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BitTorrent

Surely, BitTorrent sounds like something familiar, right? It’s that famous file-sharing protocol that now works with the client uTorrent. Well, Bram Cohen, an American computer scientist, is the one who invented it —and more. He’s also considered an early cypherpunk, even if he wasn’t on the 90’s mailing list because he’s been dedicated to creating privacy-oriented and peer-to-peer (P2P) software. Born in 1975 in New York City, Cohen grew up in a family that nurtured his intellectual pursuits, with his father being a computer scientist. His fascination with computers began early; by the age of six, he was already learning to code in BASIC on a Timex Sinclair computer. This early exposure to programming set the foundation for his future innovations. During his high school years at Stuyvesant High School, Cohen excelled in mathematics and even qualified for the United States of America Mathematical Olympiad. Indeed, he’s said that he considers himself a mathematician in his own right. After graduating, he briefly attended SUNY Buffalo but soon left to dive into the tech industry, joining several dot-com startups during the 1990s. Before his groundbreaking work on BitTorrent, Cohen was involved in various projects, including MojoNation, a platform he co-developed with Jim McCoy —another early cypherpunk. This system was designed to allow users to securely share files by breaking them into encrypted pieces distributed across multiple computers, in a P2P manner. It was never fully operational, but this project would likely lay the groundwork for Cohen’s later creation of the BitTorrent protocol, which revolutionized file sharing and digital distribution. BitTorrent & Chia Cohen started to work on the BitTorrent software in 2001, but it wouldn’t be until 2004 that he founded the company BitTorrent Inc., along with his brother Ross Cohen and business partner Ashwin Navin. The protocol offers shutdown-resistant, efficient, and scalable file distribution by decentralizing the process. It works by breaking files into smaller pieces, which are then distributed among users (called peers) who download and upload these pieces simultaneously. This approach has allowed massive piracy to happen over the years, even though Cohen has said that wasn’t his intention. As it actually happened, however, the main advantage of BitTorrent is being a tool where file sharing is pretty hard to stop or block, no matter the file or country, because there are many peers involved. Previous services of this kind, like mp3.com and Napster, were shut down because they were centralized –unlike BitTorrent, which came to solve that issue, despite all odds. Its system was designed to distribute and share data directly among individual peers, without restrictions, in contrast to traditional methods like HTTP or FTP, which often rely on a single server. The first releases of the BitTorrent software by Cohen’s company were open-source and are still around, allowing widespread adoption and development by various developers and communities. Over time, aspects of the company’s BitTorrent technology became proprietary, particularly as the company behind it, BitTorrent, Inc. (later Rainberry, Inc.), sought to monetize the technology through various products and services​. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DHFHYmaKS0 The rebranded client uTorrent, released in 2007, was no longer open-source. However, the BitTorrent protocol is open, and there are multiple alternative programs implementing the same protocol, some of them are open-source. For his part, Cohen left the company to co-found the Chia Network in 2017. This is a blockchain protocol designed with a focus on sustainability. Unlike cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, which rely on energy-intensive Proof-of-Work (PoW) mechanisms, Chia uses its own consensus algorithm called Proof of Space and Time (PoST), created by Cohen. This method leverages unused storage space on users’ hard drives to “farm” Chia coins, rather than “mining” them with powerful computing hardware. The idea is to make the network eco-friendlier by utilizing existing resources rather than consuming excessive energy. However, large chunks of space (over 108 GB) and some degree of technical knowledge are required to become a farmer. Cohen and Cypherpunks Cohen is considered a cypherpunk by many, but he’s shared that he wasn’t on any cypherpunk lists, because he found “too many political rants, too little tech.” Beyond this, and maybe ironically, he’s been widely involved with other cypherpunks over the years. Len Sassaman, a privacy advocate and vocal cypherpunk (even a suspected candidate to be Satoshi Nakamoto), was his roommate by 2001 and helped him to create the annual CodeCon conference for hackers and technology enthusiasts in 2002. Cohen remembers that Len was a constant participant on the cypherpunk mailing list, and tried to make him publish BitTorrent pseudonymously. Besides Sassaman, several cypherpunks likely ended up participating in the CodeCon until the last one, in 2009. Hal Finney, the first-ever Bitcoin user, and creator of the system RPOW, gave a talk there in 2005, and Adam Back, now the Blockstream CEO, assisted in 2002. However, above all, Cohen’s creations have been reflecting his ideologies. BitTorrent, as a P2P file-sharing system, and Chia, as a crypto ecosystem, have been seen as tools that align with cypherpunk ideals, promoting the decentralization of data and providing users with more control over their digital privacy​ —and funds. Besides, for him, “cypherpunk” is “a bit of a catch-all term for Internet-related badassery,” and his own work “feels like a constant series of extreme heists, somehow bizarrely juxtaposed with it all happening while I lounge on my couch in sweat pants.” Cypherpunk Projects We can say that Bram Cohen is more of a lowkey cypherpunk, not as vocal about it as other members. However, his creations follow the same goals. BitTorrent, for instance, revolutionized file-sharing by decentralizing the process, making it virtually impossible to shut down. Unlike earlier systems like mp3.com and Napster, which relied on centralized servers that could be targeted and taken down by authorities, BitTorrent distributed the workload across many users. Its P2P network implies that there’s no single point of failure, making it incredibly resilient against shutdown attempts. This decentralized nature aligns perfectly with cypherpunk ideals, which champion privacy, freedom, and resistance to censorship. BitTorrent, and also the decentralized Chia, embody these principles by ensuring that information and transactions remain free-flowing and accessible, inside the devices of thousands, regardless of attempts to control it. Their design reflects the cypherpunk ethos of using technology to protect individual rights and maintain an open, uncensored Internet. A Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) structure like Obyte also reflects those ideals. This is a truly decentralized platform, whose design allows transactions to be added directly by users, and it’s maintained by a whole global network of peers. The only other thing needed to avoid double-spending is Order Providers (OPs), who just provide their own transactions as a guide to order the rest, but don’t have further control over the network. This approach not only enhances decentralization but also aligns with the cypherpunk ethos of reducing reliance on centralized authorities and increasing user control over data and transactions. The platform's commitment to privacy and autonomy is evident in its features like self-sovereign identity and its own privacy coin (Blackbytes), allowing users to manage their data and engage in secure, private transactions. These attributes and many more make Obyte a practical tool for those who value the ideals of cypherpunks, such as the protection of personal information and the promotion of a decentralized digital economy. Read more from Cypherpunks Write Code series: Tim May & Crypto-anarchism
Wei Dai & B-money
Nick Szabo & Smart Contracts
Adam Back & Hashcash
Eric Hughes & Remailer
St Jude & Community Memory
Julian Assange & Wikileaks
Hal Finney & RPOW
John Gilmore & EFF
Satoshi Nakamoto & Bitcoin
Gregory Maxwell & Bitcoin Core
David Chaum & Ecash Featured Vector Image by Garry Killian/Freepik Photograph of Bram Cohen by Ijon/Wikimedia Surely, BitTorrent sounds like something familiar, right? It’s that famous file-sharing protocol that now works with the client uTorrent. Well, Bram Cohen, an American computer scientist, is the one who invented it —and more. He’s also considered an early cypherpunk, even if he wasn’t on the 90’s mailing list because he’s been dedicated to creating privacy-oriented and peer-to-peer (P2P) software. Born in 1975 in New York City, Cohen grew up in a family that nurtured his intellectual pursuits, with his father being a computer scientist. His fascination with computers began early ; by the age of six, he was already learning to code in BASIC on a Timex Sinclair computer. This early exposure to programming set the foundation for his future innovations. began early began early During his high school years at Stuyvesant High School, Cohen excelled in mathematics and even qualified for the United States of America Mathematical Olympiad. Indeed, he’s said that he considers himself a mathematician in his own right. After graduating, he briefly attended SUNY Buffalo but soon left to dive into the tech industry, joining several dot-com startups during the 1990s. he’s said he’s said After graduating, he briefly attended SUNY Buffalo but soon left to dive into the tech industry, joining several dot-com startups during the 1990s. Before his groundbreaking work on BitTorrent, Cohen was involved