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Whether you're brand new to the Sia community or just need a refresher on the basics, this article will get you up to speed. |
{% hint style="info" %} Sia is hardforking on February 3rd. Learn what you need to do. {% endhint %}
Sia is a decentralized cloud storage platform secured by blockchain technology. The Sia storage network leverages underutilized hard drive capacity around the world to create a data storage marketplace that is more reliable and lower cost than traditional cloud storage providers. Sia has its own blockchain, and a utility token that powers it – the Siacoin.
Your data is truly private and gets stored across the globe to eliminate any single point of failure and ensure the highest possible uptime. Since you hold the keys, you own your data. No outside company can access or control your files.
Data cannot be de-platformed. Files can not be hacked.
Not only is your data safe on Sia, but you can feel confident that Sia isn't going anywhere. Sia has been in development for six years and has been live for five. The Sia software has been downloaded over a million times, and thousands of TB have been uploaded to the network since its inception. If the Sia dev team quit tomorrow, the network can autonomously run forever.
Sia has an incredible ecosystem with renters, hosts, miners, and a teeming developer community building on Sia and the level 2 layer above Sia called Skynet.
Skynet is a completely decentralized file-sharing and content delivery platform built on top of the Sia cloud storage network. Skynet adds file sharing and data publication capabilities to Sia and creates the infrastructure necessary for apps to store and serve content in a fully decentralized manner.
Any type of data can be uploaded to Skynet. You can upload files through your own Sia node, or a third party Skynet Webportal. Once the file has been uploaded, a 46-byte link called a Skylink is generated. That link can be shared with anyone - Sia users and non-Sia users alike - to fetch the data from Skynet.
The original uploader does not need to stay online in order for the file to remain available. The Sia network handles all of the pinning, guaranteeing both high speeds and excellent uptime. This is a boon for decentralized applications, which can run confidently knowing that their storage layer is just as decentralized as their app.
And for centralized applications, Skynet provides a low cost, low hassle, high-speed mechanism to store and distribute data. Storage costs are as much as 10x lower than traditional infrastructure, bandwidth costs as much as 100x lower, all without sacrificing performance or reliability.