Many financial-related Web3 applications emerged in Defi Summer 2020. But with the rise of concepts like NFT, Gamefi, and Metaverse, DApps have begun to develop from the field of Defi to images and games. Various decentralized applications have an increasing demand for storage. However, the existing blockchains have limited storage space and high cost, making it unsustainable to meet the growing need for storage.
- Comparison of blockchain storage costs
（Origin： Layer-1 Performance: Comparing 6 Leading Blockchains）
As shown in the figure, the cost of storing 1GB of data on the Ethereum mainnet is approximately $73,000,000, and storage on Solana costs approximately $1 million per GB.
Similarly, the cost of storing 1GB of data on Avalanche is $988,000. With the popularity of these Blockchains, the price will continue to rise. Due to the high cost of storing data on-chain, most DApps usually rely on centralized servers and cloud providers (such as AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure) to store data. For example, due to the storage limitations of Ethereum, most NFT files on Ethereum are stored in IPFS or other centralized platforms.
While FileCoin and Arweave are decentralized storage solutions, they do not come free of their own drawbacks. FileCoin is a complex system, and its storage services are significantly more expensive than their centralized counterpart (AWS, Google Cloud). Furthermore, Filecoin has a data storage market and a data extraction market, therefore, users are charged two fees. The storage fee gives users access to the data, while the extraction fee varies according to the market conditions for data extraction. This will also result in the user’s data access rights not being guaranteed.
In Arweave’s case, It is difficult to deeply integrate Arweave into existing blockchains, since it is incompatible with EVM, and Dapps on other chains cannot easily migrate to it. As Web3 application growth increases the demands on blockchain performance, we are all waiting for a web3-focused, tailored-build blockchain.
- Topia
Topia’s vision is to become the first ultra-high-performance decentralized world computer that deeply integrates distributed storage functionality to realize the mission of becoming the ultimate world computer; developing the infrastructure of WEB 3.0 applications realize ownership of personal data and be controlled by individuals; the best infrastructure for the metaverse; building a more decentralized world with true equality and freedom. Topia has a grand vision and its solutions include the deep integration of distributed storage and the improvement of on-chain transaction performance. Topia aims to be a world computer that is extremely friendly to developers and the user experience, with lower hardware requirements for operating node devices, supporting more nodes, hence resulting in the node distribution being more decentralized.
2.1 Deep integration of distributed storage
(Schematic diagram of the storage protocol)
The storage protocol is divided into the user end and the storage provider. The storage provider can be a local hard drive or any cloud provider.
Topia will not provide our own infrastructure, rather cloud service providers, data centers, and idle storage and computing equipment of individuals and organizations will join and contribute to the Topia network by staking Topia tokens. This framework will distribute a certain amount of Topia token rewards according to the service provided, and it obtains a certain reputable value according to the quality of service provided.
The process of the storage protocol works as follows:
When a user initiates a storage data request (Write), the file is first divided into multiple chunks (the maximum size of each chunk is 256KB), and then a storage execution node is randomly selected according to the reputation of the storage provider. The execution node will select storage providers according to the reputation and resource status of each provider, pass these chunks to them, and then record the corresponding metadata on the chain. According to the storage proof mechanism, the storage worker will periodically submit the storage proof to the chain; If the storage proof-verification fails, the storage node will be punished.
The storage costs: The storage fee is paid according to the size of the valid data stored by the storage provider. The minimum unit denomination is KB, data less than 1KB will be stored on-chain. Currently, the provision is 10 TOP/KB. The storage fee is paid according to the actual computing power consumed by the storage provider. Currently, 10 TOP/KTCP is temporarily specified. T opia deeply integrate distributed storage to meet the growing storage needs of decentralized applications and individual users.
2.2 Realize the personal ownership of data & privacy protection
With the evolution of the Internet, personal identity has also changed: “Consumer” in the Web1 era, “Creator” in the Web2 era, and“Owner” in the era of Web3.
In Gavin’s vision for Web3:
“Web3 Foundation believes in an internet where:
- Users own their own data, not corporations
- Global digital transactions are secure
- Online exchanges of information and value are decentralized”
（origin：https://web3.foundation/about/）
The crypto industry has high expectations for Web3, hoping that the Web3.0 network remains open and transparent, and protects the ownership of personal data and privacy. As one of the most important core concepts in the Web 3.0 era, the ownership of personal data will also become a core feature of Web 3.0 applications. Topia will solve this issue for the ownership of personal data and privacy protection so that data is truly in the hands of individuals.
2.2.1 Decentralized database and DApp container
(Topia’s overall architecture diagram)
In the service layer, Topia will provide a decentralized database and DApp container based on Topia distributed storage, which ensures that DApp data is stored in a user-controlled manner, and allow its own autonomy over its data. Each DApp corresponds to a DApp container, through which user data is stored in a location controlled by the users themselves. The DApp needs user authorization to read the data; each user has its own access to the DApp URL, which is passed through the decentralized DNS resolution.
2.2.2 Privacy Computing
In addition to providing a decentralized database and Dapp container to ensure the ownership of personal data, Topia will also use the following means to protect the privacy of data:
Zero-Knowledge Proofs, Homomorphic Encryption, Secure Multi-party Computation, Proxy Re-Encryption.
Conclusion
The core of web3 is owned by users. With the vigorous development of web3, the data generated by users will be massive. At present, no blockchains can bear such high storage costs. For example, Opensea, the largest NFT trading platform, stores metadata such as image information on a centralized server. Users’ NFT assets are at risk of loss once their server is maliciously attacked. There are even times when Opensea randomly removes users’ NFTs. These are all due to the fact that the user’s data storage security is not well addressed and guaranteed.
If the storage security of data is not guaranteed, then web3 based on user-owned data will be at stake. Therefore, a high-performance blockchain with storage is an indispensable underlying infrastructure for the future web3 revolution. If Web3 is the next revolution in digitalization, then Topia, as the forerunner of this track, is a brand new step on the road to a utopian digital civilization.
Other Reference Articles:
Layer-1 Performance: Comparing 6 Leading Blockchains（CoinCodex）
https://ethereum.org/en/developers/docs/web2-vs-web3/
https://web3.foundation/about/
https://arweave.news/the-beginning-of-arweave-is-the-end-of-ethereum丨-8btc-twitter-space-ama/
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