Swarm (BZZ) is a decentralized storage platform on Ethereum, designed for scalable, secure data storage and retrieval.

The need for decentralized storage solutions is becoming increasingly crucial. Traditional storage systems often pose privacy concerns and are susceptible to centralized control and data breaches. Decentralized storage offers an alternative, ensuring greater privacy and data security by distributing data across multiple nodes. This approach enhances data integrity and gives users more control over their information. Swarm (BZZ) emerges as a leading decentralized storage platform, designed to meet these growing demands for secure and private data storage in a scalable manner.

What is Swarm (BZZ)?

Swarm (BZZ) has a rich history that dates back to its inception as a research and development initiative under the Ethereum Foundation in 2015. Ethereum co-founders Vitalik Buterin and Gavin Woods envisioned the concept of Swarm, but Viktor Tron and Daniel Nagy primarily drove the protocol’s development. As detailed in its whitepaper, Swarm’s mission is to create a self-sovereign global society and permissionless open markets by providing scalable base-layer infrastructure for the decentralized internet.

Swarm became an independent project in 2021 with the establishment of the Swarm Foundation, a non-profit based in Switzerland. The foundation supports the creation of decentralized data storage and exchange technology, focusing on open-source software and community-driven development. Swarm’s mainnet was officially launched on June 21, 2021, but initially, node operators, known as Bees, still need to receive rewards.

The first significant upgrade to Swarm’s mainnet occurred in September 2022, which introduced xBZZ revenue distribution to Bees and implemented low Postage Stamp rates to encourage usage, making Bee operations unprofitable. The upgrade also began a five-phase incentive plan to ensure Bee’s profitability. In December 2023, Swarm 2.0 was unveiled, introducing the Price Oracle on the mainnet to automatically adjust Postage Stamp rates and implementing Erasure Coding for enhanced data protection.

Swarm’s roadmap includes plans to optimize larger data uploads and enhance the network’s capabilities. The Swarm Foundation continues to promote digital freedom and ethical standards through its association with the Fair Data Society. It remains committed to supporting a sustainable and independent decentralized data storage and exchange ecosystem.

How Does Swarm Work? Network Architecture Layers and DISC

Swarm operates on a sophisticated network architecture that provides decentralized storage and communication services. This architecture is divided into four primary layers: the Underlay Network, Overlay Network, Data Access Layer, and Application Layer.

Underlay Network

At its core, Swarm relies on the Underlay Network, which serves as the foundational peer-to-peer protocol facilitating direct communication between nodes. This layer ensures that nodes can connect, interact, and maintain live connections without relying on centralized infrastructure. Essential features include secure communication channels, identity verification, encrypted transport to prevent man-in-the-middle attacks, and guaranteed message delivery. The Underlay Network employs libp2p, a versatile library that meets all these requirements, enabling robust and secure node-to-node interactions.

Overlay Network

Built atop the Underlay Network, the Overlay Network is crucial for Swarm’s decentralized storage system, known as the Distributed Immutable Store of Chunks (DISC). This network utilizes Kademlia routing, a distributed hash table (DHT) algorithm, to efficiently manage and locate data across the network. Data uploaded to Swarm is divided into 4KB chunks and distributed to nodes responsible for their storage based on their address proximity. This ensures data redundancy and fault tolerance, as chunks are spread across various nodes, making the system resilient to node failures and censorship attempts. The DISC model enables Swarm to store data directly within the DHT, rather than merely indexing file locations, thus enhancing data availability and security.

Data Access Layer

The Data Access Layer offers high-level APIs for developers, simplifying interaction with Swarm’s decentralized infrastructure. This layer provides easy access to core functionalities such as data upload, retrieval, and search. By abstracting the complexities of the underlying network, it allows developers to focus on building decentralized applications (dApps) without delving into the intricacies of the storage and communication protocols. This component is essential for fostering a developer-friendly environment, and encouraging the creation of innovative solutions on the Swarm network.

