AMA Recap of Dude’s Army x ColdStack
On Tuesday, April 20th, Dude’s Army community had the great opportunity to host an AMA with ColdStack’s team, very instructive and educational. We will share with you a little bit of what this experience was like.
The Dude👨💼:
We will start the AMA
Alexander Shishow:
Hello guys, I am Alexander Shishow, CEO of ColdStack. Nice to meet you here!
Vlad:
Hey guys. My name is Vlad and I am co-founder of Prometeus. As was a long time Prometeus member, I also decided to support him and Coldstack to help it make a decent contribution towards decentralised storage space.
The Dude👨💼:
Thanks as well for the short intro. I was going to ask more in details about your background but I guess we can move on to Coldstack already😊
Please explain to our community what Coldstack is building and why does it have the best solution.
Alexander Shishow:
We like to describe ColdStack as Uber for clouds. We are the world’s first service that aggregates Decentralized Data Storages such as Filecoin, in order to find the best destination for a user’s files. ColdStack aims to make accessing decentralized storages easier and more cost-efficient for everyone to use.
We offer best available prices because we monitor all the available offers from all the decentralized storages
The Dude👨💼:
It’s amazing just to read what it is going to do imagine once it starts running. An aggregator for decentralized data storages is indeed much needed right now. Why do you call yourselfes the Uber of that though? Is it because they work for you guys as service providers?
Alexander Shishow:
Generally yes. our approach as an aggregator is pretty same
Vlad:
Actually a good question. Uber is more for illustrative purposes as provides a nice analogy that everyone understands
The Dude👨💼:
I will use DCS to refer to Decentralized Cloud Storages to save us time.
Which DCS are onboarded right now on Coldstack @VladislavsSem ?
Alexander Shishow:
OK, DSN — Decentralized Storage Network is mostly the same ))
The Dude👨💼:
How will the process work in getting one of those service providers for an application I’m building for example?
Thanks for that. Will use DSN so.
Alexander Shishow:
SIA and Arweave, Filecoin and Lambda are in progress,
Storj will be added soon
Vlad:
As well as BitTorrent
The Dude👨💼:
So you are already running the tests with them in the background? Is the product in testnet right now or still developing the MVP?
Alexander Shishow:
We are going to allow users to be able to choose exact storage by defining that parameter in S3 metadata. TBA soon
SIA first of all, than other ones
The Dude👨💼:
Will I choose which DSN I want or will the process be automatic where Colstack will automatically forward me to the one providing the cheap/best service?
Vlad:
We have released mvp a while ago on polkadot testnet. So everyone can try it.
Alexander Shishow:
Worth to mention that we are 100% compatible with AWS S3 API, which is pretty popular in common data storages
Alexander Shishow:
We will take care to make a best choice
but as I mentioned above, u r free to specify the desired one )
The Dude👨💼:
I guess that’s the idea of the aggregator! Choose the best one for you and have them all onboard in case you want one specific.
Vlad:
By default we will select the best offer based on some criteria selected by user. But we will support manual selection as well. All for the user!
The Dude👨💼:
Perfect. When do you expect the mainnet? Gotta wait for that juicy parachain?
Alexander Shishow:
it will be parachain or parathread
mostly depends on Polkadot now: we are excited to test mainnet parathread when it will be released.
We use Substrate private net meanwhile )
The Dude👨💼:
Sounds good. Interesting! First time I hear of this not gonna lie. Gotta follow up more on how products are being tested in Polkadot right now. And ofc everyone is waiting for those parachains to start running things.
Alexander Shishow:
Substrate is Polkadot platform, so we’re ready to run ))
Vlad:
Till there is running mainnet it is.hard to tell..but we are blockchain agnostic can support or migrate with ease.
The Dude👨💼:
Yeah. I hope tests are working out well and things are getting ready for the main launch!
How will $CLS token work in the ecosystem?
Alexander Shishow:
There are several main utilities
Platform and Consumption Fees, From clients who store and retrieve the data and miners who run ColdStack Nodes, Signing Transactions, To verify the authenticity and integrity of the important users transactions, NFT Services, For any file stored in ColdStack, which can be immediately offered for sale as a digital asset, DAO Governance.
To make proposals, vote for them and form consensus on important community goals and targets
The Dude👨💼:
Lots of utilities! Truly awesome and I guess platform and consumption fees will be the biggest advantage for the token value at first.
Vlad:
Plus we will add features as we go. Development with the market feedback is the most important.
The Dude👨💼:
Can you comment a bit about your competitors? I saw a comparison some time ago so would love to hear more about it. If you can even post it here and talk about it would be awesome.
There we go! Got it here. Would be nice to hear your thoughts on this.
Alexander Shishow:
Actually we have no competitors as an aggregator… Coz we are first to market service who’s doing DSN aggregation for now.
