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Golem

What is Golem

Golem is a global decentralized supercomputer that consolidates computing power of all the computers on its network.

Users (providers) in its network can loan their excess computing power to people (requesters) in need of additional computing power for running complex processes.

The model closely resembles the model that Airbnb and Uber use.

For those who have huge computing power, Golem presents a readily accessible and affordable computing power to complete all the tasks they need. The need for extra computing power is very important, especially for those who run intensive activities such as artificial intelligence (AI), natural language processing (NLP), gaming, and machine learning.

The project was started by Julian Zawistowski who runs it together with a team of computing experts based in Poland.  The development team has continued to improve the network through decentralized dedicated software integration into the system.

This implies that any party can create and deploy apps on the Golem network by publishing in its registry. Developers can also use the Transaction Framework to customize payment mechanisms to help monetize their software.

What is the problem that Golem Solves?

The tech world is growing rather fast. Call it supersonic speed. To be specific, the computing niche is in the golden age where the thirst for more computing power is insatiable.

From mobile app developers to space scientists, everything is premised on the ability to have constant, reliable, and highly effective computing power. Today, the computing power is dominated by a few players such as Google, Amazon, and Microsoft.

The near monopoly dominance has made computing power become very expensive. This is the problem that Golem comes to address.

Take a situation of a startup investor with a great idea of crafting new health-related application. Such a new venture is likely to be under financial constraints. Therefore, getting expensive devices for high computing power would not be part of the equation.

But it is not just the startups that would need high computing power. Others who might need additional computational power include government departments, institutions, and even individuals such as gamers.

Golem believes in democratizing the access to computing power so that everybody can easily and cheaply access it. If you have some extra computing power from your computer, you can now act as a provider and lend it to others in the Golem network.

How does Golem Solve the problem?

While the problem of the need for more computing power might be less clear to many people especially those needing standard operations, those running big projects such as application development and artificial intelligence are already in critical need.

To help provide this computing power, the Golem network acts like a supercomputer that uses three primary components;

  • Providers (parties connected to the Golem system and willing to lend extra computing power)
  • The requester (a party in the Golem network and need of extra computing power).
  • The Golem ecosystem that houses both the requesters and providers to make the process of lending computing power effective.

The interaction of requesters, providers, and Golem system

For a requester to get the additional computing power from the Golem system, he has to utilize the available request templates referred to as Luxrender and Blender.

Golem will eventually turn these templates into Golem Shop so that even users with different request templates can still use them. Once a requester selects the request template, the Golem receives the info and adds it in the task manager. Then, it is broadcasted to the providers for consideration.

The provider can select the requesters they want to work with by following their reputation. Once a provider identifies a suitable offer, a price and the computing power details are sent to the requestor.

Before starting to use the computing power, verification will be done to confirm the provider has the power to support the task under consideration.

Once everything is confirmed, the requester gets the computing power via IPFS (InterPlanetary File System) and computation starts running on the provider computer. After the task is completed, results are also sent via IPFS.

Note that the Golem system only facilitates the exchange of computation power. The payment is finally processed via the Ethereum smart contract system. Other features used to facilitate lending and renting of computational power in Golem include;

  • Application Registry: This is an Ethereum smart contract created to help developers publish apps on Golem. The feature makes it simpler for users and requesters to pick the tools they need.
  • Transaction Framework: These are requirements that developers are required to follow when they want to run an implementation transaction model for different apps in Golem.

The Golem Network Token (GNT)

To make the processing of computing power direct and easy, Golem also has a native token referred as Golem Network Token (GNT). GNT is an ERC20 token, and the accepted token that requesters use to pay for computing power in the Golem network. The provider is allowed to set the price for renting their computing power in GNT.

When Golem was launched, a total of 1 billion GNT were minted with 82% of them being distributed through crowdsale. GNT can be traded in the exchanges for other assets such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple.

What makes Golem better than it’s competitors?

From the moment that Zawistowski designed to venture into decentralized computing, the battle line with giants such as Google was drawn.

However, the Golem team has been very committed to perfect the decentralized platform through progressive improvement to outdo competitors. Here are some of the top issues that make it better than competitors.

  • The main advantage of Golem over the competitors is derived from the centralized outlook. By offering a decentralized platform for people to sell and rent computing power, Golem is relatively cheaper compared to what Amazon or other computing companies provide.
  • By decentralizing the computing resources through the Golem ecosystem, it is now possible even for small computer owners rent computing resources for specific tasks. This opens the way especially for small to medium computing experts who wanted diversity of computing resources being offered.
  • The Golem platform provides those with computing power the chance to price their computing power the way they prefer. Unlike Amazon or Google where the options are very limited, renters have endless options to pick from. For example, you can check for the offer with the highest computing power but lower rates.
  • When compared to other cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum that can be classified as blockchain networks, Golem takes a different outlook; ‘’a solution on the blockchain.” This implies that it seeks to provide a solution to computing needs in a decentralized way using blockchain technology.
    Golem is, therefore, better because it can concentrate on its core mandate without worrying about the blockchain that supports its native token, GNT. This is one of the reasons that the Golem team has managed to progressively improve its network.