Application Layer

Finally, the Application Layer sets the standards and best practices for developing more complex applications using Swarm. It provides guidelines and frameworks to help developers leverage Swarm’s capabilities effectively, ensuring that applications are built securely, efficiently, and in a decentralized manner. This layer aims to promote the development of applications that can take full advantage of Swarm’s decentralized storage and communication features, thus driving the adoption of decentralized technologies.

Swarm’s network architecture ensures a seamless, secure, and efficient decentralized storage and communication system. Each layer plays a critical role in maintaining the integrity and functionality of the network, from the foundational peer-to-peer connections to the high-level application development standards.

Source: ethswarm.org

Introducing the Distributed Immutable Store of Chunks (DISC), Swarm’s innovative approach to decentralized data storage, further exemplifies its commitment to building a robust, censorship-resistant infrastructure. DISC ensures data integrity and availability, making Swarm a powerful tool for the future of decentralized applications and services.

DISC

The Distributed Immutable Store of Chunks (DISC) is a cornerstone of Swarm’s storage solution, designed to provide a decentralized, robust, and efficient method for storing and retrieving data. DISC leverages a specialized implementation of the Kademlia Distributed Hash Table (DHT) to store data directly within the network, rather than merely indexing locations where data can be found. This direct storage approach significantly enhances data retrieval speed and efficiency.

At the heart of DISC’s architecture is the Kademlia topology, which organizes nodes in a network and facilitates efficient data storage and retrieval. When a node uploads data to Swarm, it is split into 4KB chunks, each assigned a unique address derived from a hash of its content. These chunks are then routed through the network using Kademlia’s proximity-based routing, where each chunk is forwarded to nodes progressively closer to its designated address. This method ensures that data is evenly distributed across the network and stored in the nodes best suited to retain it.

Swarm’s network is segmented into neighborhoods, groups of nodes responsible for storing chunks with a common address prefix. Each neighborhood collectively maintains the data integrity and redundancy, ensuring that chunks are accessible even if some nodes become unavailable. This decentralized approach enhances data resilience and availability, as multiple nodes hold copies of each chunk.

In DISC, chunks are the fundamental units of data storage. There are two primary types of chunks: content-addressed chunks and single-owner chunks. Content-addressed chunks have addresses derived from their data’s hash, facilitating easy data integrity verification. Single-owner chunks, however, are tied to an owner’s address and can be updated without changing it, making them suitable for mutable data applications like feeds. Both types of chunks contribute to Swarm’s flexibility in handling different data requirements.

Swarm employs several protocols to manage data distribution and synchronization. The push-sync protocol distributes chunks to their target neighborhoods upon upload, ensuring data is stored in the appropriate locations. The pull-sync protocol continuously synchronizes data across nodes within a neighborhood, maintaining redundancy and consistency as nodes join or leave the network. When a node requests data, the retrieval protocol directs the request to the nodes storing the relevant chunks, which then respond with the required data, enabling the reconstruction of the original file.

Source: swarm whitepaper

The DISC model offers multiple advantages, including privacy-preserving and permissionless data uploads and downloads, robust defenses against data tampering and censorship, and auto-scaling with increased demand. Data integrity is safeguarded through hash-based addresses, and redundancy ensures data availability even amid node churn. Additionally, the model’s design supports economic incentives for node operators, encouraging widespread participation and sustaining the network’s decentralized nature.

DISC represents a significant advancement in decentralized storage technology, providing a scalable, efficient, and secure data storage and retrieval method. By leveraging Kademlia DHT and robust synchronization protocols, DISC ensures data integrity, availability, and resilience. As we move forward, the DISC model will continue to underpin Swarm’s efforts to deliver a self-sovereign, global data storage solution, paving the way for more advanced features and use cases in decentralized technology. Next, we delve into the intricacies of DISC’s role within Swarm’s network architecture and how it contributes to the broader vision of a decentralized internet.

