With the advent of the digital age, there has been an explosive growth of data, leading to an increasing demand for storage. Traditional centralized storage solutions have limitations in terms of security, reliability, and sustainability. Decentralized storage emerges to provide a more secure, decentralized, and scalable solution.
After researching several well-known decentralized storage solutions in the market, Datamall Chain stands out. Based on its design, the marketplace Datamall Chain is creating can maximize the matching and transactions between real data storage demanders and providers. This article aims to provide a detailed explanation of the governance system and incentive mechanism of Datamall Chain in a simple and concise language, offering information for users interested in mining as a reference.
How to participate in Datamall Chain
Datamall Chain adopts the Proof of Storage Service (PoSS) as consensus algorithm. Miner the providers stake DMC to mint PST to provide storage services, also known as mining. Specifically, the PoSS consensus algorithm uses the quantity of PSTs to proportionally generate the corresponding number of voting rights and ranks the nodes to select a certain number of MPs who actively provide storage services as the consensus nodes and give them incentives according to the reward rules.
How can one participate in storage mining on Datamall Chain? There are three roles involved in the entire process.
Miner the Provider (MP)
MP is the provider of storage capacity by selling PST on the platform to earn DMC and is also the service provider who accepts storage challenge during the transaction of storage service.
MPs can be individuals with idle storage space or professional miners capable of providing storage services. Due to the low entry barrier of Datamall Chain, individuals,miners and mining pools can participate in storage mining and earn profits. What’s more, this ensures that there is no situation where professional MPs monopolize the survival space of individual MPs.
As a result, Datamall Chain can have a diverse range of miners, which not only upholds the ideal of decentralization but also ensures the stable operation and shared benefits of the entire ecosystem. This design holds significant value.
To ensure that storage space is genuine and enhance the user experience, Datamall Chain strives to guarantee that every miner possesses authentic storage capability.
1. Introducing Proof of Service Token (PST)
PST is generated by MPs through staking DMC. 1 PST represents a standard unit of storage service, that is, 1 PST corresponds to7days of storage service of a defined data capacity. PST=DMC/m’*p, the p stands for the unit price of PST based on DMC and the m’ represents the stake rate that MPs may define by themselves, which is equivalent to the ability to compensate. The higher value of m’, the more DMC the MP needs to stake, indicating that the storage services provided by the MP will be more stable and reliable.
2. Storage Challenge
After MCs purchase an order and conclude a transaction with MPs, the two sides enter the
challenge preparation stage. At this time, it is necessary for both sides to submit Merkel roots to
reach consensus. Once consensus is reached, MCs will enter a 7-day delivery cycle. MCs may initiate storage challenges during delivery cycle to ensure that MPs have stored the data.
During this process, the staked DMC serves as the first insurance, ensuring that MPs provide genuine storage space. The storage challenge serves as the second insurance, ensuring that, MPs store the data provided by MCs. The insurance effectively prevents MPs from making false claims or engaging in malicious behavior, thus maintaining the smooth operation of the Datamall Chain ecosystem. If an MP fails in a storage challenge, for example, by falsely claiming storage space or losing MC’s data, they will be required to pay a default fine for breach of contract.
The default fine should be paid according to the following rules: The DMC paid by the MC for the order will be refunded to the MC, while the amount of DMC (based on the stake rate in real time) for purchasing the PST of the order will be deducted from the amount of DMC staked by the MP, 50% of which will be given to the MC as compensation and 50% will be given to the buyback account.
Under the deterrence of storage challenges, MP who stakes a significant amount of DMC gain higher credibility. Therefore, based on the quantity of PSTs, the system generates corresponding voting rights in proportion and ranks nodes accordingly. It continuously selects a certain number of MPs who actively provide storage services as consensus nodes and rewards them according to incentive rules.
In the process of technological development, reliance on human nature is not advisable. Therefore, a design incorporating scientific and rigorous punitive mechanism and incentive mechanism is necessary to minimize the possibility of miner’s misconduct and encourages MPs to actively provide genuine storage space and storage services.
Limited Partner (LP)
The limited partner invests a certain amount of DMC on the MP. The MP mints PSTs by staking the invested DMC. When LP claims the staked DMC, the smart contract will calculate the profit based on the proportion of investment.
During the process of staking DMC to mint PST, if the MP does not have enough DMC, they need to rely on the support of LP (Foundation or other investors), achieving a cooperative model where LP provides DMC to invest the MP. The maximum investment ratio of LP ranges from 0% to 80%, which means the MP needs to hold at least a 20% stake when minting PST.
Miner the Consumer (MC)
MC is the consumer of storage capacity by purchasing PST on the platform and is also the verifier who initiates storage challenge during the transaction of storage service.
When purchasing services,MCs can only choose from the service duration MPs provide and needs to pay two expenses, which are respectively the storage service charges and the deposit. Regarding the storage service charges, MCs must pay the charges for at least one cycle (7 days).
In the service process, MCs can recharge DMC at any time to renew their contracts or withdraw DMC at any time as needed. During the delivery phase, MCs are eligible to receive delivery rewards.
As for the deposit, MPs may set the amount of deposit (which should be a multiple of the weekly price of the order) when placing the order. Once the deposit is set up, if the MC defaults within the service time (e.g., the MC does not have enough balance to pay expenses), the order will be cancelled by the contract and the deposit will be deducted. 1/(1+r) of the deducted deposit will be compensated to the MP and r/(1+r) to the MP’s stake pool. Here, r represents the current stake rate.
As a properly functioning system operates smoothly and efficiently, it is essential to conduct verification for each participate. Therefore, since there are storage challenges for MPs, there should also be corresponding penalties for MCs in case of breach of contract. Datamall Chain serves as an example to other projects that simply catering to only one participant is not a sustainable approach for long-term development.
In summary
If a decentralized storage project aims to thrive in the long run, it requires well-designed operational mechanisms, incentive systems, and penalty mechanisms. As a fundamental infrastructure of Web3, Datamall Chain has demonstrated great innovation and potential in these aspects and proved the usability of blockchain technology for real storage. It has gained over 100,000 daily active users since it launched testnet a year ago. It is anticipated that an increasing number of participants will join the ecosystem, fostering continuous progress and development in the field of decentralized storage.
For more details, please visit the DMC official website.
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