized plans. This makes the user experience somewhat predictable, as compared with Filecoin or competition in general. On most competing platforms the pricing is quite unpredictable to the end user.

Tech outlook regarding the storage coin trend is promising, to say the least. The current wider market conditions force the most advanced users and early adopters to move towards decentralized offerings from centralized providers, such as Google and Amazon. The trend seems to be driven mainly by user adoption based on community adoption around cryptocurrencies, as well as by specific applications where decentralized storage is preferred. Art and digital media seem to be the leading niches.

Market outlook seems to be pointing towards an explosive growth trend emerging around storage coins, revolving around digital content producers and the creative economy. As the trend around digital content accelerates, more and more users are likely to move towards decentralized storage as well. The snowball effect would eventually reach the mainstream user, as the content drives the tools to become more relevant over their progressive adoption curves.

Conclusion

Storage coins are to cloud storage what libraries were to Renaissance. As digital assets are adopted by an increasing variety of users, the tools provided by storage coins become more relevant. This creates a snowball effect bringing storage coins to the mainstream. In the coming cultural phenomenon around decentralized cloud storage and digital content, StorX is in a good spot to exploit this emerging trend.

Note: Investment in cryptocurrency is subject to risk and readers should do their own due diligence. Entrepreneur Media does not endorse any such investment.