Storj (STORJ)

Storj is a decentralized file storage system

Storj

Type	Cloudstorage
Total supply	Initially planned 500,000,000 SJCX But after ICO and corrections now 424,999,998 STORJ
Website	https://storj.io/

Basics

• Founded in:
• Mainnet release:
• Based in: Atlanta
• “Blockchain-based, end-to-end encrypted, distributed, object storage, where only you have access to your data.”
• From CMC:

"Storj (STORJ) hopes to provide decentralised cloud storage to its community. Storj works on the premise that each user is entitled to the same amount of space on the network as they make available to the community. Users can also receive payment for renting their extra disk space. Files are split up into smaller components and dispersed across an array of devices, with users maintaining control of their keys, which grants them access to their files, at all times. As a result, this decentralised cloud storage model creates additional security for users relative to centralized cloud storage providers."

• It asks partners and companies who host nodes to sign a "Storage Service Level Commitment (SLA)" to ensure there are no down times etc.

History

• The project started out using a Bitcoin-based asset (Counterparty) but later moved to an ERC20 token on the  Ethereum Blockchain. Like described in this Bitcoin.com post: 

"In its announcement, Stoj said shift to ethereum meant lower transaction fees for STORJ holders, as well as improved security and  programmatic payments. CEO Shawn Wilkinson previously told CoinDesk that reasons for the move also included the larger user network on ethereum and the lack of development on the Counterparty network."

• Previously was named Storjcoin X (SJCX) and has shut down the SJCX-STORJ converter at the end of 2019 (30-1-2021).

Audits & Exploits

• Bug bounty program can be found [insert here]. None according to Blockchain Security DB (29-6-2020), which does show 1 audit (6-2017).

Token

Launch

• In May of 2017, Storj Labs International SEZC (formerly Storj Labs (BVI) Ltd), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Storj Labs Inc., conducted a public token sale.
• Raised about $30m in an ICO in May 2017 and had its fair share of drama and founder exits afterwords. To Storj’s credit, it resumed development and appears to be functioning as a distributed data storage platform, at least in a beta state (1-2019).

Token allocation

• From this blog post:

"The quick summary of our token balances as of November 30, 2018 is: 

a. our token sale put 75.1 M STORJ into circulation. 

b. of the 50.1 M STORJ reserved for conversion of the legacy SJCX token, 43.1 M have been used for conversion, and there are approximately 6.9 M still in reserve for conversion. 

c. of the 54.8 M in operational reserves initially held by Storj Labs after the sale, approximately 5.8 M have been used, primarily for paying storage node operators and other service providers. This leaves 49.1 M in our operational reserves. 

e. Finally, 245.0 M STORJ remain in timelock. 

f. This means that 75.1 + 43.1 + 5.8 = 124.0 M STORJ are in circulation. Another 49.1 M + 6.9 M = 56.0 M are in non-timelocked reserves. 

g. The total number of STORJ now and in the future is the 124.0 M in circulation plus the 56.0 M in non-timelocked reserves plus 245.0 M in timelocked reserves = 425.0 M.

• About the storage of their own supply:

Our hot wallets are the only wallets that are online. We try to minimize the amount of tokens stored in hot wallets to the amount we will need over the next 1-2 months. We also maintain hot wallets to receive payments made to us in STORJ token.

Our warm wallets are stored offline in local safe deposit boxes, and can be used to replenish the hot wallets on an as-needed basis. We try to keep 1-2 quarter’s worth of STORJ tokens in warm wallets.

Our hot wallet and warm wallets combined currently hold about 4.8 M of our 49M operational reserves of STORJ tokens.

The remainder of the operational reserves are stored in a cold, multi-signature wallet, which has 44.2M STORJ tokens. Multiple individuals are required to transfer from that wallet and we restrict payment to a set of authorized addresses. The address of the operational cold wallet is provided publicly so that the public can confirm its total holdings."

• More on their locked up 245M Storj tokens can be read here.

Utility

• Utility token with a 10% discount if used for payment (2-2021).

Token Details

• From this blog post:

"a. The STORJ token is used to provide incentives for storage node operators to contribute stable, performant, long-term storage and bandwidth to the network. Today, all storage node operators are compensated for storage and bandwidth usage in STORJ token.

b. The STORJ token provides users with an effective and efficient option for buying storage and bandwidth. While we quote prices today in dollars, users can pay in STORJ token or fiat.

c. The STORJ token enables Storj Labs to efficiently and effectively conduct the network. Specifically, it enables us to compensate large numbers of operators (there were over 70,000 operators in the V2 network) in large numbers of countries (over 180 countries and territories in V2). The token also enables programmatic payments (e.g. via smart contracts), and micropayments. In fact, we have been one of the leaders in crypto payments.

To get a sense of scale, for any given file stored on the network, several thousand different storage nodes may be involved in the storage, transfer and distribution of that file. For a customer storing thousands of files, that can mean millions of small transactions to different addresses across multiple geographies.

d. STORJ token is used to provide demand partners (e.g. the many members of our Open Source Partner Program) with incentives for driving demand to the network.

e. STORJ token serves as a medium of exchange for Satellite operators within the Storj Labs “Tardigrade” branded and curated storage network.

f. STORJ token can serve as a medium of exchange in completely decentralized, non-Tardigrade networks.

