Direct from their (pretty decent actually) website:
What is Sia?
- Sia is a decentralized cloud storage platform that uses a blockchain to facilitate payments. On Sia you can rent storage, get paid to host files, mine Siacon, or contribute to the project!
Why Sia?
- Existing cloud storage providers are centralized. Costs are high, data is often unencrypted, and each provider typically runs only several large data centers. Sia, by contrast, allows for private, decentralized, distributed cloud storage at a far lower price.
What's a Siacoin?
- Sia uses a cryptocurrency, Siacoin, to enable decentralized payments via file contracts. All payments on the network happen in Siacoin, which is a critical component of our cryptographic SLAs. Siacoin allows us to do things that would not be possible with Bitcoin or traditional online payments.
And the site also states it's completely open source.
The main use case I took away from it back in May was this:
People can rent out their hard drive storage to make money.
Decentralised storage is much more secure than centralised, since there are multiple copies of the stored files spread all over the world.
Biggest draw of all - think of all the people in 2nd and even 3rd world countries who have a hard drive that isn't maxed out. They're being given a chance to provide food for their family, just by renting out something they already have available to them - no matter how small the storage amount - passively, whilst they go to work.
Now think about how many people in those countries will buy extra hard drives if this truly takes off and creates a network effect.
To participate in Uber or Airbnb you need a car or a property, and then to abide by their strict terms and centralised rule-making process, and arguably still-hefty fees for using their platform.
Here, to participate you need to own a hard disk drive. And the whole platform is decentralised. Massive potential.
