Sia is a decentralized cloud storage platform similar in concept to Dropbox and other centralized storage provider where instead of renting storage space from a centralized entity, clients rent storage space from other peers. The only difference is Sia uses blockchain to facilitate transactions Nodes provide storage to clients using the Sia blockchain as contracts. Before storing the data, the data is encrypted into many pieces and uploaded to different hosts. Siacoin is created by David Vorick and Luke Champine of Nebulous Inc. As the traditional storage platforms are higher in cost, more expensive and data is not well protected. Siacoin promises to offer secured storage transactions with smart contracts which is more affordable and reliable. Moreover, it is completely open source which means many individuals have contributed to Siacoin’s software hence there will be an active community building innovative applications on top if the Sia API. In 2018, Siacoin aims to introduce file sharing and be the go-to cloud storage platform for companies. Their goal is divided into 3 time frames which are short-term, medium-term and long-term development. Short-term development focuses on file sharing between Sia users. This allows Sia users to share files in the platform without having to take it off the cloud while increasing network utilization. Medium-term development’s goal is to enhance partnerships. This means reaching out to large companies like Netflix and Dropbox to hopefully be able to be their storage and distribution framework. Lastly, long-term development aims to expand its horizon to share files with non-Sia users and support mobile wallets.
AdEx (ADX) stands for “advertising exchange.” AdEx Coin is a blockchain-based marketplace for ads that aims to change the existing online advertising landscape and solve its major problems: ad fraud, privacy and consent to receive sponsored messages, etc. AdEx is fully transparent and built on the Ethereum Smart Contracts. AdEx is still in development, so it’s difficult to say much yet about it at this point. The original roadmap anticipated a beta release in February 2018. It remains to be seen if the team will meet that deadline. Future plans for version two of AdEx after launch focus on improving the user experience and scalability. AdEx has also expressed an interest in implementing a real-time bidding solution that could take place off-chain or on a high throughput network, like IOTA. AdEx raised $10 million in the first three hours of token sale. AdEx as a platform has room for a good amount of growth since digital advertising is a booming business anyway. But by eliminating flaws and continuing updates on its current platform, AdEx aims to stand firm in the near future.