How can Golem be categorized?

Golem is the first decentralized super-computer that has opened the door to sharing computing power. Even though it was very clear that computing services are growing in demand, few were ready to venture into the niche by adopting fully decentralized systems.

Like Bitcoin pioneered the blockchain technology, Golem has pioneered the decentralization of computing resources. From here, things can only move ahead.

It has also helped to advance the blockchain technology by diversifying into a new area. Bitcoin was focused on decentralized payments, Siacoin ventured into decentralized storage, and, now Golem has extended to decentralize computing.

The Golem roadmap demonstrates that things are just heating up. Whether you are looking to rent or lend computing resources, things are bound to get better with time. Here is the roadmap;

  • Brass Golem that focuses on creating a large user base of requestors and drawing a matching supply of computing power.
  • Clay Golem version aims at expanding the Golem user base by stimulating the initial UX (user experience).
  • The Stone Golem is aimed at stimulating wide scale independent integrations into the network.
  • The Iron Golem is the last version aimed at stimulating success and innovation integrations in the platform.
  • What’s Golem’s vision on Security?

As the first truly decentralized computer, Golem vision is providing a completely secure ecosystem for providers to supply their computing resources to requestors. Unlike the current model where centralized organizations can install specific safeguards on their computers, Golem has to work with many independent providers. Therefore, how is Golem living to its dream?

Security is enhanced through progressive updates that help to seal all the gaps identified in the system. Starting from the Brass Golem version to the final Iron Golem version, the development team progressively builds on the previous successes to keep the network more secure. For example, the data sharing technologies development factor related developments in the industry such as Swarm that enhance the security at different levels.

On the part of the GNT (Golem Network Token), the network builds on the Ethereum blockchain for enhanced security. This means that sending GNT is subjected to verification by miners on the Ethereum network. The miners follow back the public address to ensure that the sender has ample GNT and does not double spend.

Even as Golem works extra hard to ensure that the system is secure, it is important that all users also exercise extreme caution. Whether you are a provider, requestor, investor, or simply a trader targeting the tokens, it is important to get it right on security. Here are a few things you can do.

  • Make sure to be on the latest version of Golem.
  • Keep your computer well protected with the right antivirus.
  • Do not share the private keys and seed phrase of your Golem wallet with third parties.
  • When trading GNT, it is advisable to only select those that have a total commitment to users’ security.
  • When not trading the Golem tokens, make sure to move them away from the exchanges and preferably keep them in cold storage.
  • Make sure to always triple check the public address to avoid sending the tokens to the person.

Examples of Golem’s use cases/applications.

When the phrase hiring computing resources is mentioned, many people think of large projects at the corporate level. Now, Golem has changed this mindset. Golem wanted to ensure that everybody whether at a personal or corporate level can log into the Golem network and promptly access the preferred computing resources. Here are some of these Golem use cases.

  1. Scientific research: Scientific researches mainly entail the handling of lots of data and advanced analytics. They also involve the use of advanced applications that the standard computers might be unable to handle. Whether you are studying bio-fuels, alien life, climate change or DNA technology, Golem is the ultimate place to get the additional computing resources.
  2. Graphics rendering: If your venture deals with things such as virtual reality video games, movies, and designer rendering, a lot of computing power will be required. Golem computing makes everything cheap and easy for you.
  3. Artificial intelligence and machine rendering: These two are some of the fastest growing fields in the tech niche today. Whether it is training machines for medical purposes or industrial automation, Golem will be a great option. activities to current use cases\
  4. Business data analytics: In business, data is generated progressively. You need to understand emerging trends, the competitors, clients’ feedbacks, and other metrics needed to make the right decisions and draw key strategies. Golem provides this computing power at an affordable rate to help keep the cost of operation low and accelerate growth.
  5. Apps developers in the market: If you are an app developer, a lot of computing resources will be required. You can reliably count on Golem it.
  6. Cryptocurrency mining: If you are into cryptocurrencies, you will appreciate that mining is one activity that requires a lot of computing power. For example, if you want to mine top networks that use Proof of Work (PoW) consensus algorithm such as Bitcoin, a lot of computing power will be needed. Acquiring some of the top mining equipment to generate high computing power is very expensive. Therefore, a great alternative is going for Golem computing.

