There is a lot of hype surrounding web3 and for a good reason. Who wouldn\u2019t want a smarter internet, immersive virtual worlds, and sophisticated creator economies? While the scope and potential of web3 are immense, it is just as important to talk about the building blocks of this ecosystem. One of the core things needed for the transition from web2 to web3 is decentralized storage.<\/p>\n
In this article, let\u2019s get into the details and understand the advantages of decentralized storage. Finally, we will see how Dash Platform ensures data integrity with decentralized cloud storage.<\/p>\n
In a decentralized storage system, instead of storing all the data in a centralized server, you store chunks of it as blocks over multiple nodes in a network. Furthermore, the data is secured by cryptography. So, why go through the trouble of storing data in such an intricate manner? Surely, it will be much easier to use simple centralized cloud storage, right?<\/p>\n
Well, sure, the concept may be more straightforward to understand. However, centralized storage systems have several significant shortcomings.<\/p>\n
#1 Susceptible to censorship<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n The centralized storage system we are all familiar with is susceptible to censorship. Let\u2019s take an example we are all familiar with. Wikipedia is a wonderful information resource, but it could be easily censored due to its centralized nature. For example, governments could suppress crucial information from being published on the country\u2019s page.<\/p>\n #2 Single point of vulnerability<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n When using a centralized storage service, you are essentially handing over control of your data to a third party. The problem with keeping all your data in one place is that you are essentially painting a very attractive target for potential hackers, as we saw during the infamous August 31, 2014, Celebgate hack. During the hack, someone hacked iCloud’s servers and leaked extremely private pictures of various celebrities.<\/p>\n #3 Unethical Data Mismanagement<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Finally, let\u2019s talk about data mismanagement. So far, we have seen multiple incidents of third-party service providers being irresponsible and unethical in managing user data. Facebook (now Meta) got in deep trouble when its systems allowed Cambridge Analytica to access the personal data of 87 million Facebook users. The data collected was later used to influence several high-profile elections.<\/p>\n Security and privacy<\/strong><\/em> Minimizing file loss<\/strong><\/em> Liveness<\/strong><\/em> Dash Platform\u2019s web3 storage solution<\/strong><\/em> Drive is Dash Platform’s storage component, allowing for consensus-based verification and validation of user-created data. It is a layer-2 component that stores application data in Dash\u2019s masternodes.<\/p>\n How does it work? Let\u2019s take a look.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\nThe advantages of decentralized data storage<\/h2>\n
\nDecentralized storage organically mitigates this since it stores your data across multiple independently-operated nodes. You don\u2019t need to trust a singular provider because there aren\u2019t any singular providers in this system. The data stored in a decentralized network is also encrypted via cryptographic hash algorithms, adding another layer of protection.<\/p>\n
\nSince your data is stored across independently-operated nodes, the chances of file loss is reduced by a considerable amount. So, you are not dependent on a single service provider being constantly online or operational to have access to your data.<\/p>\n
\nAs we have seen time and again, websites tend to get very slow during high traffic. In some cases, the websites might crash altogether due to these traffic spikes. The reason is simple. There is only so much load that a single server can handle. A decentralized system that uses P2P technology isn\u2019t dependent on one server. Any network load is shared among a distributed network of nodes, leading to fewer bottlenecks and a system that\u2019s continually live.<\/p>\n
\nDash Platform is a web3 technology stack that allows you to build dApps on the Dash network. Dash Platform consists of two components \u2013 Drive and DAPI.<\/p>\n