in various projects, including MojoNation, a platform he co-developed with Jim McCoy —another early cypherpunk. This system was designed to allow users to securely share files by breaking them into encrypted pieces distributed across multiple computers, in a P2P manner. It was never fully operational , but this project would likely lay the groundwork for Cohen’s later creation of the BitTorrent protocol, which revolutionized file sharing and digital distribution. fully operational fully operational BitTorrent & Chia Cohen started to work on the BitTorrent software in 2001, but it wouldn’t be until 2004 that he founded the company BitTorrent Inc., along with his brother Ross Cohen and business partner Ashwin Navin. The protocol offers shutdown-resistant, efficient, and scalable file distribution by decentralizing the process. It works by breaking files into smaller pieces, which are then distributed among users (called peers) who download and upload these pieces simultaneously. This approach has allowed massive piracy to happen over the years, even though Cohen has said that wasn’t his intention. As it actually happened, however, the main advantage of BitTorrent is being a tool where file sharing is pretty hard to stop or block, no matter the file or country, because there are many peers involved. Cohen has said that wasn’t his intention. Cohen has said that wasn’t his intention. As it actually happened, however, the main advantage of BitTorrent is being a tool where file sharing is pretty hard to stop or block, no matter the file or country, because there are many peers involved. Previous services of this kind, like mp3.com and Napster, were shut down because they were centralized –unlike BitTorrent, which came to solve that issue, despite all odds. Its system was designed to distribute and share data directly among individual peers, without restrictions, in contrast to traditional methods like HTTP or FTP, which often rely on a single server. The first releases of the BitTorrent software by Cohen’s company were open-source and are still around, allowing widespread adoption and development by various developers and communities. Over time, aspects of the company’s BitTorrent technology became proprietary, particularly as the company behind it, BitTorrent, Inc. (later Rainberry, Inc.), sought to monetize the technology through various products and services​. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DHFHYmaKS0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DHFHYmaKS0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DHFHYmaKS0 The rebranded client uTorrent, released in 2007, was no longer open-source. However, the BitTorrent protocol is open, and there are multiple alternative programs implementing the same protocol, some of them are open-source. For his part, Cohen left the company to co-found the Chia Network in 2017. This is a blockchain protocol designed with a focus on sustainability. Unlike cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, which rely on energy-intensive Proof-of-Work (PoW) mechanisms, Chia uses its own consensus algorithm called Proof of Space and Time (PoST), created by Cohen. For his part, Cohen left the company to co-found the Chia Network in 2017. This method leverages unused storage space on users’ hard drives to “farm” Chia coins, rather than “mining” them with powerful computing hardware. The idea is to make the network eco-friendlier by utilizing existing resources rather than consuming excessive energy. However, large chunks of space ( over 108 GB ) and some degree of technical knowledge are required to become a farmer. over 108 GB over 108 GB Cohen and Cypherpunks Cohen is considered a cypherpunk by many, but he’s shared that he wasn’t on any cypherpunk lists, because he found “too many political rants, too little tech.” Beyond this, and maybe ironically, he’s been widely involved with other cypherpunks over the years. he found he found Len Sassaman, a privacy advocate and vocal cypherpunk (even a suspected candidate to be Satoshi Nakamoto), was his roommate by 2001 a nd helped him to create the annual CodeCon conference for hackers and technology enthusiasts in 2002. suspected candidate suspected candidate nd helped him to create the annual CodeCon conference for hackers and technology enthusiasts in 2002. Cohen remembers that Len was a constant participant on the cypherpunk mailing list, and tried to make him publish BitTorrent pseudonymously. Besides Sassaman, several cypherpunks likely ended up participating in the CodeCon until the last one, in 2009. Cohen remembers Cohen remembers Hal Finney, the first-ever Bitcoin user, and creator of the system RPOW, gave a talk there in 2005, and Adam Back, now the Blockstream CEO, assisted in 2002. gave a talk gave a talk assisted assisted However, above all, Cohen’s creations have been reflecting his ideologies. BitTorrent, as a P2P file-sharing system, and Chia, as a crypto ecosystem, have been seen as tools that align with cypherpunk ideals, promoting the decentralization of data and providing users with more control over their digital privacy​ —and funds . BitTorrent, as a P2P file-sharing system, and Chia, as a crypto ecosystem, have been seen as tools that align with cypherpunk ideals, promoting the decentralization of data and providing users with more control over their digital privacy​ —and funds Besides, for him , “cypherpunk” is “a bit of a catch-all term for Internet-related badassery,” and his own work “feels like a constant series of extreme heists, somehow bizarrely juxtaposed with it all happening while I lounge on my couch in sweat pants.” for him for him Cypherpunk Projects We can say that Bram Cohen is more of a lowkey cypherpunk, not as vocal about it as other members. However, his creations follow the same goals. BitTorrent, for instance, revolutionized file-sharing by decentralizing the process, making it virtually impossible to shut down. Unlike earlier systems like mp3.com and Napster, which relied on centralized servers that could be targeted and taken down by authorities, BitTorrent distributed the workload across many users. Its P2P network implies that there’s no single point of failure, making it incredibly resilient against shutdown attempts. This decentralized nature aligns perfectly with cypherpunk ideals, which champion privacy, freedom, and resistance to censorship. BitTorrent, and also the decentralized Chia, embody these principles by ensuring that information and transactions remain free-flowing and accessible, inside the devices of thousands, regardless of attempts to control it. Their design reflects the cypherpunk ethos of using technology to protect individual rights and maintain an open, uncensored Internet. A Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) structure like Obyte also reflects those ideals. This is a truly decentralized platform, whose design allows transactions to be added directly by users, and it’s maintained by a whole global network of peers. The only other thing needed to avoid double-spending is Order Providers (OPs), who just provide their own transactions as a guide to order the rest, but don’t have further control over the network. A Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) structure like Obyte also reflects those ideals. This is a truly decentralized platform, whose design allows transactions to be added directly by users, and it’s maintained by a whole global network of peers. Obyte Obyte This approach not only enhances decentralization but also aligns with the cypherpunk ethos of reducing reliance on centralized authorities and increasing user control over data and transactions. The platform's commitment to privacy and autonomy is evident in its features like self-sovereign identity and its own privacy coin ( Blackbytes ), allowing users to manage their data and engage in secure, private transactions. These attributes and many more make Obyte a practical tool for those who value the ideals of cypherpunks, such as the protection of personal information and the promotion of a decentralized digital economy. self-sovereign identity self-sovereign identity Blackbytes Blackbytes Read more from Cypherpunks Write Code series: Read more from Cypherpunks Write Code series: Tim May & Crypto-anarchism Wei Dai & B-money Nick Szabo & Smart Contracts Adam Back & Hashcash Eric Hughes & Remailer St Jude & Community Memory Julian Assange & Wikileaks Hal Finney & RPOW John Gilmore & EFF Satoshi Nakamoto & Bitcoin Gregory Maxwell & Bitcoin Core David Chaum & Ecash Tim May & Crypto-anarchism Tim May & Crypto-anarchism Tim May & Crypto-anarchism Tim May & Crypto-anarchism Wei Dai & B-money Wei Dai & B-money Wei Dai & B-money Wei Dai & B-money Nick Szabo & Smart Contracts Nick Szabo & Smart Contracts Nick Szabo & Smart Contracts Nick Szabo & Smart Contracts Adam Back & Hashcash Adam Back & Hashcash Adam Back & Hashcash Adam Back & Hashcash Eric Hughes & Remailer Eric Hughes & Remailer Eric Hughes & Remailer Eric Hughes & Remailer St Jude & Community Memory St Jude & Community Memory St Jude & Community Memory St Jude & Community Memory Julian Assange & Wikileaks Julian Assange & Wikileaks Julian Assange & Wikileaks Julian Assange & Wikileaks Hal Finney & RPOW Hal Finney & RPOW Hal Finney & RPOW Hal Finney & RPOW John Gilmore & EFF John Gilmore & EFF John Gilmore & EFF John Gilmore & EFF Satoshi Nakamoto & Bitcoin Satoshi Nakamoto & Bitcoin Satoshi Nakamoto & Bitcoin Satoshi Nakamoto & Bitcoin Gregory Maxwell & Bitcoin Core Gregory Maxwell & Bitcoin Core Gregory Maxwell & Bitcoin Core Gregory Maxwell & Bitcoin Core David Chaum & Ecash David Chaum & Ecash Featured Vector Image by Garry Killian/Freepik Featured Vector Image by Garry Killian/ Freepik Freepik Freepik Photograph of Bram Cohen by Ijon/ Wikimedia Photograph of Bram Cohen by Ijon/ Wikimedia Wikimedia