Swarm Use Cases

Swarm is a decentralized storage and communication infrastructure designed to address the growing need for privacy, security, and efficiency in data management. Its robust architecture and innovative use of blockchain technology make it ideal for a variety of use cases across different industries. Here are some of the primary use cases for Swarm:

• Decentralized Storage for Web3 Applications: Swarm provides a secure and censorship-resistant storage solution for decentralized applications (dApps) in the Web3 ecosystem. By storing data across a distributed network of nodes, Swarm ensures that data remains accessible and tamper-proof, even if some nodes go offline. This makes it ideal for applications that require high availability and integrity of data, such as blockchain-based voting systems, decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms, and social media networks.
• Data Redundancy and Backup: Traditional data storage systems are often vulnerable to data loss due to hardware failures, cyber-attacks, or other unforeseen events. Swarm’s distributed architecture offers a reliable alternative by replicating data across multiple nodes. This redundancy ensures that data can be recovered even if some nodes are compromised, making it a valuable solution for businesses and individuals looking to safeguard their critical information.
• Content Delivery Networks (CDNs): Swarm can be utilized to build decentralized CDNs that deliver web content more efficiently by leveraging the network’s distributed nodes. This approach not only enhances the speed and reliability of content delivery but also reduces dependency on centralized servers, which can be bottlenecks and single points of failure. Swarm-based CDNs can benefit websites, streaming services, and other online platforms that demand high-performance content distribution.
• Immutable Data Archiving: For industries that require long-term, immutable data storage, such as healthcare, legal, and finance, Swarm provides a solution that ensures data integrity and permanence. By using content-addressed storage, Swarm guarantees that once data is uploaded, it cannot be altered or deleted, making it ideal for maintaining accurate records and complying with regulatory requirements.

In conclusion, Swarm’s versatile and decentralized architecture opens up numerous possibilities for secure and efficient data management. Whether it is enhancing Web3 applications, providing robust data redundancy, improving content delivery, or ensuring immutable data archiving, Swarm offers a comprehensive solution that addresses the needs of today’s digital world.

What is the BZZ Coin?

BZZ is the native token of Swarm, used for storage incentives and network governance. Its total supply counts 63,149,437 units, of which 52,600,661 are already in circulation.

The BZZ coin is the native token of the Swarm network, designed to incentivize constructive behavior among node operators who provide bandwidth and storage services. This decentralized network splits files into 4 KB chunks, distributing them across nodes to ensure data redundancy and efficient retrieval. Node operators that offer more bandwidth and storage while swiftly delivering popular chunks receive more traffic and rewards, encouraging high-quality service provision. Consequently, operators compete to enhance the network’s growth, security, and maintenance.

BZZ tokens enable users to access the Swarm network’s data relay and storage services. Publishers use BZZ to write data to the network, ensuring it is stored securely for extended periods. The tokens publishers pay are redistributed to node operators as compensation for their storage services. BZZ tokens are available on both the Ethereum (BZZ) and Gnosis Chain (xBZZ) blockchains, with specific functions like purchasing postage stamp batches and staking to operate a full node being exclusive to the Gnosis Chain version.

Swarm’s incentive system compensates storage providers through a redistribution mechanism based on the amount of BZZ tokens they stake. This system ensures that node operators are fairly rewarded for their contributions. Additionally, BZZ tokens are used to buy postage stamp batches, allowing users to publish data on the Swarm network, making their decentralized applications unstoppable.

The token supply is managed via a bonding curve, which means the supply can increase or decrease dynamically. This approach protects the token’s utility against speculative actions and ensures a stable economy within the network. The total theoretical maximum token supply is capped at 125 million. Still, the current supply is a little over 67.3 million BZZ, with the initial mints allocated to various pools, including token sales, ecosystem development, team rewards, and the Swarm Foundation.

The initial distribution of BZZ tokens allocated 50% for token sales, 24% for ecosystem development, 19% for team rewards, and 7% for the Swarm Foundation’s initiatives.

