Is BNB Greenfield Economically Sustainable in the Decentralized Storage Domain?

Following the vision of Web3 as the future of the internet, where users will have complete control over their online experiences and confidential data, BNB introduced its third blockchain in the ecosystem in February 2023.

Centralized data storage has been prevalent for decades. It stores data on a single or cluster of servers. Since all data is stored on a single server, centralized data storage apologists say managing and accessing data is straightforward.

However, it makes it facile for hackers to target a single failure point and access sensitive data. BNB Chain preaches the need for a decentralized storage system. It empowers decentralized applications (dApps) and users to create, store, and exchange data with the highest financial benefits, privilege, and authority.

BNB Greenfield offers a premium decentralized storage solution that is cost-effective, highly scalable, supports integration with BNB Smart Chain, and ensures privacy and security.

BNB Greenfield offers several unique features that stand out from the existing DSNs, including data configuration, native smart-contract ecosystem, and storage flexibility. Let's look briefly into its architecture and economics for a better understanding.

The Architecture of BNB Greenfield

Within the extensive BNB Chain ecosystem, this decentralized storage infrastructure allows dApps and users to build, stock, and swap data with the exclusive privilege of forming a new data economy.

The architecture of BNB Greenfield is based on the trinity of entities working in synchronization to strengthen this novel decentralized data storage system.

• BNB Greenfield dApps
• BNB Greenfield Core
• BNB Smart Chain

Greenfield dApps

Greenfield dApps solve diverse challenges users face by leveraging the exclusive features of the Greenfield blockchain. Using the BNB Greenfield decentralized applications, users can seamlessly interact with the BNB Greenfield ecosystem.

The dApps provide a secure platform to create and manage data using the related economic attributes and Greenfield storage. Moreover, within the cross-chain facility, the blockchain offers a user-friendly smart contract library, allowing dApps developers to integrate innovative elements into their applications seamlessly.

BNB Greenfield Core

BNB Greenfield's epicenter includes a decentralized web of Storage Providers (SPs) and a storage-oriented blockchain (Greenfield). The SPs store the sensitive data off-chain whenever a user uploads an appeal for data storage on the Greenfield ecosystem.

BNB Smart Chain

A cross-chain bridge between the BNB Greenfield blockchain and BNB Smart Chain (BSC) allows all facets of data to be transmitted to BNB Smart Chain and supported in the existing BNB Chain dApp ecosystem.

How Does BNB Greenfield Work?

To grant dApps and users complete ownership of their confidential data, this storage-oriented blockchain uses BNB as its native coin and is integrated with smart contracts.

This storage-oriented blockchain interacts with a decentralized web of storage providers (SPs). Users or dApps upload their data with usage permissions and unique access on BNB Greenfield. The storage providers store that data off-chain with valid backup and redundancy. However, users' BNB ledger metadata remains stored on the BNB Greenfield blockchain.

Utilizing off-chain data storage through Service Providers (SPs) and incorporating metadata within the blockchain infrastructure introduces a sophisticated layering mechanism that enhances privacy and anonymity.. This combination provides an efficient, secure, and scalable data storage solution optimized for distributed systems.

The native cross-chain bridge makes it feasible to transmit the aspects of data from the BNB Greenfield ecosystem to BNB Smart Chain. Stored data can be used in the new generation BNB Greenfield dApps and the existing BNB Chain dApp ecosystem. This interoperability showcases the potential for increased adaptability and integration of decentralized storage systems in the context of blockchain technology.

What Makes BNB Greenfield Stand Out From Other DSNs?

As of April 2023, at the time of writing this article, BNB Chain has an average daily user count (DAU) of 1.3M, making it the largest blockchain ecosystem. The existing DSNs like Arweave, StorJ, and FileCoin have their concerns, including limited programmability, low performance, and poor user experience.

BNB Greenfield aims to solve these concerns through its advanced decentralized network that is highly scalable, cost-effective, and secure. Web3 builders can start building Web3 applications from Day 1 with their familiar programming tools and models- thanks to Greenfield's EVM-compatible smart contract integration.

Without comprehending the complicated mechanism or underlying, users can directly use the BNB token to establish their accounts. BNB Greenfield lets users log in with anonymous cryptographic-based keys (IDs) for advanced privacy.

