Community Spotlight: Sia Satellite
A Satellite Service for Renting Storage on Sia
Hi, I’m Mike, also known as mike76 on Sia’s Discord. Today, I will introduce you to Sia Satellite — what it is, how it was created, and why I’m building it.
The idea of Sia Satellite came up during one of the community discussions on the Sia Foundation Discord when Nate from the Sia Foundation said that it would be cool to have a service that accepts credit card payments and lets people rent decentralized storage without even knowing what Siacoin is.
Wait, what is Siacoin??
Okay, let’s start from the beginning. Sia is a decentralized cloud storage platform where people (renters) can rent storage that other people (hosts) provide. The hosts are located all over the world, so the user’s data can be spread over a lot of different storage drives. The cryptographic algorithms that run under the hood ensure the data is encrypted and stored with sufficient redundancy. This means two things. First, only the owner of the data can access it, even though it may be stored in another part of the world. Second, it guarantees a high availability and security of the data. If one or two hosts go offline one day, it’s still possible to recover the original file by downloading the chunks of data from other hosts.
Sia is based on a blockchain, which runs on Siacoin, Sia’s native cryptocurrency. For users to rent storage, they must purchase Siacoins (SC) from a crypto exchange, and this is where the problems begin. To buy Siacoin from an exchange, users must first register an account. A process that will require users to complete a know-your-customer (KYC) procedure. Then, after funding their account with fiat currency, they will be required to buy Bitcoin before they exchange it for Siacoin. Only then can they send their Siacoin to their wallet.
Since this is a hassle that not everyone wants, especially those unfamiliar with cryptocurrency, an external service would come in handy. A service that would accept fiat payments and take over all the negotiations with the hosts, hiding the crypto aspects away from the user. A Sia Satellite.
Why Sia Satellite?
I decided to build Sia Satellite for three reasons. First, I’m having an enormous fun doing it. Second, it has been a huge learning opportunity for me. I have learned more about software development over the past year than I had over many years before. And third, the Sia Foundation’s grants program had just started. It allowed me to work on something I felt passionate about and get paid for it! It has been an opportunity I’m very thankful to the Sia Foundation for providing.
Similar to satellite nodes that operate on other storage networks, Sia Satellite acts as an intermediary between the renter and their hosts on the Sia network: it forms storage contracts on the renter’s behalf. The renter can then upload or download their files as they would normally do without worrying about the hassle of funding their wallet with Siacoin. Instead, renters can easily and securely pay for storage using a credit card over Stripe. Sia Satellite then handles the conversion to Siacoin and host payments, ensuring the renter never needs to deal with cryptocurrencies.
However, this comfort comes with a caveat: it introduces a point of centralization. No matter how many storage contracts your node has with the hosts, they are all formed by a single server. This means that although you own your contracts and data, you trust Sia Satellite to manage your contracts.
To mitigate the increased centralization that Sia Satellite introduces, the long-term plan is to have multiple satellite nodes spun up in different parts of the world. As the project is open-source, anyone who wants will be able to run a satellite. The satellite shall take a reasonably small fee for its services, and this fee can be configured, which may provide a monetary incentive for future satellite operators to join the network.
What Else?
Besides forming contracts on the user’s behalf, a satellite can serve another critical function — taking care of the health of the renter’s data. I believe renters should not be required to monitor their file’s health. However, currently, renters must run their own nodes to ensure their storage contracts are being renewed. If they don’t, there is the risk of data loss if enough of their selected hosts go offline.
To change this, Sia Satellite will also maintain the renter’s contracts and files. Allowing a renter to turn off their node and return in a few months or even years — and the data will still be there! They only need to maintain a positive account balance using the convenience of their credit card.
If you want to learn more about Sia Satellite, need help using it, or setting up your own satellite, please feel free to ask for help in the Sia Foundation discord!
The Sia Foundation has grant funding available for community contributors! The Grants Program was created to fund research, development, developer tools, and anything else that will support and further our mission of user-owned data while enriching the Sia ecosystem.
Just design a proposal that meets our requirements, submit it to our forums, and wait for review by our grants committee. If your grant gets approved, you’re on your way to creating the next great project on the Sia storage network.
Check out our site for more info.
