- Users for both personal and enterprise storage will increasingly look toward Web3 storage technologies more, Huobi Research Institute believes.
- Even storage demands from the NFT industry and the Metaverse is setting the stage for massive capital investments and growth in the burgeoning Web3 storage industry.
There has been a recent explosion of interest around Web3 — a blockchain-based technology platform that is set to become the foundation for a new class of applications. In the world of Web3, there will be no digital gatekeepers to set the rules or take the lion’s share of the profits. In fact, it’s the users that will be in control. There is however more to that, like Web3 storage, a decentralized storage service, which is expected to grow exponentially in the coming years.
In fact, according to Huobi Research Institute, users of both personal and enterprise storage will likely look toward Web3 technologies to fulfill their needs. This is especially since data privacy concerns have been escalating constantly, a factor that could signal a possible shift away from centralized storage providers.
The firm’s researcher Dave Chan himself highlighted that world storage system demand has progressed from remote storage to instant cloud storage, and now blockchain decentralized storage. In essence, Web3 storage allows users to archive, retrieve and maintain their own data and not anyone else. This advantage sets the foundation for the exponential growth for capital investment in this space.
That being said, storage demands from the non-fungible token (NFT) industry and the metaverse, would also trigger massive capital investments and growth in the burgeoning Web3 storage industry, the new report by Huobi Research Institute highlighted.
The three bases that classifies Web3 storage
Huobi Research Institute divides Web3 storage into three; network basis, P2P basis and coordination platform based on its system architecture. The report noted that the network basis verifies storage service on the network while P2P storage provides a cheap and pay-as-you-go storage service. Coordination platform on the other hand is more like a cheap storage plan that results from a combination between Web2 and Web3 platforms.
“Storage on a network basis conquers the market share of crypto ecosystem storage. Layer 1s like Solana validators, NFTs, Metaverse protocols rely on instant storage with interoperability bridges like Solar bridge from Sol to AR. P2P storage aims to become the Amazon Web Services (AWS) of Web3. Coordination platforms stand as the middleman in the storage market,” Chan said.
All three — storage in network basis, P2P basis, and coordination platform — as the institutes stated, will form a blockchain segment and acquire market share in the future enterprise storage market. That is mainly due to growing concerns over privacy breaches and the blockchain’s reputation for security, as some users seek to move away from centralized storage providers.
What problems does it solve?
With its decentralized concept, Web3 storage allows users the ability to own their storage, own their decisions to retrieve and maintain their content through a distributed system secured by blockchain hash encryptions. “This would avoid Web2’s central points of failure— vulnerability to hacks, while protecting privacy and utilizing data without jeopardizing equates to ownership of their data,” Chan noted.
Interestingly, in the future, the report noted that Web3 storage may also solve issues associated with long term liability and assets, such as house deeds, dow payments and acquisition contracts, probably in a permanent way. What might hinder the adoption for the time being is utility in pricing, convenience and interoperability. Where pricing is concerned, Chan said it is far higher than traditional storage methods.