Cypherpunks Write Code: Bram Cohen & BitTorrent

Los ciberpunks escriben código: Bram Cohen y BitTorrent

Cypherpunks کد را می نویسد: برام کوهن و بیت تورنت

I Cypherpunk scrivono il codice: Bram Cohen e BitTorrent

サイファーパンクがコードを書く: Bram Cohen と BitTorrent

Cypherpunks кодты жазады: Брам Коэн және BitTorrent

사이퍼펑크가 코드를 쓴다: 브램 코헨과 비트토렌트

Cypherpunks Manoratra Code: Bram Cohen & BitTorrent

Cypherpunks пишуваат код: Брам Коен и BitTorrent

Cypherpunks Ngwala Khoutu: Bram Cohen & BitTorrent

ሳይፈርፓንክስ ኮድ ጽሓፍ: ብራም ኮሄን & ቢትቶረንት።

Şifrler kod ýazýarlar: Bram Kohen we BitTorrent

I-Cypherpunks Bhala Ikhodi: Bram Cohen & BitTorrent

This is the official HackerNoon wiki for BitTorrent. As part of our , this living wiki displays on . If you’d like to suggest edits to our official BitTorrent wiki, please submit them in the comment field below, a real human editor will read and review your suggestions for accuracy and publication. coin price pages BitTorrent crypto price page BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer file-sharing communication protocol that allows users to distribute electronic files and data on the internet in a decentralized manner. History The BitTorrent protocol was created by programmer Bram Cohen in April 2001. The first version of the protocol was released on 2nd July 2001. This version did not have a search engine or peer exchange. Files were created through the creation of text files known as torrents that could be uploaded to a torrent index site. BitTorrent gained distributed tracking that allowed the use of distributed hash tables which allowed clients to trade data directly without needing to create a torrent file. Peer exchange functionality was created on the protocol in 2006. BitTorrent v2 was created on May 15, 2017. It was intended to work with initial versions of the BitTorrent protocol. BitTorrent was purchased by Justin Sun in July 2018 for $140 million. Sun is the creator and founder of TRON. TRON announced the creation of the BitTorrent Token (BTT) in January 2019. The BTT was created to improve BitTorrent’s content delivery, privacy protection, and the platform’s file storage. BTT was sold in two markets in January 2019. It sold 59.8 billion BTT for around $7.2 million within a few minutes of its Initial Coin Offering. Biggest Claim to Fame The use of BitTorrent can reduce the network and server impact caused by the distribution of large files. The protocol allows for several home computers to replace large servers but still distribute files to several recipients. This causes lower bandwidth usage thereby helping to prevent large-scale internet traffic in an area, ensuring internet speeds are higher for all users whether they use BitTorrent or not. Biggest Criticism Users used to pay for BitTorrent’s service in bandwidth and not money. This changed when BTT was created. Initially, people contributed some of their devices' processing power which allowed the network to use that power within the duration of the content download or after. This stopped after the introduction of BTT where it was argued that the currency could broaden the scope of functions BitTorrent could offer. BitTorrent faces the problem of copyright infringement. Since all their data is from and to consumers, content is easily passed around without consideration for the content creators’ copyrights. It is difficult to follow up on every single person who gave or received a file individually on the platform as it has millions of users. This has caused a problem for content creators who do not know how to deal with the issues caused by BitTorrent. Torrent files reveal the IP address of both the ones sending or receiving a torrent file. This is dangerous as the IP address can be used to access your device and any sensitive information kept on it. In this day and age, a public IP address can be used to access location, internet usage, and computer storage, as well as any information stored on a cloud that the computer has access to. This is a major problem and setback on the use of BitTorrent. There is no way to verify the contents of a Torrent unless there are comments present. There is no way to tell if the content getting downloaded is genuine until it is fully downloaded and the user opens it. This is a problem, especially for large files that require massive amounts of data and storage space. It may take a user a long time to download only to find out after several hours the torrent is a false one. Team BitTorrent was created by the American computer programmer Bram Cohen. He went to the University of Buffalo. He designed the BitTorrent protocol in 2001 and released the initial version in July 2001. He created the Chia Network in 2017 where he works as the CEO. This is the official HackerNoon wiki for BitTorrent. As part of our , this living wiki displays on . If you’d like to suggest edits to our official BitTorrent wiki, please submit them in the comment field below, a real human editor will read and review your suggestions for accuracy and publication. coin price pages BitTorrent crypto price page

BitTorrent $BTT Wiki: Coin History, Techstack, and Crypto News

is a method used to distribute files over the internet. A torrent file contains metadata about the contents to be distributed. In addition to metadata, a torrent file contains a list of trackers. The torrent file itself doesn’t contain the file data but contains file and folder names and their structures. Torrenting How Torrenting Works Torrenting is the process of downloading and uploading files using . BitTorrent works by splitting a file into hundreds or even thousands of pieces. Those pieces are gathered and assembled to create the original file with the help of BitTorrent clients on the users’ computers. BitTorrent This helps users download the required files with ease, irrespective of their size. The BitTorrent protocol, after being introduced, became a huge success and was a game-changer. Some special terms in BitTorrent that might help you understand it better: : The server that initially distributes the torrent file is a seed. Seed : Any machine that downloads the torrent file from the seed and also shares the file with other devices is a peer. Any peer that has a complete file downloaded can also act as a seed. Peer : A peer that does not share its data fragments with other peers after downloading is called a leech. Leech : A swarm is a network consisting of seeds and peers. Swarm : Tracker is software that helps in coordination between different peers for file transfer. Tracker The best torrent sites always have high-quality content and a hefty number of seeds available. There are lots of torrent sites flooded with ads, trackers, malicious code, and fake torrents. Therefore, it is always recommended to use a decent while accessing those ad-filled torrent sites. In this article, I’m going to discuss some of the best torrent sites available on the web right now. ad blocker 1. The Pirate Bay It is the oldest (20 years old) and most popular torrent site. With a monthly user base of nearly six and a half million, it is clearly the current king of torrent sites. Due to such a massive load, this site often goes down at regular intervals. That kind of massive user base at the Pirate Bay hosts a good amount of seeded torrent files there. 2. 1337X After being started in 2007, 1337x only started to gain popularity in 2016 after the end of the popular torrent provider Kickass Torrents that year. Now 1337x ranks among the top torrent sites with a large user base. The site is famous for having all kinds of torrent files, like movies, music, documents, and many more, that users can download with a decent amount of seeds and peers. Fun fact: The “1337” in the name of this site represents the word “LEET”, which in fact depicts “Elite”. 3. RARBG It is often popular for its smooth user interface which allows users to search for torrent files instantly. The site has been in operation since 2008. This site is blocked in 17 countries for legal reasons ( copyright infringement) including Australia, India, and China. This site doesn’t allow users to upload on their own. 4. YTS With a beautiful user interface and a huge library of movies that users can search and download, YTS is easily the most popular torrent site for movies. Many users also claimed YTS was the “simplest movie torrent downloader”. Users can download their required torrent file at a decently high speed from YTS. There are also various options to download files according to the network speed and quality of the user. 5. LimeTorrent Also known as the most trusted torrent site, LimeTorrent has a huge database that consists of nearly 10 million torrent files. The database is regularly updated, since every day many more new files get uploaded. The average download speed of LimeTorrent is around 2.5 megabytes per second, which is pretty decent. Even if it is banned in countries like the UK, France, and Australia, LimeTorrent is able to maintain that large user base, which is remarkable. 6. TorrentDownloads Having a larger database with high-quality torrents makes this site a top choice for many users. That’s because of the high-speed download it provides. This site is popular for having classic and older files that users cannot find elsewhere. 7. Torrentz2 Torrentz2 is another popular torrent site that also has millions of visits every month. This site, despite having all kinds of files available for download in its database, is most popular for music. The most special thing about this torrent site is that it fetches files from more than 90+ torrent sites. People generally use Torrentz2 as an instant alternative to other sites they use. In the past year, Torrentz2 used to have spammy and misleading links, but with time, they have improved their site. 8. IPtorrents This is a different type of torrent site than the ones listed above. They are public torrent sites that can be accessed by anyone. IPtorrents, on the other hand, is a private torrent site that you will need an invitation to enter. To download torrent files from here, you need to pay a certain amount. The site being private is much safer, and it is also one of the biggest private torrent sites because of its huge database. Final Thoughts on the Best Torrent Sites It is recommended that you do not use torrents for illegal activities. You can download copyright-free items without any legal issues. However, for some privacy, always use a good torrent VPN. Using such a VPN helps you protect your identity, increase download speed ( by preventing ISP throttling), etc. These days, torrent sites are now restricted in some countries due to the censored content they contain. Some bad torrent sites were also banned after they were found using users’ CPUs for crypto mining. Torrent sites can be banned or blocked at any time. If one goes down, another takes its place. Despite the fluctuations, people’s love for torrents is still at an all-time high. Don’t forget to always use a reliable site to download torrents, and don’t forget to use a VPN.