References

https://coincheckup.com/coins/Golem

https://golem.network/

https://blog.golemproject.net/

https://wavesplatform.com/files/whitepaper_v0.pdf

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Siacoin

What is Siacoin?

Siacoin (abbrev Sia) is a decentralized platform that uses blockchain technology to help secure and store data safely. It is also a cryptocurrency designed to facilitate payment for data storage in the Sia platform.

The system was created by Vorick David and Luke Champine of Nebulous Inc who wanted to disrupt the data storage market. They conceived the idea in 2013 at HackMIT by making a proposition that with the right platform, any person on the globe could lend unused drive space for a pay.

Siacoin employs file contracts to facilitate operation and payment between hosts (nodes with drive space to lend) and users (clients).

It provides a new way of looking at data-centers so that all people can become part of a huge global ecosystem where data can be stored in a decentralized manner with no risk of loss, abuse, or unauthorized access.

What is the problem that Siacoin Solves?

For more than three decades, the problem of big data has grown from bad to worse.

In a standard setting, companies, organizations, institutions, research firms, and government departments generate huge volumes of data every day, monthly and annually.

Capturing this data, storing, analyzing, searching, and sharing it is a great problem. Think of a person who wants a health-related file about his treatment in 1995 from a government institution amidst progressively piling data. It can be herculean.

Managing this huge data to guarantee harmonic transfer, querying, and even updating is complex and near impossible in many cases. The advent of cloud services was seen as a reliable solution to the problem of big data. But the cloud services are in the hands of a few big corporations such as Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon. The centralized enterprises or data-centers comes with many problems;

  • Storing data in the centralized data centers is very expensive.
  • The profit from such services only goes to a few companies.
  • The risk of attack and loss is very high.
  • Data stored in some services such as Google Drive or Dropbox can easily be accessed by third parties because it is not encrypted.

How does Siacoin Solve the problem?

The primary goal of Siacoin is taking away the monolithic providers head on and handing the power to individuals.

This implies that anyone with some extra drive space in a computer can rent it out to others who need it for a pay. Then, the service is paid in Siacoin.

The Siacoin storage ecosystem

The Siacoin system should be seen to largely comprise of two main parties; the providers (hosts) and clients (users). The Siacoin file ecosystem allows users to rent space from hosts and pay for it based on a free-market driven model. The provider is allowed to set the price and conditions for use. However, these must go in line with the Siacoin contract system.

On their side, clients (users) also have a raft of measures created to protect their interests. For example, the data is split data into small bits and secured with multiple providers to enhance its security and retrievability.

Think of a situation where the provider refuses to release data, his computer gets damaged or even moves abroad. In such a case, it will still be possible to retrieve the data from other decentralized nodes.

The file contract system

For the host and user to work in cohesion, Siacoin uses a file contract that both parties have to agree on. The users agree to pay a specific amount of money (in Siacoin) to store data for a specific period. The host is also required to deposit some money on the Siacoin system at the beginning of the contract as collateral. At the close of the contract, the host is paid the collateral and the fee that the user paid.

The proof of storage

It is prudent to note that even with this contract system, Siacoin system does not trust hosts. If the host is paid in advance, he might opt to run away with user data. For others, their systems can get damaged and, ultimately making it impossible for the user to retrieve it.

Therefore, the Siacoin system only pays the host their collateral and fee from the client after presenting proof of storage.

This is a demonstration that you actually stored the data and made it available to the user in line with the file contract. Once the proof of storage is provided, both the collateral and the fee you charged the user are paid to your wallet in Siacoin.

What makes Siacoin better than it’s competitors?

From the moment that Siacoin was conceived, the founders were ready to take on some of the heaviest tech giants in the industry. But the approach taken by Siacoin starts by demonstrating the huge problem of big data and crafts a workable long-term strategy. Here are the main reasons why Siacoin is better than its competitors.

  • Siacoin provides a cheaper and reliable way of storing data across the globe. Because it is a completely decentralized storage platform, users are assured of getting their data cheaply and reliably.
    Most centralized companies such as Amazon and Microsoft are very expensive especially for users with mild data storage needs. For example, storing 1 TB of data at Siacoin is about $2 while Amazon charges more than $40 for the same service every month.
  • Siacoin guarantees users of utmost security. By adopting strict measures requiring the hosts to put forward collateral, users are assured of utmost greater protection.
    Data is also split and stored in many nodes from the principle that none of them can be trusted. In centralized Datacenters, a single point of failure can compromise a lot of clients’ data.
  • As a digital currency, joining the Siacoin network to rent or host users’ data implies there is a huge opportunity for growth. As one of the high potential cryptocurrencies in the market, holding Siacoin can generate huge returns when the price takes an upward shift.
  • Because Siacoin is an open source project, a lot of developers are always working on new ways of improving the network. This is why it gained a lot of following within a few years of establishment. After a successful debut on the files storage system and achieving great success, other projects that are already generating huge interest include file sharing, file recovery, and streaming services features.

