#Blocktalk - Storj w/ Shawn Wilkinson

## #Blocktalk - Storj w/ Shawn Wilkinson: Podcast Summary

Here's a comprehensive summary of the #Blocktalk podcast episode featuring Shawn Wilkinson of Storj, broken down into narrative, topics, quotes, people, and technical details.

1. Narrative Summary:

The podcast episode delves into the world of decentralized storage with Shawn Wilkinson, CEO of Storage Point, a company deeply involved with the Storj network. The conversation begins with an overview of Storage Point's mission: to provide a decentralized alternative to traditional cloud storage services like Amazon S3 and Google Cloud Storage. They are actively engaging with US Congress to educate them on blockchain technology and proper regulation. The project leverages a network of incentivized computers, utilizing Storage Coin to reward users who contribute storage and bandwidth. Currently in Test Group C, the network boasts 7 petabytes of capacity and over 100 terabytes of data stored, offering a cost-effective solution compared to centralized providers. The discussion then shifts to the technical aspects of Storj, highlighting its commitment to privacy and security through client-side encryption, robust redundancy measures (aiming for "seven nines" uptime), and a focus on developer accessibility. While currently leaning towards a developer-centric approach with command-line tools, Storj is actively working on user-friendly graphical interfaces and exploring options like mountable drives to broaden adoption. A key element is the abstraction layer, simplifying the complexities of the underlying blockchain for developers, and a current offering of free, unlimited storage to encourage testing and bug discovery.

2. Main Topics Discussed:

• Storage Point Overview: Decentralized storage solutions, competing with Amazon S3 and Google Cloud Storage.
• Regulatory Engagement: Active engagement with US Congress regarding blockchain regulation.
• Decentralized Network: Utilizing incentivized computers (laptops, servers) for storage and bandwidth.
• Storage Coin: Token used for payment on the network.
• Customer Privacy & Security: Client-side encryption, cautious approach to public use case disclosure.
• Platform & User Adoption: Current status, developer focus, and plans for GUI development.
• Redundancy & Data Resilience: Configurable redundancy levels, "read-solemn iteration" approach, 20/40 scheme, self-healing capabilities.
• Ease of Use & Accessibility: Command-line interface, free unlimited storage, abstraction for developers.
• Network Robustness: Comparison to Bitcoin's uptime and resilience.
• Pilot Programs: Working with Bell Transportation for video data storage.

3. Key Quotes:

• Shawn Wilkinson: "We're building a platform where people can build many types of applications like props, back up, all these next-gen platforms."
• Shawn Wilkinson: "If we get hacked, it doesn't matter because, again, to the data, we're just helping route encrypted charts."
• Shawn Wilkinson: "So, we're constantly trying to make sure that all pieces are available. So, you know, if we continue to list the file of the window, or there would be some network issue, we'd say, 19 or 40 is down. Let's take these extra pieces that we have in. Now, copy them somewhere else to recover that redundancy."

4. People Mentioned:

• Alex (Podcast Host)
• Shawn Wilkinson (CEO of Storage Point)
• Burdell (mentioned in relation to a spike)
• James Prestwick (Storj Co-founder)
• Nuttersuck (Community member developing a Java GUI)

5. Bitcoin & Technical Details:

• Bitcoin block 427138
• 7 Petabytes of network capacity
• 100+ Terabytes of data stored
• Test Group C
• Encryption: Client-side encryption using flexible crypto libraries (OpenSSL)
• Redundancy: Configurable, defaulting to 3, potentially up to 12; 20/40 scheme.

Bitcoin price was not mentioned during the podcast.