8 Best Torrent Sites That are Still Working in 2023

The world's oldest active torrent file turns 18 years old this month and it's still being seeded by dozens of people. "The Fanimatrix" torrent was published in 2003 when BitTorrent was still a relatively new protocol. At the time, the torrent's creator saw it as the only affordable option to share the Matrix fan film with the world. BitTorrent is an excellent distribution mechanism but, for a file to live on, at least one person has to keep sharing it. This means that most torrents eventually die after the public loses interest. However, some torrents seem to live on forever. The Fanimatrix The oldest surviving torrent we can identify is a copy of the Matrix fan film “ .” The torrent was created in September 2003, which means that it will turn 18 this month. A remarkable achievement. Fanimatrix The film was shot by a group of New Zealand friends. With a limited budget of just $800, nearly half of which was spent on a leather jacket, they managed to complete the project in nine days. While shooting the film was possible with these financial constraints, sharing it with the world was a bigger challenge. At the time there were no free video-sharing services and YouTube had yet to be invented. No Money For Distribution Hosting the film on a private server wasn’t an option either. Bandwidth was still very expensive, especially in New Zealand. If the project was to be a success, the friends would have to pay many thousands of dollars extra to distribute it. This is when one of the friends, Sebastian Kai Frost, went looking for other options. Frost had a bit part in the film and also operated as the ‘IT-guy’. After searching for solutions, he eventually stumbled upon a new technology called BitTorrent. “It looked promising because it scaled such that the more popular the file became, the more the bandwidth load was shared. It seemed like the perfect solution,” Frost told us . earlier BitTorrent to the Rescue This was exactly what was needed to get the Fanimatrix published worldwide. So, after Frost got the green light from the rest of the crew he created a torrent on September 28, 2003. To ensure that everything ran smoothly, he also ran his own tracker from a Linux box. The Fanimatrix turned out to be a great success. In the first week alone, 70,000 people grabbed a copy of the film. This is quite an achievement, especially when considering that BitTorrent wasn’t as widely known or easy to use back then. With BitTorrent, the film crew easily saved hundreds of thousands of dollars in distribution costs. It was the perfect use case for how the technology could help independent creators. Preserving Internet History Today, there are plenty of free ‘instant streaming’ options available that make BitTorrent look silly. However, it is great to see that the Fanimatrix is still being shared after all these years. It’s part of Internet history now. And with the scheduled to premiere later this year, the project may gain some extra traction as well. fourth installment of The Matrix TorrentFreak spoke to Frost this week who doubled down on his earlier promise to keep the Fanimatrix site and the torrent running for as long as possible. He’s even taken some precautions, in case of an early departure from this world. The original Fanimatrix site went offline for a while, but Frost years ago and plans to keep it online for as long as possible. The crew is also considering a special celebration in two years, when the two-decade mark is passed. restored it

World's Oldest Active Torrent File Can Now Legally Drink in a Few States

El archivo de torrent activo más antiguo del mundo ahora se puede beber legalmente en algunos estados

Le plus ancien fichier de torrent actif au monde peut désormais être consommé légalement dans quelques États

दुनिया की सबसे पुरानी सक्रिय टोरेंट फ़ाइल अब कुछ राज्यों में कानूनी रूप से पी सकती है

世界最古のアクティブなトレント ファイルが、いくつかの州で合法的に飲むことができるようになりました

O arquivo de torrent ativo mais antigo do mundo agora pode beber legalmente em alguns estados

Tệp Torrent hoạt động lâu đời nhất thế giới hiện có thể uống hợp pháp ở một vài quốc gia

世界上最古老的活跃种子文件现在可以在几个州合法饮用

What do Google, Facebook, Youtube, Amazon, Uber and a phone book have in common? They are — searchable lists of stuff. Google is a list of keywords mapped to the websites they appear in. Facebook is a list of profiles, posts, private messages, events and other types of information. Youtube has users, videos and comments. Amazon: merchants and items. Uber: drivers, customers and ride requests. indexes Oh, and the phone book. Young readers might not know that it was a 20th century business model where you print out a database of names matched with phone numbers and drop the heavy object into people’s mailboxes. Most online unicorns are essentially just indexes with a nice user interface and occasionally some sort of customer support. They are commonly called “ ”. platforms Strong network effects are the boon or bane of indexing, depending on whom you ask. Winner takes it all: users must join the most popular index in order to find others and be found, i.e. to get the most search results and appear in as many searches as possible. This is good for the winning company’s shareholders. “Competition is for losers”, as Peter Thiel wrote in his book “From Zero to One”. Also, it’s convenient and computationally efficient when you need to search only one index which contains everything and runs in a highly optimized data center. The downside is that these companies become central points of tremendous power — in other words, . Many of them have become necessities that our daily lives and livelihoods depend upon, yet they are not accountable to their own users. They are private companies that can quite freely favor or discriminate against whomever they like. What is your recourse when Facebook decides to suspend your account for 1 month at a critical time? single points of failure There have been to regulate online platforms akin to banks or electricity companies. Good regulation could help, but bad regulation could make things worse. Many things can go wrong when trying to solve problems by government force. Government too is a monopoly - one that you can’t even unsubscribe from when things go wrong. And how did it work out with bank regulation? It’s always safer if we can develop new technology that solves these problems without the use of force (and more ethical, one could argue). calls as public utilities What Satoshi Nakamoto wrote about banks applies to online platforms as well: “The root problem with conventional currency is all the trust that's required to make it work. The central bank must be trusted not to debase the currency, but the history of fiat currencies is full of breaches of that trust. Banks must be trusted to hold our money and transfer it electronically, but they lend it out in waves of credit bubbles with barely a fraction in reserve. We have to trust them with our privacy, trust them not to let identity thieves drain our accounts.” As we have already seen, such central points will inevitably be abused from the inside or outside for commercial, political or outright criminal gain, while the rest of us pay the price. Historically, printing presses, telegraph offices and railway stations have been some of the first central points seized by communist revolutionaries. Modern day authoritarians hijack search engines and social media corporations. They can be used to direct or suppress public debate and are to influence politics. globally used Some political activists demand “ ” of people they disagree with — too often successfully. Big tech companies themselves have a bias against conservatives, which they have acted upon, banning them more often than left-wing users. deplatforming admittedly arguably In 2018 Germany that obliges social media companies to censor “obviously illegal” user content within 24 hours or face penalties up to 50 million euros. Human Rights Watch the law on the grounds that it “can lead to unaccountable and overbroad censorship” and “sets a dangerous precedent for other governments”. At least Russia, Singapore, and the Philippines have cited the law as a positive example of legislation for removing “illegal” content online. France enacted a in 2019. started enforcing a law criticized similar law A topic of their own are authoritarian countries such as China, Iran, Turkey and North Korea which severely restrict the access to social media or even to the whole internet. People in those countries resort to VPNs, file sharing by or occasionally . usb sticks bluetooth mesh networks For many people, Snowden’s revelations about NSA mass surveillance programs have been the wake-up call to issues. It’s reasonable to ask if we want to share our digital lives with the big tech and subsequently the government. privacy Another concern about centralization is . What if someone at Google just messes up? What if WhatsApp servers are unreachable in an emergency? That concern can be shared regardless of your particular political bias. infrastructure security Decentralize indexing. Take out the middleman. It gets a bit more technical here. How do we make it right? Bitcoin is a proven decentralized alternative to central banks and money transmitters. We no longer have the situation where Alice wants to send money to Bob via middleman Carl, but Dave prevents it by pressuring Carl. Alice doesn’t need anyone’s permission to send her own bitcoins to Bob. Now we just need to make bitcoin more convenient for everyday use and . hodl Bitcoin and other decentralized are all about state management: how to achieve a consensus on the ledger’s balances without asking a central authority. Bitcoin presented a novel solution to the problem: — or more specifically, . Every full bitcoin node replicates a chain of transaction blocks, and the valid version of the chain stamped by the most computing power (proof of work) is considered as the consensus. ledgers blockchain proof of work However, . For example, : you don’t need or want slow and expensive perfect synchronization with everyone in the world. Eventual consistency is sufficient and can be achieved with : systems that don’t even need an internet access — just occasional contact with peers. Examples of such systems are , and . decentralized indexes face a different set of technical challenges and tradeoffs blockchain is not the right tool for social media conflict-free replicated data types Gun Automerge OrbitDB — — CAP theorem: Consistency, Availability and Partition-tolerance choose two. In a decentralized system one of the two must be partition-tolerance network failures do happen. When network failures inevitably happen, you need to choose between availability and consistency of state. In case of a trustless ledger, it may be better to sacrifice availability and stop transactions in order to prevent double-spending. Social networks and many other applications might do fine without strong consistency, i.e. everyone always having the same dataset. The content you post offline can be synchronized later. Even bank ATMs choose A over C, since the benefits outweigh the risks (as explained in this excellent on CAP). article Another challenge is . You don’t want spam in your social media feed. You want search results to actually contain the searched words. When the index is not run by a single trusted entity, you can use a to filter out users and peers that produce spam or other unwanted content - all without giving power to central moderators. how to make sure that the data you receive from peers is relevant or valid web of trust Bittorrent solves this somewhat similarly, exchanging file parts with peers on tit-for-tat basis, rewarding peers for co-operation. You can see your download start slowly and then speed up as other downloading peers see that you are giving back. According to a report by Sandvine, bittorrent traffic accounted for over 50% of upstream broadband traffic in North America in 2011. Sharing of static files in a peer-to-peer network is old and proven technology. However, — big dynamic datasets — . Centralized torrent indexes are the single point of failure that governments, defending billion-dollar corporate interests, have heavy-handedly cracked down upon - most famously and more recently . maintaining and querying decentralized indexes is easier said than done The Pirate Bay KickassTorrents takes torrent indexing in a more decentralized direction. While the index is still centrally maintained, it is distributed via which makes finding its maintainer or preventing its distribution more difficult. The index maintainer could even hide behind Tor to prevent detection by traffic analysis. Torrent Paradise IPFS is a fairly popular IPFS-based project that lets merchants index their own products. , founded in 2006, is a fully decentralized web search application. Both are based on (DHT), the same technology that bittorrent uses for peer finding. OpenBazaar YaCy distributed hash tables is an interesting offline-first mobile application that can synchronize over bluetooth, wifi or remote servers. It is based on the Scuttlebutt feed synchronization system, which already has hundreds of active users. Manyverse I have been working on , . Interface-wise it’s not too different from some existing social media — you can post text, photos, videos, audio or other types of files into your feed. Iris a social networking application that stores everything on its users’ devices and connects to peers directly You can have end-to-end encrypted private chats and get mobile or desktop notifications. Users give each other trust ratings to form a web of trust — a concept that has been used in public key infrastructure since the 90s. Trust ratings are functionally not too different from adding a friend or following someone. Iris browser application . Also available for desktop , mobile and as a library . Iris web of trust works both on the software level and the user level. On the software level it is used to manage peer connections and prioritize storage space: friends connect to each other and replicate each other’s content. On the user level it aims to serve as a that naturally exists in tribes and villages, reducing the need for a and facilitating the . socially scalable version of the system of trust centralized justice system gift economy Web of trust helps filter out spam and other unwanted content without entrusting the power to a central moderator. Instead of a single moderator, you have multiple “moderators” whom you can choose and whose collective decisions you can override. , since your messages are only shown to people whose WoT you are in. It makes trolling, fake news and other propaganda campaigns more difficult Based on (“identity verifications”) from your WoT, such as domain names, email addresses, phone numbers, social media handles or CA certificates. Similarly to or Namecoin, it fulfills all three properties of Zooko’s triangle outlined in . attestations Iris maps natural names to public keys and other identifiers, providing a decentralized alternative to digital identity providers Petnames Names: Decentralized, Secure, Human-Meaningful: Choose Two Unlike Namecoin addresses or other global names, Iris names are not globally unique: there can be multiple people named John Smith. When searching for a name, you get a dropdown list of results ordered by their WoT distance, along with avatars and other human-meaningful attributes that are attested by your WoT. Iris doesn’t have a globally shared state. Instead, what you see depends on what your WoT says. It could be even used to maintain a shared conception of borders, countries and properties. Instead of Google , the borders and names you see on a map would depend on what your WoT has attested to. Good for local sovereignty advocates. Use together with public polls. playing the geopolitical moderator uncensorable Ideally, Iris users would have device-based private keys that share access to the same private data. Losing one key doesn’t matter, and the other keys can be used to invalidate the lost one. If you lose all your keys, you can just ask your WoT to attest a new key to your identity. After enough verifications, other users can fetch the private chats with your old key and re-encrypt them to the new key. Your non-shared private data would be lost though. That could be avoided with yet another key recovery option: , which allows e.g. 3 out of 5 recovery shards stored by friends to restore your private key. Shamir’s Secret Sharing End-to-end encrypted private chat in the Iris mobile app . The strategy is to start with private messaging, since it doesn’t require the same critical mass as public messaging. Iris outsources storage and networking to Gun, the aforementioned CRDT system. With storage adapters it provides offline-first eventually consistent data synchronization between all kinds of storages, such as RAM, file system, local area network peers (multicast), websocket servers or remote WebRTC peers. With a bluetooth adapter you could use it in an ad hoc mesh network where peers don’t even need to be connected all the time - very censorship-resistant. Iris users maintain their of Message and Contact objects. These are synchronized and queried over Gun. When you search for messages or contacts, other indexes in your WoT are also queried. That is . indexes web of trust based decentralized indexing This works using Gun's simple API: # open our own index (read & write permissions)
user = gun.user()
user.auth(keypair)
user.get( ).get(indexKey).put(message)
user.get( , params).on( doSomething(msg))
user.get( )...