Anonymous cryptographic-based keys (IDs) are randomly yet uniquely generated systematic IDs. These IDs are used to verify transactions on the blockchain and prevent the need to expose the sender/receiver's identity. Consequently, this approach enhances the overall privacy, anonymity, and security of the decentralized storage system, demonstrating the potential for increased user privacy protection in distributed networks.

Programmability

Arweave features a scalable, simple, smart contract called the SmartWeave. SmartWeave isn't compatible with the EVM. It urges Web3 developers to learn Arweave's SmartWeave programming models before developing dApps.

FileCoin decentralized storage solution has existed since July 2014. However, it released its EVM-compatible version, the FileCoin Virtual Machine (FVM), on March 14, 2023. FVM is compatible with EVM development tools, including Metamask, Hardhat, and Brownie.

BNB Greenfield, on the other hand, is fully compatible with EVM from day 1. Thanks to the user-friendly interface, Smart Contract can employ primitives to manage practically all stored data on the BNB Greenfield.

Data Accessibility

Whenever FileCoin users need to download or access data, they must use its Retrieval Market. Arweave users, on the other hand, use ArDrive to download the data, while StorJ offers APIs for direct data access. Similar to Storj, BNB Greenfield also provides direct data access using APIs.

APIs use the Universal Endpoint protocol that lets users access any endpoint of SPs and get their data. The users use a bucket or object ID with the object name for object reference codes.

The BNB Greenfield service providers (SPs) use client bucket sharding to ensure swift data access, similar to conventional cloud storage solutions. Sharding is allocating data on multiple systems for increased performance and improved scaling.

This implementation is quicker and outpaces leading DSNs, including Arweave, StorJ, and FileCoin. The cherry on top is the concepts of access permissions and data ownership into DSN, making it programmable with BSC smart contracts.

Data Persistency and Availability Proof

For data replication and high-speed retrieval services, Arweave uses the SPoRa algorithms. Using a blockchain-based persistence mechanism, all data is loaded on the chain and readily available through a probability model.

FileCoin is an inducement layer that aims to offer a permanent storage node. A deal between the storage service provider and the client will be needed whenever a user needs to save a file. The storage service provider must provide the Proof of Space-Time (PoSF) to ensure data replication and persistence.

In the BNB Greenfield ecosystem, if any storage service provider is being fraudulent, it will be penalized economically, with the node slashed.

Like users downloading the data, BNB Greenfield challengers and validators perform similar challenges. It checks the service speed, assuring data redundancy and availability.

Billing and Payment System in BNB Greenfield

BNB Greenfield uses the stream style for fee deductions from the users' end. Streaming is a continual by-the-second motion of tokens from one account to another.

The sending account agrees to the terms to have its balance deducted at a specific per-second rate (flow rate) while the receiving account's balance increases by that flow rate. The streaming continues until the sender cancels it or its Super Token balance hits zero. Super Token balance is the total of the real-time balance and static balance.

BNB Greenfield users need to pay two types of fees;

• Gas fee on every transaction for the Greenfield validator to write the metadata on the chain.
• Service charges are to be paid to SPs for storage services.

Besides, Greenfield charges two types of fees for off-chain services also exist; read package and storage fees.

• For every object stored on Greenfield, the storage fee is charged based on the content type, size, and other parameters.
• Users get a free time-based quota for downloading data. They can upgrade their data package and get more downloading quota on exceeding the limit.

Deposit & WIthdrawals

BNB Greenfield uses the BNB token for transactions. Using the payment module, users can seamlessly deposit or withdraw BNB. Instead of a one-time payment for access, Greenfield uses a StreamPayment structure and allows users to pay fixed monthly or specific period amounts- like a subscription service where you pay monthly.

First, the StaticBalance in the StreamPayment data structure is settled. DeltaBalance will be adjusted with the StaticBalance, and the CRUDTimeStamp will be updated. For a record, every deposit will be added to the StaticBalance and vice versa for withdrawals.

Withdrawals fail when the withdrawing amount is higher than the StaticBalance. Greenfield supports deposit/withdrawal via cross-chain to directly deposit/withdraw from BSC for customer ease.