However, we kinda compete with other solutions because they are doing the same thing — storing the data :)
I guess the table is clear enough + we have a medium article, which supplies with much more details
Vlad:
It is our strong point. There are actually now competitors as we are first one. But we do compete with other storage projects in the same space on one hand and as we combine best features, we combine everyone’s competitive advantages, we can have a stronger offering, but on the other hand we provide traffic to those DCS and can be their big customer
The Dude👨💼:
Indeed but wanted to hear more about it. I guess you put it this way to show that combining them all you have Coldstack which would have a better service than all of them by themselves.
I guess competitors wasn’t the right word. I would say service providers now.
Alexander Shishow:
Well, general approach is that we monitor all of those services
So we have
- exact user
- exact file
- exact date&time
- list of options available
Because each time we aim to select a best option — on the long term we always offer user to save a lot (despite the fact we’re taking a platform fee for our services — we’re not working for free indeed))
That’s how it works actually, to make a long story short, Indeed AI (neural network) will do all the job here
Community Questions
Q1 from J S:
ColdStack plans to have a great deal of data pass through your al pipeline. Is there any extra security in place to protect these files as ColdStack grows?
Alexander Shishow:
All data passing through our pipeline is encrypted and secure. By its nature, decentralized storage is much more secure through immutable infrastructure and cryptography. Our ai and cloud architect, Denis Vorobiev, also has almost a decade of experience with cloud security with big companies like Google.
Q2 from Joxes | C R Y P T O W A V E:
In the Website, there is a list 6 Storage-based projects: Filecoin, Sia, arweave, lambda, Storj, and BitTorrent. At the moment I understand that these have different systems and mechanisms, some with their own advantages, disadvantages and risks. How do you distinguish the functionality of each one and the risk-benefit ratio? Or are these protocols treated equally as if they were Uniswap vs Sushiswap?
Alexander Shishow:
We will add the new ones indeed
TBH all protocols which are on the website for now offer the same reliability and same quality now (as for risk-benefit ratio)) i.e. these protocols treated equally
Its mostly the question of price and latency…
Q3 from Atul Kumar:
As an AWS engineer, I really like S3…mainly because it is easy to integrate with different services. In the future, how will the cold reactor be ensured? Is it true? Will you provide other services? Like serverless (bluezelle)?
Alexander Shishow:
I guess I c this question 3rd time btw )) However — we considering the idea provide other services )
Q4 from Hasan Mahmud:
As you are 100% compatible with AWS S3 API, that means user can easily move from centralized to decentralized storage?
Which Integration will happend first Filecoin or others?
George Groshkov:
Yes it’s 100% true
We hope we will bring a HUGE adoption to current DSNs
.
Q5 from Tahani SG:
What criteria do you take into account to integrate a new cloud storage within your stock?
Alexander Shishow:
We have some waiting list… but in future we will provide a kind of well established API so other storages will be able to implement it on their side and we will just test it and allow them to be a valuable asset to our ecosystem )
ALL THE STORAGES are welcome for the partnership, just DM me )
Q6 from Tahani S — G:
Why do you feel using Coldstack storages are better for users, compared to popular storages, such Amazon? How Coldstack gonna reduce risks of data loss? And what compensation is offered for users in case of data loss? Where i can read service level agreement?
Vlad:
Sir. We have a comprehensive article about advantageous of decentralised storages over decentralised. I think it is only a manner of time for the general audience to switch to decentralised storages. People also not believe in defi)
Data in generally can not be lost as long as networks are running. As Coldstack is a decentralised platform, we are not liable for the risks incurred.
Q7 from Ⓙⓝⓥⓒⓗⓒ:
Centralized storages is much more susceptible to hacks and other data breaches like we saw with the Solarwinds hack. So, my question, Is Decentralized storage more secure, less prone to failure and censorship resistent than centralized storages?
Alexander Shishow:
Decentralized storages are far superior for a number of reasons!
Most importantly, these storages are more secure, less prone to failure, and are censorship resistant. Centralized storages by their very nature are much more susceptible to hacks and other data breaches like we saw with the Solarwinds hack. Decentralized storages are spread across multiple nodes, making them much more immutable. Centralized storages also require a great deal of sensitive personal data in order to use them and are subject to changing internal (company) and external (government) regulations, while decentralized storages are not subject to KYC requirements and other limiting regulations.
Q8 from Viktar:
The DAO system will be used to manage the ColdStack platform. How users can earn $ CLS tokens by actively participating in the DAO in the ColdStack ecosystem?
Vlad:
There will be several criteria. First one is staking, second is activity in voting and third we will have some sort of referral system and the more volumes comes though your referral the more reward one can get.
Q9 from Ahmet Can:
How do you differ from other Nft services in Nft creation and storage?
Alexander Shishow:
We are Storage with NFT feature — actually we will create u 100,000 NFTs for free while u’r uploading 100,000 files… Only thing u need to do is to cover gas fees lol
Q10 Pranav Gupta:
1. How do #coldstack plan to expand your project worldwide, and reach those people who are not familiar with DCN and Blockchain? What are your plans to educate people about this far more secure and cost effective method? Also How can users mint NFTs with lower cost on your platform than the existing ones? Are there options available?