# open someone messages 'messages' 'messages' => msg 'contacts' else 's index (read-only)
user = gun.user(publicKey)
user.get(' ', params).on(...) like Google, Amazon, Uber etc. The same paradigm could be used to store and retrieve other kinds of objects and build all kinds of decentralized alternatives to platforms Sharding, replication factor, algorithms for efficient querying of peers and other optimizations are yet to be explored. Perhaps a DHT between trusted peers could be used. The optimal division of labor between local devices and servers (super-peers) needs further research: you want it to work offline or in a mesh network (to some extent), but also to be able to utilize the power of data centers. Servers and efficient data centers have their place even in a system where the data model, storage and networking support decentralization. You could still have companies that maintain large indexes: they would just be interoperable with other actors in the network. The question is how to find the right balance between them. In order to truly compete with centralized platforms, . Iris and the other presented solutions are not quite there yet. Bittorrent does a great job with download speeds, but has no integrated content indexing and search like we’re used to on Netflix, Steam or Spotify. The others typically have performance or scalability issues. On the other hand, we can already boast offline-first capabilities and ease of signup unlike Facebook and the others. Not to mention the sheer ecstatic feeling of self-sovereignty. decentralized applications must provide user experience as good as or even better than what we are used to Iris logo: rainbow colored eye in a speech bubble. If you’re enthusiastic about something that nobody else seems to get, odds are that you are chasing a rainbow (and Iris happens to be the Greek goddess of the rainbow). But sometimes you are right. In 2009 I emailed Satoshi Nakamoto and offered to help however I could with Bitcoin. After that it would take years before bitcoin’s success eventually convinced people to start taking it seriously. I have been similarly enthusiastic about the ideas behind Iris for years, but lacked the marketing skills to promote them. I believe that code speaks louder than words though: bitcoin wouldn’t have gotten off the ground with only the whitepaper and no reference implementation to prove it. Iris software is getting there, but progress is slow when you’re working on a complex system by yourself, using experimental building blocks that have changed many times along the way. If you liked the analysis or the proposed solution, please share this article or check out for more contribution options. If you have a better idea on how to decentralize indexing or otherwise make us less dependent on corporate online platforms, please let us know. The world needs it! Iris on GitHub