How can Siacoin be categorized?

Siacoin is a truly decentralized platform ushering in a revolution in the data storage niche.

While the industry has been so lucrative, every effort made by the monolithic giants is aimed at funneling more profits to their accounts. But the blockchain technology is here and offering a reliable and affordable alternative. By creating a platform that every person can join and participate in data storage, Siacoin has already set in motion a revolution.

  1. A lot of people who have some unused space in their computers will want to make some extra funds. This is as simple as joining the Siacoin network and following the procedure for renting unused hard drive.
  2. For those with some cash to invest, setting up a sizeable storage center can become a money spinner. For example, planning to rent about 500 TB can add about 1000 USD or more every month.
  3. Even as you seek to become a host or user in the Siacoin network, the decentralized network provides users with additional opportunity of earning from the network. You can act as a miner. Because Siacoin uses Proof of Work (PoW) algorithm, you can get a computer to mine the network and simultaneously rent the storage space to users.

Siacoin’s and Security?

The biggest issue for entities dealing with data is keeping it safe. As a data storage platform and cryptocurrency, it implies that the burden for security is more; protecting the client data and securing the network. Here are the main methods used to guarantee Siacoin users of utmost security.

Siacoin goes beyond Reed Solomon coding model to address redundancy

When users come to the Siacoin platform, they expect that their information and data will be secure. Siacoin delivers this by breaking the information into several pieces and storing it in different computers. In an ordinary Reed Solomon coding model when M-of-N can be referred to recover information, the redundancy is only N/M.

Instead of Siacoin going for 1-of-3, it opts for 10-of-30 nodes to achieve the same redundancy of 3X. The chances of 21 drives of the selected 30 failing are far lower compared to simply sticking to the basics of 3 out of 3. This guarantees users that their data is safe and retrievable when they want it.

All data is encrypted and only the user has the decryption key

All clients’ data is encrypted before getting stored in the host’s drive. This implies that no one can know the details of the stored file. Even in the event that the files are accessed by a third party, it will be impossible to access them without the decryption key. Only the user has the key. The user accounts and their personal information is also encrypted such that even the miners who confirm transactions can only follow back to know the balance in the accounts.

Siacoin development team is always on the lookout for gaps

Because of the stiff competition in the industry, the Siacoin development team is always on the lookout for gaps and bugs targeted at its system. The team also follows the developments in other networks to protect users from emerging risks.

As the Siacoin development team works tirelessly to keep the data and users safer, it is important that the nodes also do their part. Whether you are a host, user, investor, or miner in the Siacoin system, the following five points are very important.

  • Ensure that your computer and system are protected by good anti-malware software.
  • Make sure to avoid visiting risky sites that can give attackers easy access to your Siacoin account.
  • The private keys and the recovery seed phrase should be stored safely and away from the main computers. Also, they should never be shared with third parties.
  • If you opt to trade Siacoin in the markets, it is important to know that they are the easiest target for hackers. Therefore, make sure to use the exchanges that have good security features and move the SC to a cold storage when not trading them.
  • Always triple check the public address of the person you are paying in Siacoin to avoid sending to the wrong address because it implies permanent loss.

Examples of Siacoin’s use cases / applications.

Though Vorick David and Luke Champine had a very clear goal of how they wanted Siacoin to be used, its applications have increased over time. Here are the main Siacoin applications.

  • People with extra drive space in their computers can rent it to those who want it for a fee. Some investors are even focusing on acquiring larger drive space and lending it to Siacoin users for extra pay.
  • Users who have a lot of data to store but do not want to maintain their own systems can reach Siacoin to rent space. Since the storage cost is lower compared to top data providers, Siacoin is a great option for heavy data users especially those working on projects for short time-frames that do not warrant installing own storage systems.
  • Siacoin is one of the high potential cryptocurrencies in the market. This has made it a great investment option. You can opt to trade Siacoin in the market or hold the coins waiting for the price to grow. Note that such holding is based on speculation.
  • You can use Siacoin to pay for products and services in the stores that accept it. This could be e-commerce stores or conventional markets.
  • As a cryptocurrency listed in most markets, you can opt to use it to pay for transaction fees. This is especially useful when operating as cryptocurrency only exchanges.

REFERENCES

https://coincheckup.com/coins/Siacoin

https://sia.tech/

https://blog.sia.tech/

https://support.sia.tech/

https://sia.tech/sia.pdf