2. In your wildest dreams where would you foresee #Coldstack to be in 10 years time in respect to its utilities within AI and Blockchain ecosystem?
Alexander Shishow:
Our primary goal is to go far far beyond the crypto community… that’s why we aim to adopt #1 API in the centralized storage world — de facto industrial standard — AWS S3 API
We know that DSNs start to implement it but We just take max care to make our stuff 100% compatible with existing SDKs without any tiny winy additional integration effort
Q11 from Zerogas10:
I saw Coldstack proudly announce its partnership with BitTorrent, my question was, What made ColdStack interested in partnering with BitTorrent? What do they offer in the Coldstack ecosystem and network?
Alexander Shishow:
Answer is very simple : it’s HUGE!! We are really caring about prospective adoption and TBH all the combined DSNs are kinda few percent of current centralized storage volume… so we have to have kinda a reserve for the case if we will have kinda expoding growth )
Q12 from Mamberroi:
Coldstack works with the information and data of the users through the cloud, how do they ensure the privacy and security of their users’ data?
Alexander Shishow:
We will take care to implement standard S3 access permissions — and being a decartelized service we’re going to make a blockchain based solution
good question , ping me at DM to know more
Q13 from ℝ𝕒𝕚𝕤𝕓𝕖𝕝𝕪𝕤:
From what I have seen on their website, they are currently running the “beta” version. So when will the original and complete product be released?
Alexander Shishow:
It’s not beta but just a private beta ) Please look forward for a public beta in a few months
Than we’ll see how its going and announce the commercial release
However, all the files that will be stored during beta, will be also stored after the official full scale start )
Q14 from Nx Bd:
✅ File coin — $12B
✅ SIACOIN — $1.5B
✅ Arweave — $1.1B
How can ColdStack Compete with these giants and what % of market if really ColdStack able to capture?
Alexander Shishow:
There will be several criteria. First one is staking, second is activity in voting and third we will have some sort of referral system and the more volumes comes though your referral the more reward one can get.
Q15 from SuperGirl:
What is the difference between using a Decentralized Cloud storage company directly versus contracting one through you?
Alexander Shishow:
Imagine you’re calling some taxi service or you’re using Uber… just like that.
We aim to create all-in-one service to offer the combined benefits of all the possible DSNs to our users
Q16 from Noé:
I read they have a ColdStack $ 100,000 Cloud Grant Program for NFT artists is this program still in effect? How can we participate to be one of these 50 lucky artists? will they do other grant programs in the future?
Alexander Shishow:
Good question! I love to hear that you guys did not miss our grant program!
I really want to promote it, because I am really exciting about support of digital artists!
Just ask about it in our Telegram chat or email to info@coldstack.io and mention “grant program” in header
Yes. We consider the storage grants for prospective startups as well — those ones who will bring a value to the whole;e crypto community and who’ll be interested in storing big amount of data due tho their business model etc.
Q17 from Eberto Fuentesl:
Coldstack develops many many extraordinary things and it is a great project that is already underway, but how do you plan to develop the community? which in my opinion is the one that I support and push any project
Alexander Shishow:
We welcome anyone who would like to help us with the community growth! Plz join our Telegram and do not hesitate to ask exact questions concerning that stuff!
Q18 from Aston Rowi:
While working with Prometheus, what makes you come to this idea to create Coldstack? Can anyone really easily be able to access Decentralized storage through ColdStack?
Alexander Shishow:
While working at Prometeus, we worked with various storages and saw that each storage has its own features that may be interesting for various customer types.
We created ColdStack in order to make decentralized storage easily accessible to anyone, and provide users with the most cost-efficient storage solutions available. There are many excellent decentralized storage solutions available, however it can be difficult for users to determine which one is best for them.
Hope anyone is really easily able to access DSNs with our help… We aim to encourage ppl beyond the crypto community to try DSNs as data storages — and we believe we could help to grow adoption of whole DSN ecosystem
Q19 from Yaritza:
If you mention that in the q3 and q4 of your roadmap that you will incorporate your products in other chains, does that mean that decentralized storage clouds are really only compatible with their chain? or is it not the cloud as such, but only some functions?
Alexander Shishow:
To clarify stuff: DSN adoption is not about their chains… Its about their APIs lol
As well as users do not care about our trabsactional chain — it will be Polkadot parachain — as well as it could be NEAR or else (we’re blockchain agnostic u know lol)
BUT the primary blockchain is very important — we are going to start on Ethereum because it has got biggest ecosystem nowadays.
but soon we’ll add Binance Smart Chain and we will also consider other blockchains with well established ecosystems
About ColdStack
ColdStack is the world’s first Decentralized Cloud Storage Aggregator. Coldstack supplies users with a unified API and a unique ID that lets them upload and retrive data to any Cloud Storage. This lets users combine multiple Decentralized Clouds in one single dApp.
More information about ColdStack:
Website: https://coldstack.io
Telegram: https://t.me/coldstackio
Twitter: https://twitter.com/coldstack_io