How To Fix Everything That's Wrong With the Internet

Introduced in February 2015, TechCrunch Magazine noted IPFS was  “quickly spreading by word of mouth.” It’s possibly a key component to solving deep-seated but largely unknown problems that exist in today's internet usage. Some believe IPFS, a new tongue-twisting acronym, is a tool that’ll finally evolve the internet from central entities to a world wide web of shared information, as our online founders always envisioned. The Simple Breakdown: IPFS = Git + BitTorrent To understand IPFS or an Interplanetary File System, one can envision a file system that stores files and tracks versions over time, like the project ….. Git Photo . Source Git is a distributed version control system, or VCS. Developers use it to track changes to their code . When text is added, edited or deleted in any piece of code, Git tracks the changes line-by-line It’s distributed because every user has all the source code on their computer  and can act as a server. Secondly, Git is backed by a content-addressable database, meaning the content in the database is immutable. But... IPFS also incorporates how files move across a network, making it a distributed file system, such as . BitTorrent Photo . Source BitTorrent allows users to quickly download  large files using minimum internet bandwidth. For this reason it is free  to use and includes no spyware or pop-up advertising. BitTorrent’s protocol maximizes transfer speed by gathering small pieces of files desired by the user and downloads the content pieces simultaneously from other users that retain seekers content. BitTorrent is popular for freely sharing videos, programs, books, music, legal/medical records, and more. Not to mention, the downloads are much faster than other protocols. Photo . Source Git + BitTorrent = BFF IPFS uses BitTorrent’s approach, but applies Git’s concept and creates a new type of file system that tracks the respective versions of files from all the users in the network. By utilizing both characteristics of these two entities, IPFS birthed a new permanent web that challenges existing internet protocols, such as HTTP. WTF Is Wrong With HTTP? It Seems Fine To Me, TYVM. Well, first, I’m not sure if you realized you had options. So while the thought: “The World Wide Web is actually wider…” sinks into your head, here’s a brief summary of what you’ve likely been using for some time. Sit back for a quick lesson on HTTP, ASAP. (lol, you love the free jokes in my articles). The internet is a collection of protocols that describe how data moves through a network. Developers adopted these protocols over time as they built applications on top of existing infrastructure. The protocol that serves as the backbone of the web is the HyperText Transfer Protocol. HTTP, or HyperText Transfer Protocol is an application layer protocol for distributed, collaborative hypermedia systems created by Tim Berners Lee at CERN in 1989. HTTP is the foundation for data communication using hypertext files. It is currently used for most of the data transfer on the internet. HTTP is a request-response protocol. Since the internet boasts a vast array of resources hosted on different servers. To access these resources, a browser needs to be able to send a request to the server and display the resources. HTTP is the underlying format for structuring  requests and responses for communication between  client and host. The message that is sent by a client to a server is what is known as an HTTP request. When these requests are being sent, clients can use various methods to make this request. HTTP request methods are the assets that indicate a specific action to be performed on a given resource. Each method implements a distinct semantic, but there are some shared features. Common Example: the Google homepage-back to the “client” or browser. This is a location-addressed protocol which means when google.com is inserted into a browser, it gets translated into an IP address belonging to a Google server, initiating a request-response cycle with that server. WTF, We Have a 404 On HTTP! SOS! Internet savvy, or not, I believe we have all fallen victim to an HTTP meltdown at least once in our lives. Photo . Source Do you recall a time in your life when you and a large group of people went  to the same website at the same time? Each individual participating in this action types the request into their online device and sends a request to that website, where a response is given. each person is sent the same data, individually. If there’s 10,000 people trying to access a site, on the backend, there are 10k requests, and 10k responses. This sounds great, right?  Problem is it’s  pretty inefficient. In a perfect world, participants should be able to leverage physical proximity to more effectively retrieve requested information. HTTP presents another significant issue if there is a  problem in the network’s line of communication, leaving the client unable to connect with the server. This occurs if: A country is blocking some content An ISP has an outage Content was merely moved or deleted. These types of exist everywhere on the HTTP web. broken links A location-based addressing model, like HTTP, encourages the centralization of information. It is convenient to trust a handful of applications with all our online data, but there’s a great sense of power and responsibility that comes with placing centralized providers with our precious personal and public information. K, LMK What IPFS Is. Simply, IPFS is an acronym for ‘ ,’ which is a protocol and P2P network in a distributed system that is utilized for storing and accessing websites, applications, files and data. This system uses content-addressing to target and identify each file in a global namespace. Users can obtain and host content, much like ‘BitTorrent’. InterPlanetary File System A central server lacks some of the admirable characteristics that the IPFS network retains, being built around a decentralized system of users and operators. In an open network like IPFS, each user holds a portion of the overall data, creating and strengthening a resilient ecosystem of file sharing and storage. Photo . Source Any user participating in the network can serve a file by its content address, and other peers in the network can find and request content from any node with  it using a ( ). distributed hash table DHT Photo . Source IPSF Is G.O.A.T.! How Does It Work? IPFS strives to create a permanent and distributed web by using a content-addressed system instead of HTTP’s location-based system. Photo . Source http://12.65.83.94/folder/file.txt HTTP requests look like: Where, : /ipfs/QmR6UvrW8aUyoN5m/folder/file.txt IPFS requests look like Rather than using a location address IPFS constructs a representation of its content to address information with a cryptographic hash. The hash represents a root object and other objects can be found in its path. HTTP ” to a server, but IPFS opens access to a “ ” of data, leveraging physical proximity for better performance. “talks starting point IPFS uses a , or , for data storage. Once a hash is generated, a request to ask the peer network who owns the content located at that hash. The content is then downloaded directly from the appropriate node. The data is then transferred between nodes in the network using mechanisms similar to those in BitTorrent. A content seeker on the IPFS web finds neighbors who have access to the content they want. After the content is collected, a downloading process occurs where small pieces of the content from those neighbors are stored on your PC. Distributed Hash Table DHT But wait... that's not all! lol In addition to the DHT and the BitTorrent protocols, IPFS uses a Dr. Merkle’s ‘ . is a data structure similar to what Git uses for version control. It’s also the protocol used in Bitcoin’s blockchain technology. In Git, it's used to track different versions of source code files, whereas in IPFS is used to track targeted content across the world wide web. Merkle Tree’ The Merkle Tree ….I’m Still Over Here Like, OMG! WTH Is IPFS, FFS?! Okay, Okay- let me break it down in a real-world example. Picture a big, green avocado! Ohhhh, They’re delicious, aren’t they? Let’s pretend we are writing a research paper on avocados. First, we begin by conducting a quick search for  “ ”- a Google search on my Safari browser brings me to URL results based in my North American location, the English Wikipedia site  being among the top results. is the site to be exact. avocados https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avocado When one clicks or one types the URL in their browser’s address bar, the seeking computer asks one of Wikipedia’s local computers for the avocado page. ). (this is a centralized platform Non-geeks can scroll a Google search for a few pages and feel as if their options for avocado info can quickly run dry . This is a problem. A really big problem… Think about it, I’m in America: How much can Americans possibly know about a Mexican FRUIT? ( They’re in the vegetable food section here, folks! IPFS!!!