Swarm network’s storage rewards go live as it moves towards a Web3 PC

The Swarm Foundation announced exciting updates at its recent semi-annual solstice event. Phase 2 of its ambitious network upgrade is now live on mainnet, allowing Swarm’s storage node operators to be compensated for their contributions.

Introduction of staking and +1000x storage rent fee increase

Staking has been introduced to enable participation in the redistribution mechanism. The mechanism resembles Ethereum’s POS (Proof of Stake), where nodes are chosen to receive all network storage fees periodically. In the coming weeks, storage rent fees will be updated by up to more than 1000x from the current price point.

Fully decentralised rent price oracle is coming in Phase 3

With the iminent Phase 3, which will introduce a fully decentralised storage rent price oracle, Swarm network is now poised to become an economically sustainable Web3 data storage provider. To become a node operator, a standard computer with 20GB of storage and a stable internet connection is required, the most accessible requirements in its class to achieve greater decentralisation.

Daniel Nagy, chief scientist and vice president of Swarm Foundation, commented: “Proper incentives for storing information and making it available upon request are what makes Swarm self-sustaining and viable in the long term, without subsidies or reliance on altruism.”

Swarm Odyssey, the first Web3 PC

Swarm Foundation’s Director, Gregor Žavcer, sees this as just the beginning. The storage incentives project plugs into something much grander — the vision of a Web3 PC. The Web3 PC takes the personal computer and extends it to a Web3 setting.

“What makes it stand out is that it is the first time Web3 has been integrated directly into an existing operating system,” Gregor Žavcer pointed out. Because it runs on Swarm, it also comes with strong privacy features out of the box.

By giving its owner complete control over the data they produce, the Web3 PC can generate real-world value for them and is economically self-sustainable. Strong consideration was given to its ecological footprint as well. Hardware requirements are low and users can re-use existing hardware to run it.

Drop Dropbox, Fairdrive is here

The Swarm Foundation has already taken a big step towards making the vision of the Web3 PC a reality with the second big launch of the event, the Fairdrive desktop app.

Fairdrive, also dubbed “Web3’s Finder”, provides individuals with an interface that allows them to easily use the Swarm network and connect to Web3. Plus, with its open source and interoperable design, developers can easily plug their dApps into Fairdrive, giving users the full Web3 experience from the comfort of their own computers.

The team now plans to release the Swarm Odyssey Beta at the Swarm summit at its Summer Solstice event in 2023.

Get familiar with Fair Data Protocol and build unstoppable dAps

The event also provided an opportunity to show and explain the important work on the Fair Data Protocol (FDP). If you’re not yet familiar with FDP, it aims to provide Web3 storage for dApps to connect and use, allowing for fair access and re-use of data on a global scale. For a more general overview, you can watch this explainer video by Nugaon.

New grants are coming your way

The new Swarm network upgrades must now be put to good use. And what better way than with a new wave of grants for projects that want to build on Swarm?. The projects considered include proof-of-concepts, MVPs, research in the field of decentralised technologies and artistic explorations. You can check out some of the previous grantees and apply here.

Time for “Wikipedia on Swarm” round 2 — a DAI 10,000 prize

In the vein of revealing great ecosystem news, another item came in the last part of the event. A new prize is available that will extend and upgrade the work that was done during part 1 of the “Wikipedia on Swarm” prize. In the first part, a solution that observes a Wikipedia offline archive and uploads it to the Swarm network was built.

Now it’s time to add a search engine on top of it that will make looking for articles a piece of cake. The main prize for a working solution is DAI 10,000. For further information on the bounty join the Fair Data Society Discord.

Check out the new official Swarm blog

And last but not least. The Swarm blog has now officially migrated to a new domain and is called Swarm News. For now, the latest Swarm news will be available on both Medium and the official new blog.

That’s it and stay tuned for more updates on Swarm’s exciting journey to transform the world of data storage!