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1/ Responding to this tweet — — in this thread. @storecoin and @SiaTechHQ address completely different use cases. They are more different than similar (except perhaps the use of Reed-Solomon erasure coding and other common techniques).
2/ @SiaTechHQ can be better compared to @blockstack than @storecoin. Let's look into the use cases and markets these projects address to understand their differences. Low level technical differences matter less for this comparison.
3/ Sia is a "global cloud storage marketplace" that matches storage providers (hosts) and storage requesters (users). Anyone can become a host by renting their network-connected, unused storage. Anyone can rent storage for about $1/TB/month and bandwidth prices less than $1/TB.
4/ Sia is a "cheaper" cloud storage alternative to the storage services offered by Amazon, Google, and Microsoft. They can offer lower price because they remove intermediaries. Sia is used (mostly) for storing files, which are "encrypted" to protect data/user privacy.
5/ One thing that sets Sia apart is its clear economic incentive structure for both hosts and users. It is scalable because it uses blockchain to the absolute minimum required, such as metadata management on storage contracts.
6/ @blockstack is similar to Sia in that it also focuses on "storing data private to a user". The major differences between the two projects are:
6.1/ Blockstack creates "private data locker" for each user. Users can connect their own "backend" (Amazon, Azure, etc.) to their ...
6.1/ Blockstack creates "private data locker" for each user. Users can connect their own "backend" (Amazon, Azure, etc.) to their ...
6.1/ ... lockers, or use Blockstack or app developer-provided backends.
6.2/ The "user data" is not necessarily file based. It can be anything — from emails and blog posts, to any rich data set (app.co/blockstack).
6.2/ The "user data" is not necessarily file based. It can be anything — from emails and blog posts, to any rich data set (app.co/blockstack).
6.3/ Users can optionally grant permission to their data to apps. So, Blockstack is *not* just a cloud storage service for "personal" data. It is an app development platform with a "privacy first" architecture.
7/ @storecoin can be better compared to @blockstack as we have done here — . So, we'll not repeat the comparison here.
8/ Storecoin allows web and mobile apps to open up and "tokenize" their data, so the data can be discovered, paid for, and accessed by buyers interested in specific categories of data.
9/ Like Blockstack, Storecoin is *not* a cloud storage service for personal data. The apps hosted on Storecoin can mint cryptographic tokens called, "datacoins", which are backed by the data created in the apps.
10/ Think of datacoins as ERC20 equivalent tokens, but backed by app data, instead of just speculation. If data-is-the-new-oil, datacoins represent the "value" of the data. Different apps may have different "values" for their datacoins based on the quality and demand for data.
11/ Like Sia and Blockstack, user data (which can be file, JSON, XML, binary, or any type based on the app) is encrypted at rest to prevent data theft. However, "privacy" is afforded differently.
12/ Since Storecoin is a data computing platform, even sensitive information can be traded. What does this mean for user privacy? Data, which is categorized as "sensitive" (there can be many categories) is *anonymized* contextually before it is shared.
13/ Storecoin's privacy and anonymization spec can be found here — storecoin.com/cloud/privacy-….
14/ As can be seen from the above, the three platforms address different needs. While they appear similar at first glance, they are more different even in the markets they each address. For brevity, we don't drill down to similarities and differences in technology.
15/ Finally, Storecoin is still work-in-progress, while the other two are publicly available to verify all the claims. We are working hard to be "there".