… oops, wrong acronym. I meant, #smh!) Thankfully, there’s a ‘mirror’ of Wikipedia stored on the IPFS protocol and in our searches we can access this. Although, the site address is somewhat unusual, if you’re unfamiliar with it. When opening up an IPFS server the ‘ ’ for decentralized avocado education is just like a ‘https://’ server, requests are submitted in the address bar. But the search result page will appear something like this: ask /ipfs-search.com/#/search?search=avocados And your mirrored wiki page on avocados will look close to this:/ipfs/ /wiki/Avocado.html QmPCxCiuinXrqCyQ2vymg7NcXhQVYPpz8ABVwAT1hfoH1b The IPFS-ified version of the avocado information is represented by the string of alpha-numbers found within the URL (Example: QmPCxiu…),  instead of asking one of Wikipedia’s computers for the avocado information page, the IPFS network asks tons of computers to share the data that’s been requested. Using this protocol allows access to avocado information from anyone who has it, not just from Wikipedia or local searches. IPFS Uses CID, FTW?! STFU!!!! IPFS knows how to locate the best information on avocados ( ) by using a CID or content identifier, and not the information based on the location you’re searching from. or any subject … Sorry, I love avocados! So, a CID or content identifier is a label used to highlight, note, or point material in the IPFS network. The CID does not indicate where the actual content is stored, but it forms an address based on it. Photo . Source CIDs are special because they’re based on the content’s cryptographic hash, ) which implies any difference in content will produce a different CID and the same piece of content added to two different IPFS nodes using the same settings will produce exactly the same CID. The SHA-256 hashing algorithm is used in IPFS by default, but there’s support by a number of other algorithms. (see photo for simple breakdown of what a cryptographic hash is. Photo Source: Canva.com Amazingly, a cryptographic hash can be used to identify any piece of data, as the hash is unique to the fixed calculated data collected. Note: a hash has a fixed length, so the SHA-256 hash of a one-gigabyte video file is only 32 bytes. For this reason, sending and storing throughout the network is ecologically friendly, as it uses very few resources; which is critical for a distributed system like IPFS, where the data is retrieved from many different locations. Photo Source: Canva.com TTYL, HTTP! OMW, IPFS! The beauty of running IPFS is, searches are posed as questions and any peer connected to the network responds. Any IPFS user that retains data or files with a particular hash sends the entire file to the information seeker. Thanks to the endless data in the world, without a short and unique identifier like the cryptographic hash function found in content addressing ( ), retrieving specialized information would not be possible, because the content itself is used to form an address, rather than information about the computer and disk location of it’s where-a-abouts. CID To visualize HTTP and IPFS side by side, we can compare the two. Photo . Source HTTP Uses a centralized client server Data not accessible if server is down or if link is broken Data is requested based on the address where data is hosted To make content publicly available one must set up a hosting server or pay to partake in the HTTP network. Low bandwidth related to multiple clients requesting resources from a single server, often simultaneously HTTP support is built into most computing machines HTTP is a vastly used and an established industry standard. IPFS Uses a decentralized peer to peer network Data is shared with multiple nodes, therefore data is always accessible Data requested using cryptographic hash of requested data Every node or participant on the IPFS hosts and shares data, therefore, uploading content is free and accessible to all High bandwidth related to data being requested from the closest peer who retains information IPFS requires access using the HTTP to IPFS portal, or a manual setup to use the IPFS node on your PC (like an app) IPFS is an up and coming interest to investors, technologists and consumers alike. Cool, But I’m a #WiB… How Does IPFS & BTC Tech Relate? Related to the similarity in their underlying structure, IPFS and blockchain technology can go together like peanut butter and jelly! ( It’s an American thing…) Juan Benet, the inventor of IPFS calls Blockchain and IPFS a “ ” IPFS is one of a few projects picked up by Protocol Labs, also founded by Benet. A few projects at Protocol Labs are similar to IPFS; IPLD, or Inter-Planetary Linked Data, and another called project: . great marriage. Filecoin Photo . Source is a data model for distributed data structures. much like blockchain. The IPLD model allows for easy storage of and access to blockchain data using IPFS. Users willing to store IPFS data will be rewarded with a digital reward, the ‘Filecoin’. Inter-Planetary Linked Data (IPLD) IPLD allows users to effortlessly interact with multiple blockchains. Currently, it has been integrated with Ethereum and Bitcoin. IPFS connects different blockchains, much like the web joins so many websites together. These projects are quite ambitious by nature. The idea of a permanent web that is resilient and efficient was the goal of the original founders of the original internet protocol. However, over time internet uses have evolved and needs for new protocols became evident. Although it is in its early stages, IPFS could be a crucial piece of the puzzle. Storage on blockchain is costly. According to estimates it costs $100 per GB of storage. Despite the current price of a 500GB hard drive being around $100. . Source How can one efficiently create a versioned file system if all the files are 500x more expensive than traditional hardware? Through cryptographic hashes, of course! When hashing a file, there’s a fixed length string unique to that file and its data. Rather than storing files, IPFS simply stores the hashes to files on the blockchain. These hashes can then be used to find the file’s actual location. A good analogy is giving your teammates a work meeting address. Rather than physically moving the office to them, we generate a pointer ( ) to where the meeting is and they come to the office. “ ” Benet told CoinDesk. Benet continued: “ ” . address Mainly since blockchains have proven an inefficient and expensive way of storing data, Benet believes data, from web pages to PDFs, can be offloaded to another computing layer like IPFS. Since distributed ledgers can be put on top of IPFS for application building, he calls the two systems a “great marriage”....“If you add it to IPFS and take that hash and put it in a block, you can then use IPFS to browse the transaction and browse the file directly on the web, IPFS connects all these different blockchains in a way that’s similar to how the web connects all these websites together. The same way that you can drop a link on one page that links to another page, you can drop a link in Ethereum [for example] that links to Zcash and IPFS can resolve all of that. Source Effectively, it’s a way to abstract away from cryptocurrencies. “ ,” Benet explained. “ ” . Imagine you’re browsing one blockchain You can click through from one to the other, which means that you can write applications that relate the two without those applications having to understand either Ethereum or Zcash. Source The idea is, if Ethereum, Zcash and other blockchains can store small amounts of data, IPFS can be a tool for linking and browsing them. Conclusion IPFS strives to be the new internet that would work across the globe, even planets while avoiding censorship and is infinitely bigger than the current internet. IPFS is considerably faster, far less expensive, retains more privacy features and able to withstand large scale attacks in the case of a disaster. Amazing. Where do you see this technology taking us? I became interested in IPFS because a project we are working on at . The technology fascinates me and I can’t wait to learn and evolve with this tech. PAC Global LLC -END- Thank you so much for reading. I’m out to decentralize education and bring real-world solutions to everyday consumers from the crypto and blockchain industry in efforts for a better financial future. If you’d like to find our more about our IPFS and master node projects at , please visit our website or reach out. PAC Global is a digital network connecting not only merchants and consumers, but business enterprise as well, with a fast, secure and more cost-effective way to send digital transactions globally. PAC Global PAC Global offers one of the world’s most powerful and secure masternode networks — enabling frictionless transactions worldwide and making them faster, safer, and cheaper. Built upon a massive distributed network and championed by blockchain pioneers, and with the total elimination of the middleman, PAC Global is truly the people’s platform for transactional and data transmissions and immutable record keeping. Author Alyze Sam is a Co-Founder/Director at GIVE Nation, Advisor/CCO at PAC Global and an award winning author. Sam wrote the first book on Stablecoins in 2017. The unbiased text takes complex practices and simplifies concepts for most audiences. In February 2020 Sam and her partners ‘ Complete 2020 Guide to Stablecoins ’ sat as the #1 New Release in Business and Money on Amazon Books. *Visuals and self-publishing done by a 16-year-old Sam personally mentors: Koosha Azim, Silicon Valley, CA. Sam’s second book, ‘ Stablecoin Economy ,’ a university text, released May 14th, 2020. MsAlyzeSam@gmail.com -LinkedIn -Facebook -Instagram -Twitter Edited by Adam Alonzi. Adam is a multifaceted and genius: editor, bioinformatician, copywriter, Ethereum coder, ghost writer, commodities broker, and logistics specialist. He spends his days working on telomere research and has recently gained success with repairing damaged cells in animals. Their lab has given life to several paralyzed victims. Adam is my hero, inspiration, and a great silent leader in the tech world. Thank you for always adding value to everything you touch, my friend! - LinkedIn : Sources https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InterPlanetary_File_System https://docs.ipfs.io /HTTP https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