Fee Comparison of BNB Greenfield with Other DSNs

With the need for secure data storage networks and the rise in Web3 technologies, DSNs have become increasingly popular during the last decade.

This section covers a fee comparison of BNB Greenfield with the existing decentralized storage networks, including Storj, FileCoin, and Arweave. It highlights how BNB Greenfield outpaces the rest with its cost-effective services.

Storage Costs

Storage cost has always been a top factor every user considers when selecting a decentralized storage network. Compared to other DSNs, the BNB Greenfield is cost-effective.

The storage cost is highly influenced by the current market supply, storage space, storage demand, and storage duration. Arweave charges $6.8 per GB per month, StorJ charges $4 per TB monthly, and FileCoin has hidden pricing.

Since BNB Greenfield is a new player in the decentralized storage domain, the price structure is economical. The storage fee is calculated by replica numbers, base price ratio, object size, and other parameters. Greenfield's storage prices are yet to be announced.

Downloading Bandwidth Costs

After storage costs, another critical consideration is the bandwidth fee. It refers to the amount users pay to transfer the data from one end to another. StorJ charges $7 per TB monthly, while Arweave offers free downloading services.

While users are required to pay fees for storing data objects, each object includes a free download quota for authorized users. However, when this quota is exceeded, additional data packages must be purchased to cover the bandwidth costs associated with excessive downloads. This model balances the need for cost efficiency with the demand for a sustainable storage solution in the decentralized data storage domain.

Compared to FileCoin, Arweave, and StorJ, BNB Greenfield offers a cost-effective data storage model, making it economically sustainable in the decentralized data storage domain.

Another contributing factor to the financial sustainability of BNB Greenfield is the transaction fee. All DSNs charge a transaction fee every time the users make data transactions on the network. This fee can vary depending on the transaction size and network used.

For users' ease, BNB Greenfield uses its native cryptocurrency, the Binance Coin (BNB), for transactions with relatively low charges.

Benefits Web3 Developers Can Earn with BNB Greenfield

BNB Greenfield is not just a new blockchain introduced by the BNB Chain ecosystem but also an ecosystem that aims to boost the decentralized data economy. Following are the benefits Web3 developers can earn with BNB Greenfield.

Programmability

Since BNB Greenfield has been compatible with EVM from Day 1, instead of a later update, it empowers Web3 developers to start developing decentralized applications with the tools and models of their choice.

Computing Efficiency

BNB Greenfield is quite strict about the service providers. It incorporates Proof-of-Challenge that penalizes service providers whenever they fail to provide reliable and stable services. In addition, BNB Greenfield can evade extensive computing needed consensus algorithms, including Proof-work and Proof-of-Spacetime.

Native Integration with BSC

BNB Greenfield's address format is identical to the BSC- thanks to the native integration. It allows the data economy to seamlessly and effortlessly combine with the existing users, dApps, and assets.

BSC has the highest number of daily active users compared to other chains. It allows Web3 developers on BNB Greenfield to interact with a vast user base.

Blockchain Data Storage

Layer-1 contains dozens of historic data terabytes that are either dormant or dead. BNB Greenfield can be used to restore that data, improve availability, and reduce the L1 latency. Besides, BNB Greenfield can be a cheaper alternative to store L2-Rollup trade data.

Personal Data Market

It has been the most complicated issue to tackle. From clicks, registrations, and page views to behavior data, users cannot secure sensitive data at their end. BNB Greenfield empowers applications and users to store encrypted data in their accounts. The users will have the right to allow applications of their choice to use the data.

Conclusion – The Future of Web3 with BNB Greenfield

The arrival of BNB Greenfield can unlock a new wave of transparent, novel, and innovative Web3 business models for decentralized applications. Complete ownership and transparency are the striking features that will unlock Web3's potential in the future.

The release of the BNB Greenfield whitepaper and testnet Congo is the beginning of the journey towards greater ownership, data independency, and better opportunities for Web3 developers, users, and decentralized applications.

Undoubtedly, BNB Greenfield is a future-leading decentralized storage network. Its cost-effective services make it economically sustainable in the decentralized storage domain.

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