Towards a Decentralized Storage Network for the Blockchain Computer | Summary and Q&A

TL;DR

Proofs of replication are a cryptographic solution to the problem of verifying the storage of files in a decentralized storage network, providing fault tolerance, censorship resistance, and increased utilization of unused storage space.

Key Insights

• 👾 Decentralized storage increases the utilization of unused storage space, provides fault tolerance, and ensures censorship resistance.
• 👾 Proofs of replication are cryptographic techniques that ensure participants are using the storage space they claim to be using.
• 🥅 The goal is to design a decentralized storage network that is secure and incentivizes participation without requiring specialized hardware.
• 👊 Proof of replication strikes a balance between convenience for individual participants and preventing attacks by entities with large storage resources.

Transcript

hey everyone welcome this is the ACCC YouTube channel my name is Ali rakia I'm a partner on the a 16 se crypto fund and I'm here today with Ben fish who is a student a PhD student under Dan Bonet at Stanford University and has done a lot of very interesting work in the area of blockchain and cryptocurrencies including some work on proofs of replica... Read More

Questions & Answers

Q: Why does decentralized storage matter?

Decentralized storage increases the utilization of unused storage space and provides fault tolerance and censorship resistance. It also enables the decentralized future of applications built on blockchain technology.

Q: How do proofs of replication ensure that files are actually stored?

Proofs of replication use cryptographic techniques to verify that a participant is dedicating a certain amount of storage to store data. The proof ensures that there is no incentive for a participant to cheat and not store the files.

Q: What is the difference between proof of retrieveability and proof of replication?

Proof of retrieveability verifies that a participant is storing a specific file, while proof of replication ensures that a participant is using a certain amount of storage to store data.

Q: What are the challenges in implementing decentralized storage networks?

Challenges include incentivizing participants to store files, ensuring trust in a protocol rather than relying on reputation, and preventing attacks where participants pretend to store multiple copies of a file but actually store only one.

Summary

In this video, Ali Rakia interviews Ben Fish about decentralized storage and the problem it solves. They discuss the challenges of verifying that files are actually stored in a decentralized network and the importance of replication for fault tolerance and censorship resistance. They also explore the concept of proof of storage and its different variations, such as proof of retrieve ability and proof of replication. Lastly, they touch on the implications of using a commoditized resource like storage for network security, compared to specialized hardware used in other blockchain systems.

Questions & Answers

Q: What is the problem of decentralized storage?

The problem of decentralized storage is how to distribute the massive amounts of storage available today across the internet, allowing individuals to contribute their unused storage space and create a marketplace for storage on a decentralized network.

Q: Why is decentralized storage important?

Decentralized storage increases the utilization of unused storage resources, provides censorship resistance, and supports the decentralized future of applications built on blockchains that require storage.

Q: What are the challenges of decentralized storage?

The challenges include verifying that files are actually stored in the network, incentivizing individuals to participate, ensuring fault tolerance and censorship resistance, and designing protocols that are economically viable.

Q: How does proof of retrieve ability solve the problem of verifying storage?

Proof of retrieve ability is a communication efficient proof that verifies a node is storing a file by requesting a small tag in response to a challenge. This proof ensures that the file is still being stored without requiring the entire file.

Q: How does proof of data replication differ from proof of retrieve ability?

Proof of data replication verifies that a node is storing multiple copies of a file, providing fault tolerance. It uses similar techniques as proof of retrieve ability, but ensures redundancy in the storage of the file.

Q: Why is replication important for decentralized storage?

Replication ensures fault tolerance and censorship resistance. If there is only one copy of a file and the node storing it goes down, the file may be lost. Replication also prevents censorship by distributing the storage across multiple nodes.

Q: How do proofs of space and proofs of replication work?

Proofs of space ensure that a node is using the claimed amount of storage by encoding the data in such a way that deleting even a small portion of it requires significant computational effort. Proofs of replication extend this concept to enable the storage of useful data and guarantee that the data can be recovered within a reasonable time frame.

Q: How do proofs of replication prevent impersonation attacks?

Proofs of replication prevent impersonation attacks by designing the encoding process in asymmetric ways. Deleting any portion of the data requires significant time to recover, ensuring that nodes are effectively using the claimed storage amount.

Q: What are the implications of using a commoditized resource like storage for network security?

Using a commoditized resource for network security means that anyone who owns a significant amount of that resource could potentially use it to attack the network. This is in contrast to specialized hardware used in other blockchain systems, which limits access to a smaller group of participants and may provide higher security.

Q: What are some of the techniques used to create proofs of replication?

Techniques used to create proofs of replication include encoding the data in a way that deleting any portion of it requires significant computational effort, ensuring dependencies between the encoded pieces, and designing the encoding process to be asymmetric, allowing for fast recovery of the data.

Takeaways

Decentralized storage networks solve the problem of efficiently utilizing unused storage resources by creating a marketplace for storage on a decentralized network. The challenges include verifying storage, incentivizing participation, ensuring fault tolerance and censorship resistance, and designing economically viable protocols. Proofs of retrieve ability and data replication are cryptographic techniques used to verify storage in a decentralized network. Replication is crucial for fault tolerance and censorship resistance. However, using a commoditized resource like storage for network security poses the risk of attacks by those who own a significant amount of that resource. Specialized hardware, found in other blockchain systems, may provide higher security due to limited access.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Decentralized storage aims to distribute storage across internet-connected devices to increase utilization of unused storage space.

• The challenge is verifying that files are actually stored and retrievable in a decentralized network.

• Proofs of replication provide a solution by incentivizing participants to store and verify files, ensuring fault tolerance and censorship resistance.