Additional Usage Policies and Governance: We are putting in place additional controls to make sure that Storj Labs and our service providers appropriately handle tokens that they own. We also expect to put in place a governance board to oversee company policies such as those mentioned in this post. "

• A bit more on the payment for node operators:

"You get paid every month, but some of your payments will be held back as collateral for 15 months

1. Over the month each satellite is tracking the used space and traffic for each storage node.
2. Every day the satellite is running a rollup on that data. On the 1st August it will rollup the 31th July.
3. On the 2nd August we can run a command to get a CSV file from each satellite.
4. We execute a script to calculate the payouts and held back amount. Both in USD.
5. First 3 months: 75% held

Next 3 months: 50% held

Next 3 months: 25% held

Next 3 months: 0% held

1. After 9 month 50% of the hold back amount will be paid out. The remaining 50% will be hold back until you gracefull exit the network. Still calculated in USD.
2. Final Review. If we find mistakes we have to correct them and repeat the process.
3. Run a script to send out the ethereum transactions. At that point the USD amount will be converted into STORJ based on the current price."

More can be read here.

Tech

• Whitepaper can be found here.
• Code can be viewed here.
• Programming language used:

Transaction Details

• Capacity (TPS):
• Latency:

How it works

• From a bullish blog on Filecoin, so take it with a grain of salt (12-6-2018):

"Storj is a decentralized file storage system that requires the party requesting a file be stored to keep: A) a copy of the file and B) a computer online in order to constantly check whether the file is being stored by another party.

Here is a quick summary of how Storj works:

1. A user U advertises that it will periodically pay $X to have file F stored.
2. A provider P sees the advertisement and agrees to store F. It receives a copy of F from U and starts storing it.
3. Periodically U asks P a question about F (technically it asks P to provide a Merkle proof for a specific challenge) such that if P answers the question correctly, U knows with some statistically significant chance that P has F stored. If P provides the correct answer, U pays $X to P.
4. If U does not pay P, P deletes F — not a big deal: P stored F for a short amount of time it wasn’t paid for.
5. If P answers the question wrong, U assumes P doesn’t have the file, doesn’t pay P, and advertises F for storage again to find a new provider."

Upgrades

• From Decrypt (20-3-2020):

"Storj Labs has launched Tardigrade, an enterprise-level cloud storage service. The decentralized network decrypts files before splitting and distributing them."

Roadmap

• Can be found [Insert link here].
• Claims (4-2019) to go live in the fall of 2019.
• (8-2019) Is now working on "Tardigrade is the enterprise, production-ready version of the Storj network". Tardigrade is in Network bate "Pioneer 1: V3". Their website does not give any timeframe for the launch and has a waitlist open. "At the beginning of February, 2019 Storj Labs began sending invites to our storage node waitlist for alpha testing. Nodes can begin earning STORJ tokens and building node reputation ahead of our beta (Pioneer release) and production (Voyager release) launches coming later this year."

Competition

• Filecoin and Sia

Pros and Cons

Cons

• From a bullish blog on Filecoin, so take it with a grain of salt (12-6-2018):

1. "User U has to remain online asking Provider P questions about files F in order to test whether P has the file stored.
2. U can only be certain one copy of F is stored — P could pretend to be P2 and claim it also has F stored in a separate location but in reality there is only one copy of the file. U could overcome this problem by encrypting F with a secret key and creating F2 which it pays to have stored. The problem then is U must keep the encryption key secret to prevent cheating, which means the file cannot be shared publicly from the decentralized storage system.
3. U has to keep a copy of F because P might just disappear.
4. Trust between U and P is minimized with very frequent challenges and micropayments. However, very frequent micropayments is not practical with Storj because it is based on Ethereum which only runs at ~7 token transactions per second and can cost dollars per transaction."

Team, partners, Funding, etc.

Team (large team on the website)

• Boshevski, Tome; Former founder & chief design officer (Not on the website anymore as of 8-2019)
• Prestwich, James; Former founder coo & cfo (left in 2017)
• Quinn, John; founder & former chief developer officer. As of 8-2019 changed to Chief Revenue Officer
• Wilkinson, Shawn; founder, former CEO & CTO, As of 8-2019 changed to Chief Strategy Officer
• Ben Golub; Executive Chairman and Interim CEO (as of 8-2019 on the website)
• Philip Hutchins; CTO (as of 8-2019 on the website)
• The (then) Lead engineer 'bookchin' left the project in 2017

Advisors (as of 8-2019 on the website)

• Micheal Cohn; advisor
• Tyler Scriven; advisor
• Anand Babu Periasamy; advisory board
• Bo Shen; advisory board
• Katherine Johnson; advisory board
• Roberto Galoppini; advisory board
• Warren Weber; advisory board

Partnerships

• Partnership with FileZilla
• Client of Argon Group
• Is mentioned as one of the partners to NEM and its new Symbol blockchain (12-3-2021).

Funding

• Had a total of 7 funding rounds (as of 8-2019). Including Venture Rounds, Seed Rounds, a grant from the State of Utah (100k) and ultimately the ICO.