- Web3 and the blockchain ecosystem are all about decentralization, but the industry is still almost entirely dependent on centralized cloud services. Multi-Chain Storage (MCS) wants to change this.
- The solution, developed by Swan Network and integrated into Filecoin, allows users to rely on smart contract security and store their files on various blockchain networks.
When Satoshi Nakamoto launched Bitcoin, the goal was to provide the world with a decentralized alternative to the financial system that is not dependent on a few parties. More than a decade later, the industry still relies on trusted intermediaries and third parties to power its decentralized solutions. Swan Network is trying to change this, at least with file storage, and is building a Web3-native solution on the Filecoin network.
Known as Multi-Chain Storage (MCS), it offers a fully decentralized storage solution that allows crypto and blockchain projects to escape the stranglehold of a few central players.
As the name suggests, MCS supports storage solutions on various blockchain networks. It uses smart contracts to provide enhanced security of user files; think of an S3 storage gateway on Amazon’s AWS, but with the added benefit of complete decentralization. This ensures that users have full ownership and control over their data and cannot be denied access or censored by a central entity.
Furthermore, because MCS is multi-chain, it supports several blockchains from Ethereum to Polygon, despite being deployed on Filecoin. This means a user can back up a file on one network and use another blockchain to access and modify it, ushering in the era of interoperability the industry has been craving for years.
To seamlessly meet all storage needs, MCS scales seamlessly without compromising data quality or speed of access. Furthermore, because it consists of multiple chains, it can adapt to changing conditions in each chain, from congestion and latency on some networks to an increase in transaction costs on others.
And while all these benefits are crucial for attracting users, they don’t mean much when the costs are sky-high. However, by utilizing the spare capacity of existing nodes, MCS dramatically reduces costs. It also optimizes storage allocation depending on demand and space in each chain, giving users the best possible deals.
Time to move to decentralized multi-chain storage (MCS)
Decentralized, cheap, fast and available in different chains: this alone is enough to make any user switch from the centralized solutions. But in addition, MCS allows users to store all kinds of data, from images and videos to audio files and any other media format.
Users can also save PDFs, documents, all data formats including JSON and CSV, and web development files written in HTML, JavaScript, CSS, Python and several other languages.
MCS has already attracted projects using the solution for different use cases. One of the customers, Chainnode, archives snapshots from various public blockchains and stores their data forever on the immutable Filecoin network. Another customer, Lagrange, uses MCS to store and deploy code.