WTH is IPFS? InterPlanetary File Systems To Rescue The Internet

Following the invention of the Internet by Robert Kahn in 1983, there are multiple developments that have focused on improving the Internet. The most remarkable improvement that has taken place is the decentralization of the Internet. The development has been massive enough to the extent of transforming different activities in modern society ranging from governance, law and trust to finance, health tech and fractional ownership. The current Internet architecture takes hold of several small entities in a confined structure referred to as centralization. Ever since the advent of the Internet, sharing of information through the Internet depended on the centralization of resources in a database such that all the peers in the interconnected network are centrally controlled. With decentralized systems, there is no reliance on intermediaries to facilitate connections. Instead, in decentralized systems, individual nodes in the network take control of their own data and at the same time individually share information directly with other nodes available in the network.​ Today the centralization of the Internet implies only a few companies taking control of the Internet through data privacy as well as dictating how information flows. Specifically, the Internet is controlled by a group of companies called FAANGs which stands for Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google. Owing to the billions of data shared through such platforms, the database controlled by these companies contains valuable information that drives marketing as well as other credible actors. The wealth of information contained in the centralized Internet can have far-reaching positive ramifications for researchers as well as advertisers depending on that application of analytics techniques. Security concerns and data privacy issues – from shady mismanagement of such personal data and malicious actors to spammy remarketing advertisement – have inspired a new movement of tech entrepreneurs, Internet activists, and influential technologists to evangelize solutions which will build decentralized systems and organizations. The use of centralized servers by many organizations means that there will be significant changes in the manner in which information is stored and shared online and stored. With centralized systems, computers act as nodes in the network playing the role of power contribution as well as the control of distributed storage systems. Meanwhile, distributed systems have equally been subject to security and privacy concerns owing to the interconnections that exist between the various databases involved in the network. With decentralized systems, data is stored in a privately-owned database such as cloud-hosted accounts. In such a system, there can never be hacking threats or fears of external control of the information contained in the storage systems. With the advent of blockchain technology, distributed systems are likely to adopt the mechanisms of a shared ledger in sharing and distributing information thus guaranteeing the privacy of user information. The distributed Internet of Things has recently advanced to accommodate smart systems that have made it easy to identify solutions for problems in agriculture, the industrial sector as well as in domestic issues. The future of the technology is expected to encompass technologies such as sensor devices, mobile technologies and RFID systems (radio frequency identification). The Exploding Billion Dollar Computing Power Storage Market Cloud computing in 2020 is shaping and expected to become more focused on vertical and a sales ground war as the leading vendors battle for market share according to Larry Dignan Editor-in-Chief, ZDNet. He four industry-wide trends: predicted Companies are well aware of vendor lock-in and want to abstract their applications so that they could be moved across clouds. Multi-Cloud: The more corporate data that resides in a cloud the more sticky the customer is to the vendor. Data Acquisition: To act as differentiators among the top cloud service providers AI & IoT: : Intensity and uncertainty. Sales Tactics The major market players of the global cloud computing market are Amazon.com Inc., Microsoft Corporation, Alphabet Inc, Oracle Corporation, Cisco Systems, Inc., Salesforce.com, Inc., SAP SE, VMware, Inc., IBM Corporation, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Rackspace Inc., Adobe Systems Inc., SAS Institute Inc, Dell EMC Corp.and TIBCO Software Inc. Is it economical and tech viable to use blockchain for data storage? The existence of blockchain has complemented the storage of data whereby huge data can be stored in decentralized databases. As a result, the data will be secure since no people have the capability to control such data. Extending this concept could be used by decentralized data ownership – in a format, users are remunerated for the value of their data when they decide to grant access to third parties. In opposition to traditional cloud servers, the decentralized cloud storage does not keep data on one particular centralized server, but it uses different nodes located across the world, which are independent of each other. The nodes are hosted by different providers, not centralized under one entity. This technology has started with the BitTorrent protocol, which was designed for peer-to-peer file sharing. The InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) protocol has been one of the biggest evolutions of decentralized data storage. IPFS is an open-source project created by Protocol Labs, an R&D lab for network protocols and former Y Combinator startup. There are two fundamental approaches when it comes to decentralized data computing. The off-chain and on-chain. The on-chain refers to the design which includes all data of users is stored within each block on the blockchain. The enhanced security feeling comes at a price to maintain full nodes, which is a far more expensive option. While traditional cryptocurrencies such as BTC with a maximum size of 1MB per block and capacities of 3-4 transactions per second (TPS) can’t serve for the reason of data storage. Simply put, If users were able to upload a few megabytes of data, the network will become shortly overloaded. Moreover, this will cost a fortune in network fees and kill decentralization due to the heavy investments that will be required to run and purchase those machines. As off-chain data we refer to any non-transactional data that is too large to be stored in a blockchain efficiently, or requiring the ability to be changed or deleted. There are several key issues with using existing data stores with new blockchain-based projects. As those categorized by the IBM titled “Why new off-chain storage is needed for blockchains“ there are several issues with existing data stores with the existing blockchain-based projects. report The report is dated back to 2018, an early era for public blockchains- at the time of the writing would make no sense to store on-chain data. As mentioned, a relatively technically easy solution to avoid the costs of the blockchain is to store hashes instead of data per se on the blockchain. But off-chain data storage comes with its own set of flaws. That’s why until today the great majority of data storage solutions on the market are off-chain, by utilising Blockchain Layer 2 (Off-Chain) Infrastructure Platforms. Off-chain solutions tend to have a weak spot, which is no other than safety. By exporting data outside the blockchain, we weaken our safety standards due to more intermediates being involved. Different approaches have been executed by the blockchain community to understand the prospect of storing data exclusively on-chain, answering two contradicting aspects: scalability & increased block size. Who is solving On-Chain Data Storage Solutions: ILCoin & Rift Protocol Among the scalability enables is the RIFT Protocol. Decentralized Cloud Blockchain (DCB) and RIFT allow on-chain storage of files in unlimited volumes. Diving deeper in their architecture we extract the following outcomes: ILCoin’s Bigger blocks enabling more storage. ILCoin has released a 5Gb block – the biggest stable block in the market – (block # 310280) Replication of files by a second layer of Mini-blocks which are processed independently of the mined blocks Mini-blocks are not mined but have a reference to the transactions, in the same way as the mined blocks have Security of the DCB is ensured by the Command Chain Protocol (C2P) Mini-Blocks that are the same as the traditional blocks except they are not mined. They are replicated in the same way as fractals. A Mini-Block hash is generated automatically by the code which eliminates the need for them to be mined. They are contained as a layer inside the traditional (parent) block by way of a reference system. RIFT makes possible the processing of a huge amount of transactions through the Mini-Blocks which expands the capacity of the parent blocks. The transactional speed of RIFT Protocol is tens of times faster than Visa, and tens of thousands of times faster than the Bitcoin network.The new protocol operates 5Gb stable blocks, while increasing transaction speed to 23 140 987 tx/block in the case of 3-minute block generation time and 232 bytes transaction weight. Since the end of November, 5Gb blocks are live and can be checked out in . Block Explorer BitTorrent File System & Tron Blockchain BitTorrent File System is both a protocol and network implementation that provides a content-addressable peer to peer mechanism for storing digital content in a decentralized file system. It’s paired with Tron Ecosystem and the BitTorrent network. BTFS takes advantage of a fork of the IPFS implementation as a start. IPFS was built upon a collection of state of the art technologies such as BitTorrent, distributed hash tables (DHT) etc. The BTFS network architecture comprises several micro-services to serve Renters (who consume BTFS network’s storage by paying BTT) and Hosts (who provide storage space to BTFS network and get BTT rewards). The following micro-services run in the BTFS network. Status Server The status server stores network system metrics used to improve the BTFS network. This data powers the functionality of the other microservices. BTFS Hub The BTFS Hub works to provide storage renters with the most reliable hosts on the BTFS network. The Hub achieves this by calculating a score for every BTFS host using vital metrics like available storage space, host uptime & age, and proximity to file storage renter, among other metrics. The Hub powers the host recommendation based on renter selected preferences and needs. BTFS Guard One of the core guarantees of any large scale file storage system is the availability of stored files. When a file is stored in the BTFS network, the file undergoes Reed-Solomon encoding and is then split into 30 shards, stored on 30 selected hosts. With BTFS Guard, hosts are regularly challenged with proof of storage to ensure file integrity and availability. Should the threshold of missing shards be reached due to hosts not being available on the network, BTFS Guard pro-actively performs the file repair process to ensure file integrity for all renters. Escrow The BTFS Escrow service ensures the safe and secure transaction of funds between renters and hosts per the storage contract agreements. BTFS is currently in BETA mode, and developers need to reach out to the Tron Foundation to request access. Swarm & Ethereum Swarm is a distributed storage platform and content distribution service, a native base layer service of the ethereum web3 stack that aims to provide a decentralized and redundant store for dapp code, user data, blockchain and state data. Swarm sets out to provide various base layer services for web3, including node-to-node messaging, media streaming, decentralised database services and scalable state-channel infrastructure for decentralised service economies. From the end user's perspective, Swarm is not that different from the world wide web. In the background, the difference is that content is hosted on a peer-to-peer storage network instead of individual servers. This peer-to-peer network is self-sustaining due to a built-in incentive system which uses peer-to-peer accounting and allows trading resources for payment. Swarm is designed to deeply integrate with the devp2p multiprotocol network layer of Ethereum as well as with the Ethereum blockchain for domain name resolution, service payments and content availability insurance. But first, let’s look into Swarm’s data structure. There are three main components that make up the Swarm decentralised storage system: These are pieces of data of limited size (max 4K) that act as the basic unit of storage and retrieval in Swarm. Chunks link to addresses. Chunks: This is a unique identifier of a file that allows clients to retrieve and access the content. Reference: This is a data structure describing file collections. It specifies paths and corresponding content hashes allowing for URL-based content retrieval. Manifest: From the end user’s perspective, Swarm does not affect navigation or behaviour. However in the back-end, a peer-to-peer storage network hosts content, instead of individual servers. This peer-to-peer network is self-sustaining due to a built-in incentive system. Incentives are only possible due to the use of a public blockchain that allows trading resources for payment. Swarm also deeply integrates with the DevP2P multi-protocol network layer of Ethereum. DevP2P is a set of network protocols which essentially form the Ethereum peer-to-peer network. Adding to the above, Swarm links to the Ethereum blockchain for domain name resolution (ENS), service payments, and content availability insurance. What’s next for the on-chain data storage: In terms of blockchain developers the key perspectives to mitigate to on-chain data storage solutions could be summarized to the following: Savings in terms of storage costs Eliminate the liability of hosting customer private data Interoperability, innovation, open protocols. The tectonic shift towards decentralized storage solutions is much closer than many Tech Gurus, Venture Capitalists, or even Blockchain Evangelists currently believe. Expecting 30 billion interconnected devices by 2020 and mature companies building decentralised applications to distribute and store those, it’s for granted that decentralized data storage solutions will play a critical role and challenge the thrones of Amazon & Microsoft in the computing storage market.

The Crypto Challenge To The Amazons & The Microsofts in The Computing Storage Market 

Holochain is a git (free and open source distributed version control system) that does not require Proof of Work (PoW) and Proof of Stake (PoS). It is based on the DHT (distributed hash table) protocol utilized by BitTorrent for data lookup and file sharing. The Concept Holochain was conceived and developed as a decentralized progression from . It is designed to embody and support social coherence based on a set of agreements for reliable data and value sharing. Holochain transcends high computational overhead for consensus achievement, which eliminates unnecessary effects. blockchain Pareto Principle Holochain is a git (free and open source distributed version control system) that does not require . It is based on the (distributed hash table) protocol utilized by for data lookup and file sharing. However, holochain implementation is also , (horizontally partitioned), and centered around a . Each node operates its own source chain that can be shared to a mass-distributed . Proof of Work (PoW) and Proof of Stake (PoS) DHT sloppy BitTorrent peer validating sharded monotonic distributed hash table git repository Subsystemic Architecture Holochain is composed of three primary sub-systems: Application (Nucleus) Connected to a web browser for user interface, the nucleus unifies the entire holochain ecosystem. It reads and writes on the local source hash chain while inputting or extracting data via the shared DHT confirmed by common nodal rules and projections. Local Chain In the holochain ecosystem, each participant owns a local chain for item signing prior to shared DHT publication. Multi-party interactions (e.g., currency transfer between two people) are signed by each participant, committed to their respective chains, and mutually shared to the DHT. Shared Storage (Validating DHT) In holochain DHT systems, data content is addressed via cryptographic hash, so unaltered data reception is confirmed via self-hashing. When validating DHT, the provenance of each data bit is confirmed; thus validating author signatures and local chain commitments. Holochain allows meta-data to join DHT data for information publication about a person or node (transactions, top of hash chain) as well as a data element (tags, comments, ratings). Within each subsystem, there exist two holochain participation modalities- and : chain author DHT node – Your chain is a signed, sequential record of the data you create and share on the holochain. Depending on the holochain’s validation rules, this data may be immutable and non-repudiable. Your local chain/data storage pattern is as follows: Local chain authorship Validates your new data Stores the data in a new chain entry Signs the data to your chain Indexes the content Shares the data to the DHT Responds to validation requests from DHT nodes – Your node receives a request from another node to publish DHT data. It validates signatures, chain links, and other application-specific data of the publishing source chain. DHT node validation and publication Each modality may be run in a separate container, which communicates via network interface. Holochain is powered by , which quantifies blockchain security and information quality within shared information system designs and processes: holographic data 'Holochain’s core takes an agent-centric view of data, with user autonomy built directly into its architecture and protocols. Since data is really about remembering our lived and shared experiences (warm data), and governance is about recognizing and evolving our mission and processes through those experiences, distributing the storage and processing of that data fundamentally changes how we coordinate and interact with each other. - Collaborative Governance Technologies (Originally published ) here

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