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What is SiaCoin (SC) – All You Need To Know

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WHAT IS SIACOIN?

Cryptocurrencies are rapidly becoming popular daily. The reason for the immense growth is not far-fetched and to a great extent, expected, even as new technology continually evolves. Currently, there are over 1500 cryptocurrencies in the market, and the number keeps increasing. Meanwhile, not all cryptocurrencies are worth investing in because most of them do not stand the test of time. This can be because of one reason or the other because several factors affect the survival of a coin, as it were. In the light of this, having done the needful, we present to you, SiaCoin, SC which is worth investing in and mostly noticeable because of its offers.

SiaCoin is a distributed cloud storage platform, which liberates unused storage space. It competes with centralized legacy competitors such as Dropbox, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft. It is a decentralized storage platform secured by the blockchain technology. The storage platform uses underutilized hard drive capacity around the world to create a data storage marketplace that is more reliable and at a lower cost than the available traditional storage providers. The idea of SiaCoin allows anyone around the world to rent out their storage space and in return, reward them for their contribution. Additionally, the cold storage services are presently decentralized, and data is stored on a third party server. SiaCoin allows the storage to be decentralized since all the users contribute all the resources. Using SiaCoin makes your files completely private because Sia encrypts and distributes the files across a decentralized system. In fact, all users can control their private encryption keys, and they own their data.

HOW SIA WORKS

As already mentioned, Sia is a cloud storage platform like Google Drive, Dropbox, and Amazon Cloud. What differentiates Sia from other traditional cloud storage providers is that it is an open-source, blockchain-based, decentralized cloud storage system. Sia offers users a peer-to-peer storage ecosystem that allows anyone around the world to rent out or benefit from the spare hard drive space. Sia rewards anyone on the network with SiaCoin, and that is something at least to smile about. All transactions in the network are secured through filing contracts and storage proofs. Also, Sia does not accept payments from customers but rather allows payment to be done on its platform. This could be the beginning of the hosting of the future in which it is not solely based on central servers anymore.

THE STORAGE ECOSYSTEM

The ecosystem allows for flexible storage options. Clients and providers carry out transactions in the system. The providers are also known as hosts which provide storage space for the clients, and they get paid in Sia. The providers can set the price, advertisement, and standards of penalties. The clients also have the option of setting their standards, and they can choose to give incentives to the providers based on the quality of service offered.

FILE CONTRACTS

When a business transaction is done between a client and provider, a filed contract is written by both parties, and this is stored on Sia’s blockchain. This allows for a penalty should any of the party default. File contracts does not only ensures a level of security in the network. When a filed contract is created by a client, he deposits a balance of SiaCoin into the contract which is used at a later time when the transaction is carried out. These file contracts on the Sia blockchain ensure that the hosts and the users are both satisfied.

PROOF OF STORAGE

Fraudulent acts are prevented in the ecosystem as there is a mandatory proof of storage to be provided by the provider. Proof of storage must be supplied by the provider before payment can be received, and this means, if the provider does not provide proof of storage over a period, the contract will be terminated.

BENEFITS OF SIA

In comparison with the traditional storage system, SiaCoin has an edge with the following benefits:
Privacy: All the data processed on the Sia network are secured, and the provider cannot access them. A private key only is known to the user will be needed to access the storage. This is much better than the traditional model because the host cloud storage companies have access to the files.
Security: Sia protects Client’s data from a single point of failure, and this is achievable via a decentralized system which also allows for splitting uploaded documents among different providers.
Affordability: The pricing in Sia is flexible and market driven. Even though the price can be very low when compared to the traditional models, clients bid for the storage space which leads to the lowest price possible, and they pay with SiaCoin which can be either mined or traded.

TRADING HISTORY

Sia was launched into the Cryptocurrency space on 7 June 2015, and it started trading at $0.000046 per SiaCoin. However, Siacoin experienced an explosion between November – December 2017 with a price of about $0.09. It is presently trading at $0.017, and it is ranked 37th on the coinmarketcap.

WHERE TO BUY AND STORE SIACOIN

SiaCoin can be bought at Bittrex, Upbit or Poloniex with either Bitcoin or Ethereum. Bittrex and Upbit have higher percentages of SC compared to Poloniex. Upbit and Bittrex take both Bitcoin and Ethereum while Poloniex takes only Bitcoin. To buy SiaCoin, you must have bitcoin or ethereum, after which you can then exchange your bitcoin or Ethereum to Siacoin at any of the exchanges. The next step is to store your SiaCoin in a Sia wallet. Sia only supports desktop wallets on Linux, Mac, and Windows platforms.

ROADMAP AND WHAT IS TO COME

Services on Sia are constantly improved. They plan to implement video streaming, scale the service to support files of greater than 10TB at a single time, allow users to share files with platforms outside of Sia, and implement light client and mobile support, compete with cloud storage platforms like Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive. In the future, a two-way ped will be implemented to financially connect the Bitcoin and SiaCoin Blockchains.

In the blockchain space, Sia’s direct competitors are Storj and MaidSafe, but Sia claims to be better with encryption and decentralization. The need for data security, privacy and decentralization are very high at the present moment, and it can be said Sia has come at the most appropriate time. The future is indeed promising for SiaCoin!

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