The Technology of the Future: On-Chain Based Data Storage

“Did Newton’s Laws reach the maximum of its practical value in Newton’s era…?”

Bitcoin has been a brilliant innovation that has apparently lived up to people’s hopes and expectations. In the case of Ethereum, this statement would be way less explicit. The question isn’t about whether Ethereum is competent or not, but whether it has kept its promises. I remember when Vitalik Buterin said that Ethereum was the smartphone while Bitcoin was the pocket calculator. Well, it is kind of interesting that you still cannot use this “smartphone” for anything else except token generation.

If we start assessing the trend of the current blockchain market, it is evident that most results are opting for an off-chain solution. One of the strongest arguments for off-chain — from those who stand for this approach — is cost-effectiveness. This would be near impossible to refute as it’s a fact that off-chain is currently offering way more profitable solutions than on-chain. With that said, we also need to ask ourselves if we can look at innovation solely through the eyes of today’s possibilities. I believe we can’t. What do you think? How many innovations would have been realized had they only emphasized instant, short-term gains? If everyone were to think this way, having projects like Tesla, Netflix, SpaceX, Blue Origin, etc. would be nonsensical.

One of the biggest criticisms of the PoW-based cryptocurrencies is about the energy use of the system. However, if you have a look at the strongest cryptocurrencies, you will come to realize that the finest ones are all built on the PoW system. In terms of block generation technology, the PoW system is way ahead of its PoS counterpart. Therefore, a broader interpretation of these aspects will provide us with a much more complex picture of the systems’ advantages and shortcomings. The rapid and continuous advancement of the mining industry brings along better and more efficient machines every year. It is a fact, however, that energy use is still at the higher end, but the cars of the 80s are also not comparable to today’s hybrid vehicles.

Returning the conversation to blockchain-based data storage, it is wrong to say that off-chain is a more beneficial solution than the on-chain approach. What we see is simply an environment where the largest technological corporations are promoting and communicating the value of the off-chain. It is obvious that the economic and business interests of these companies rely on the off-chain business utilization of the blockchain rather than the on-chain type.

In reality, it is almost impossible to compare these two systems as, while on-chain sticks to the principles of the blockchain in data storage, off-chain only supports data storage by a blockchain system that provides secondary value. This makes it evident that we should not be comparing the two systems, but rather understand the values that on-chain provides and find a way to utilize this solution in future data storage.

If we assess the evolution of data storage over the past two to three decades, it is obvious that the whole industry has tremendously improved. If you had wanted to store large amounts of data twenty years ago, you would have had to pay a more significant price than you do nowadays. Put differently, technology has rapidly been evolving and will continue to do so. Storing data comes with huge challenges that are not only about increasing the efficiency of current possibilities but also about finding new solutions such as on-chain based data storage.

The ILCoin Development Team started a business years ago that was not about short-term benefits but much more about value creation. Innovative thinking does not always come with instant success, and it also often lacks popularity. However, one thing’s for sure; with a platform like DCB, ILCoin will one day be at the forefront. Luckily, we do not have to wait much until this day comes. In 2020, the team will devote all its energy to becoming the first team in the world that solves the problem of on-chain based data storage.