The distributed storage track in 2021 is fiercely competitive. As the Web 3.0 ecosystem evolves, decentralized databases, user privacy, and data ownership are increasingly being emphasized. A number of star projects have been launched to accelerate the development and application of decentralized storage. From the popular IPFS, Chia, to Swarm, and most recently Stratos.

What are the key differences between these star projects? Which project has the most potential? Which items are worth holding for the long term? Which one was left over from a short period of popularity? It is not just investors, miners and many warehousing-focused investment houses that have been caught in the mire. We compared and analyzed these items from different dimensions.

What advantages does Filecoin have over Chia, Swarm, and Stratos in terms of consensus mechanisms?

Filecoin is a peer-to-peer network for storing files, which has a pre-set financial incentive to ensure that files are stored reliably over time. The consensus method for FIL mining is the storage proof (POS) method rather than the power proof (POW) method. Loosely speaking, the storage capacity of a hard disk represents its computing power. The amount of energy PoW consumes is nothing compared to the amount of energy it consumes. This will be a more efficient, environmentally friendly and sustainable IPFS ecosystem, while delivering real value and driving community users and miners.

While Chia is a member of the storage industry, it doesn’t do storage, which means it doesn’t offer storage services. Like BTC, it relies on consensus mechanisms to form value. The mechanism of the block ledger is “spatial proof” and “temporal proof”, which is essentially a blockchain ledger.

First, Swarm doesn’t have its own public chain. It uses the common chain of ETH. Moreover, miners’ income depends on user fees. Only 10% of the token allocation is set aside for facility subsidies, and mining is likely to start after August. Without a well-developed ecosystem, few users may pay for it, and the miners’ income may be low.

Then there’s Stratos, which is one of the hottest new projects of late. The project vision and structure are good, but be careful when you enter a new project. It’s not too late to enter when the dust settles.

Faced with a clampdown on policy and the continuing closure of popular mines, do miners have a better choice?

Since the introduction of domestic regulation, the coin circle appears obvious signs of cooling. The mining of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, which is characterized by high energy consumption, has been regulated and phased out. Some project parties under the guise of “clean mining” have attracted many people “into the pit”. In the recent past, many projects had their own founder aura on the stage, and the idea of being different from “traditional” mining attracted many people to the market. Barely a month later, there was no such publicity.

It was clear to everyone that the real value revealed is the application value that the project itself can bring, which is also what we often call the foundation. In many blockchain projects, we can see that if you don’t have the ability to implement the application, you have to rely on concepts, vision and beliefs to support the price of the currency. In the end, not only miners, retail investors and investment institutions will lose money, but also the entire social resources will be wasted, which will have a more serious impact on people who do not understand blockchain and create a vicious circle.

Not much useful data is currently stored in IPFS/FIL. At present, there are some front-end engineering files of blockchain projects for storing useful data, such as static data such as JS, CS and HTML. There is no doubt that IPFS/FIL is still the leader in storage. Chia and Swarm, instead of giving the storage track a boost, are pulling IPFS back. Yet despite this, the IPFS currency price has remained stable and IPFS miners have continued to grow steadily and quietly. Now the return of the market mining output is not low.

Filecoin, based on IPFS distributed storage means, aims to build a stable, fast and efficient distributed storage network. Future applications and monetary values are unpredictable. Building a complete and complete network system is certainly not a day’s work. It can be done in a day or a month or two. This needs a process, with the progress of The Times and the need of society to reflect its value, the price of money will certainly rise with the increase of its value.