First and foremost, we would like to introduce a new story format in the CEX.IO blog – CEX.IO Spotlight! The first project we explore is Storj.
Introducing CEX.IO Spotlight
In CEX.IO Spotlight, we will showcase some of the most successful blockchain projects that we come across.
As a global crypto exchange, we are constantly dealing with numerous digital assets. After thorough analysis, we list cryptocurrencies that stood the test of time, proving their resilience, legitimacy, and growth potential.
Yet also, as an ecosystem of financial services centered around crypto, we are striving to ease the open finance for everyone. Not just by introducing click-n-go services to a complex crypto world, but also by spreading relevant knowledge.
We cast a CEX.IO Spotlight on the blockchains that are worth exploring. It is like a first step in furthering knowledge about the vast DeFi space for our users. Knowing the basics, it’ll be easier for them to deepen the analysis, draw comparisons, and make informed decisions.
Let’s do this! Our first guest in the Spotlight is Storj.
What is Storj?
Storj is a protocol, cryptocurrency, and suite of decentralized applications that allows users to store data in a secure and decentralized manner.
Storj Labs, headquartered in the US, was founded in 2014 by Shawn Wilkinson and John Quinn. Since that time, the platform went through three funding rounds and raised about $33.5 million in total.
From a technology standpoint, Storj has been upgraded three times. Storj V3 version is a result of a network revamp in 2019. STORJ token, previously launched on Bitcoin blockchain (known as SJCX token), migrated to Ethereum in 2017.
As of 2021, Storj DCS hosts 4 petabytes (that’s 4 million gigabytes) of decentralized cloud storage across more than 13,000 nodes in 87 countries globally.
What’s special about Storj?
Internet usage has developed to a stage when 59% of the world’s population share unthinkable amounts of data. Only the global mobile audio streaming reached approximately 2.67 million Terabytes in 2021. At the same time, advanced technology such as AR/VR, AI, and IoT is being implemented in a variety of industries globally. Not to mention the constant need of enterprises to share, maintain, and protect large amounts of data.
In this light, there is an obvious need for secure and frictionless cloud data storage with no downtime or probability of losing data. Decentralized cloud solutions like Storj offer the needed functionality, speed, and security. All these benefits can be used by anyone – from individuals and small businesses to endlessly growing blockchains, at the fraction of the price that’s associated with centralized cloud storage.
With Storj DCS, users don’t have to rely on a trusted third-party server. Instead, they get end-to-end encryption and full control of their data on a peer-to-peer network. Security is enhanced because each file splits into 80 parts when uploaded to Storj, and distributes between thousands of unrelated nodes across the world. Furthermore, it takes only 29 of those pieces to download the file, which makes the process super fast.
Storj Partnerships
Storj is known for its multiple tech partnerships with leading companies.
Ethereum
Storj has been collaborating with the Ethereum Classic Labs on a decentralized architecture for GETH – the tool that syncs the blockchain for ETC developers. Due to the nature of a blockchain as an ever-scaling database, the speed of synchronization becomes pivotal, both for developers and users.
Testing of a solution developed by Tardigrade (Decentralized Cloud Storage from Storj Labs) showed that data streaming speed on GETH increased from 12-24 hours to 30-40 minutes, which is a ~2,400% performance growth.
MongoDB
Storj offers zero-knowledge, distributed architecture of the Tardigrade Backup service for MongoDB users. They can automatically backup data, getting the benefits of the enterprise-level security, privacy, and reliability of a multi-region cloud backup architecture.
Fastly
Developers can speed up websites or apps with Fastly CDN. Send files through the real-time log streaming feature to Storj to keep them securely encrypted. This tech integration has already gained a $9.2 billion market cap.
FileZilla
As a reliable, fast, and secure file transfer tool, FileZilla is perfectly compatible with Storj’s decentralized cloud service, which comes with end-to-end encryption and multi-region availability without complicated configurations or added costs.
OpenSea
The users of the largest NFT marketplace OpenSea can use Storj DCS to store and serve non-fungible tokens. While NFT is a way to register a digital asset, there is still a need to store this file somewhere, which is why Storj comes in handy.
Apache
Apache Pulsar is an open-source messaging solution that’s being used on an enterprise level, including Overstock.com, Verizon, and Toast. One of their features is Tiered Storage. Developers use it to offload and store data for long periods of time. With VME disks it would be quite costly. Storj addressed this concern by introducing a high-performance delivery while maintaining integrity and availability of the data at low costs.
PixelExperience
Based on the Android Open Source Project, PixelExperience makes it possible to recreate a Google-like feel on a variety of mobile devices. They keep around 60 different build types on their ROM, which runs through AOSP security updates on a monthly basis. These monthly releases caused bandwidth shortages due to multiple downloads. Storj DCS helped PixelExperience to enhance bandwidth scalability.
Storj Integration Opportunities
The data from the Storj cloud seamlessly interacts with a number of the most popular services and tools.
Storj is compatible with:
- Amazon S3
- Open Sea NFT Marketplace
- GitHub
- Duplicati backup tool
- Filebase blockchain storage
- Rclone storage interface
- Restic backup
- FileZilla SFTP client
- Kubernetes Backup via Velero
- MongoDB database
- Tesla Sentry Mode and Dashcam Mode
Business Use Cases
Storj DCS offers anyone to store and download 150 GB of data monthly at no cost. Since virtually all businesses that deal with online communication have to exchange or store some data, this offer might be interesting for any industry. Small businesses may use this opportunity for developing worldwide projects with added security, privacy, functionality, and reliability.
At the same time, any business which deals with big data will find Storj DCS a viable option.
The most common use cases:
- General backup
- Database backup
- Private data
- Multimedia storage
- Multimedia streaming
- Large file transfer
- Hybrid cloud storage
- Machine Learning
- VR/AR
- IoT data
- NFT
Also, since it’s a peer-to-peer service, Storj itself doesn’t own any data center. Its tokenomics model suggests that participants of the network earn STORJ tokens for renting out their disk space, or hosting a node.
The STORJ Token
Our users can buy, sell, hold, and trade STORJ tokens at CEX.IO.
STORJ is an ERC-20 token which is familiar to many blockchain enthusiasts.
Trade the following pairs at CEX.IO to explore the potential of STORJ:
Besides trading potential, STORJ tokens are primarily used to exchange value within the Storj network. Users can provide value and get paid in STORJ tokens, or use services and pay for them with these tokens.
Main types of value to exchange:
- Buy storage on the Storj network
- Rent out your hard disk storage and get paid in STORJ tokens
- Power apps built on the Storj platform
- Gain access to the Storj DNS and TLS automation and satellite contracts
We might also introduce new services connected to using STORJ within the CEX.IO ecosystem in the future. So stay tuned to not miss the opportunities!
Sources to Learn More About Storj
Due to the concept of a decentralized peer-to-peer network, Storj shows limitless scalability opportunities. The extensive technical documentation is based on experience and proves the platform’s solidity by smoothly working solutions in quite demanding projects.
The project’s team looks into the future, aiming for building an underlying foundation for the boundlessness of Internet-related activities. Respectively, their native token STORJ has entered the market to stay.
CEX.IO has gathered multiple liquidity providers to ensure that our users have the best possible experience when buying, selling, or trading STORJ.