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About Siacoin
Key Points
- Siacoin (SC) is the native utility token of Sia, a blockchain-based decentralized cloud storage platform.
- Sia acts as a secure, trustless marketplace for cloud storage, where users can lease access to their unused storage space.
- The main goal of the project is to become the “backbone storage layer of the internet.”
Founders and History
- Sia was conceived in mid-2013 by David Vorick.
- It was officially named Sia in early 2014, a reference to the Egyptian god of perception.
- The Sia Foundation, a registered 501(c)(3
About Sia: The Pioneer of Decentralized Cloud Storage
Introducing Siacoin (SC): A Decentralized Storage Solution
Siacoin (SC) is the native utility token of Sia, a decentralized, blockchain-based cloud storage platform that facilitates a secure, trustless marketplace for users to monetize their idle storage capacity. Through the execution of smart contracts, agreements and transactions are seamlessly enforced, with Siacoin serving as the preferred medium of exchange for storage services within the network. The overarching objective of the project is to establish itself as the “backbone storage layer of the internet.”
Sia was initially unveiled in May 2014, only to be revamped and re-introduced a year later in May 2015, ultimately making its official debut in June 2015.
The Visionaries Behind Siacoin: Meet the Founders
In mid-2013, David Vorick, then a computer science student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, first conceptualized Sia. He shared his idea with Luke Champine, a college friend, via email, and shortly after, Champine joined the project’s development following Vorick’s presentation at the HackMIT hackathon in September 2013. The project was officially christened Sia in early 2014, a nod to the ancient Egyptian deity of perception. The duo established Nebulous, Inc., which served as the primary driving force behind Sia’s development until the inception of The Sia Foundation in 2021.
The Sia Foundation, a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in the United States, has assumed stewardship of the Sia project. The Foundation’s multifaceted objectives and responsibilities encompass maintaining the integrity of core Sia protocols and consensus code; fostering a supportive ecosystem for developers building upon Sia and its protocols; promoting Sia and facilitating strategic partnerships across diverse spheres and communities; ensuring seamless access to siacoins and secure storage solutions for users; developing innovative network scalability solutions; implementing hardforks and guiding the community through these transitions; and many other critical initiatives.
The Sia Foundation is sustained through a block subsidy, and has inaugurated a vibrant grants program in October 2022. The overarching objective of the Grants Program is to provide financial support to innovative projects that leverage Sia in a manner that enhances the network and ecosystem.
Unveiling the Uniqueness of Siacoin
As outlined in its whitepaper, Sia’s long-term objective is to rival established storage solutions, positioning itself as a direct competitor to prominent cloud storage providers like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft. Leveraging its decentralized architecture, Sia is capable of offering competitive storage rates.
Files stored on the Sia network are fragmented into 30 encrypted segments, with each segment uploaded to a distinct host, thereby ensuring redundancy. The agreements established between uploaders and hosts are immutably recorded on Sia’s blockchain and enforced through the execution of smart contracts. Siacoin serves as the preferred method of payment within the network, with renters remitting payment to hosts in SC, while hosts, in turn, lock SC in smart contracts as collateral.
The Circulating Supply of Siacoin (SC): A Closer Look
Siacoin boasts an unlimited supply, a deliberate design choice driven by its utility token purpose. As a facilitator of transactions via smart contracts, the project necessitates a boundless supply to mirror the virtually limitless volume of data that can be generated and stored.
New Siacoins are minted as mining rewards through the Sia blockchain’s proof-of-work mining algorithm. The mining reward initially stood at 300,000 SC and subsequently decreased at a rate of 1 SC with each block mined, until it plateaued at 30,000 SC in July 2020. From that point forward, the block reward has remained fixed at 30,000 SC. Following the launch of The Sia Foundation, the block reward was effectively doubled, with an additional 30,000 SC per block being allocated to the Foundation on a monthly basis.
Siacoin is relinquished from the ecosystem when hosts forfeit tokens or their collateral remains unrefunded due to malicious actions. In the future, the development team plans to implement a proof-of-burn mechanism, whereby hosts will be obligated to sacrifice a modest percentage of their revenue, thereby demonstrating their authenticity and benevolent intentions.
The Sia development team successfully mined approximately 100 blocks, equivalent to around 30 million SC, prior to publicly disclosing the mining algorithm. Notably, the platform’s team and investors collectively hold less than 0.1% of the total Siacoin supply, ensuring a decentralized distribution of the cryptocurrency.
The Security Mechanisms Underpinning the Siacoin Network
The Sia blockchain is fortified by a proof-of-work consensus algorithm, wherein miners engage in a competitive process to add new blocks to the blockchain, and a majority consensus is required to validate a record before it can be posted. According to Sia co-founder Vorick, who made this assertion in June 2017, the proof-of-work mechanism is the most effective way to secure the network, as it effectively shackles a malicious actor’s ability to launch an attack on the network to substantial energy requirements and considerable hardware expenditures.
According to Sia’s development team, the requirement for hosts to post collateral in order to participate in the network’s operations effectively mitigates the risk of malicious behavior. Furthermore, the team highlights the fact that uploaded data is fragmented into 30 segments, which are then dispersed globally, ensuring that the network’s resilience is such that it can only be crippled in the event of a catastrophic natural disaster or a significant geopolitical upheaval. Moreover, as long as at least 10 out of 30 hosts remain operational in the event of a network attack, files can still be successfully retrieved.
Where to Acquire Siacoin (SC): A Comprehensive Guide
Siacoin is available for purchase on prominent cryptocurrency exchanges, including Binance, OKEx, Huobi Global, and Upbit, among others. It can be traded on spot markets against a range of fiat currencies, such as the U.S. dollar and the South Korean won, as well as prominent cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), and the stablecoin Tether (USDT).
Are you intrigued by the prospect of acquiring Siacoin or other prominent cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin? CoinMarketCap offers a straightforward, step-by-step guide, designed to educate you on the intricacies of the crypto universe and facilitate your inaugural purchase of digital coins.
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