Source: medium.com/ethereum-swarm

Swarm Main Features

Swarm offers several unique features that address critical challenges in decentralized data networks, such as incentivizing users, providing secure messaging, and efficient resource allocation. Here are some of Swarm’s main features:

Incentives

One of the key challenges in a decentralized data network is incentivizing users to store data and provide bandwidth. Swarm addresses this challenge with two incentive systems: one that rewards nodes for sharing their storage space and another that rewards them for sharing bandwidth. Swarm’s storage incentives are based on postage stamps, which serve as verifiable proof of payment associated with chunks witnessed by their owner’s signature. The amount of xBZZ required for a postage stamp depends on the amount of data being stored and the duration for which it will be stored. This ensures that users are incentivized to store data for longer periods, which helps ensure that data remains available in the network. The Swarm Accounting Protocol (SWAP) ensures that node operators collaborate in routing messages while protecting the network against frivolous bandwidth use.

PSS (Postal Service over Swarm)

PSS is a messaging protocol that enables users to send and receive messages over Swarm. It is an essential component of Swarm’s infrastructure, providing secure, private, and efficient communication between nodes. PSS encrypts messages for the intended recipient and wraps them with a topic in a content-addressed chunk. This ensures that messages are delivered only to the intended recipient’s neighborhood and cannot be intercepted or read by unauthorized parties. PSS also provides privacy by allowing users to receive messages from previously unknown identities, making it ideal for sending anonymous messages to public identities such as registrations or initial contact to start a thread by setting up secure communication. Additionally, PSS supports mailboxing, ensuring messages are not lost if the recipient is offline when sent.

Swarm Accounting Protocol (SWAP)

The Swarm Accounting Protocol (SWAP) ensures that node operators collaborate in routing messages while protecting the network against frivolous bandwidth use. As nodes relay requests and responses, they keep track of their relative bandwidth consumption with each of their peers. Within bounds, peers engage in a service-for-service exchange. However, once a limit is reached, the party in debt can either wait until their liabilities are amortized or pay by sending cheques that cash out in BZZ on the blockchain. This protocol ensures that Swarm is free for those downloading or uploading a small amount of content or are willing to wait until they have earned credit by providing reciprocal services on each peer connection.

Swarm Improvement Proposals (SWIPs)

Swarm Improvement Proposals (SWIPs) describe standards for the Swarm platform, including core protocol specifications, client APIs, and contract standards. Interested parties can follow the SWIP process to submit their specification proposals on said topics. It is best to first test the ideas for proposals with the rest of the Swarm community on the Swarm Discord channels, followed up by formalizing them in the SWIP repository. This collaborative process ensures that the Swarm platform evolves in a manner that is consistent with the needs and goals of its community.

Source: ethswarm.org

Swarm’s incentive systems, secure messaging protocol, efficient resource allocation, and community-driven improvement proposals make it a robust and dynamic decentralized storage network. These features collectively ensure that Swarm remains a scalable, secure, and user-friendly platform for decentralized data storage and communication.

Is BZZ a Good Investment?

The BZZ token powers Swarm’s decentralized storage network, incentivizing node operators to provide bandwidth and storage. Its unique mechanism ensures efficient, secure data storage and retrieval, making it a compelling utility in the decentralized internet space. BZZ’s role in maintaining network integrity and promoting fair resource allocation highlights its potential. However, one challenge is the network’s complexity, which might deter less tech-savvy users. Additionally, competition from other decentralized storage solutions could impact its long-term adoption and growth.

How to Own BZZ?

To own BZZ, you can use the services of a centralized crypto exchange. Start by creating a Gate.io account, and get it verified and funded. Then you are ready to go through the steps to buy BZZ.

News on Swarm

According to what was announced by the official Swarm blog on June 11, 2024, Swarm has partnered with IoTeX, integrating with DePINscan for enhanced transparency and joining their DePIN liquidity pools. This integration allows for real-time tracking and accurate representation of the Swarm network, providing users with detailed insights. Additionally, joining the DePIN liquidity pools improves liquidity for the BZZ token, facilitating smoother exchanges and expanding the network’s visibility and reach. This partnership promises significant benefits for Swarm’s ecosystem and its community.

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