.svg)
Long-term preservation for digital assets
At NFT.Storage, we are committed to the long-term preservation of NFT data, aiming to ensure that digital assets stored today remain accessible and verifiable for future generations. With this goal in mind, we are excited to announce the launch of our on-chain endowment, designed to aim for the sustainability and reliability of NFT storage.
The problem we're solving
NFT.Storage stores off-chain NFT data in long-term Filecoin storage. As we aim to preserve this data beyond our lifetimes, we need a mechanism that ensures Filecoin deals are funded and paid for automatically. This is crucial because relying on manual payments or temporary solutions risks the continuity and accessibility of stored data. Filecoin storage deals are inherently time-limited, requiring periodic renewals, which can be efficiently managed by the Filecoin Ethereum Virtual Machine (FEVM) to find the best storage providers for the job and pay them programmatically.
Our solution: An on-chain endowment
We have built an endowment on the Filecoin Ethereum Virtual Machine (FEVM). This smart contract-based endowment underpins NFT.Storage's ability to fund ongoing storage. When users pay for file storage, a portion of the fee is contributed to the endowment, which will programmatically compensate our storage providers on the Filecoin network. This design allows for growth, as accrued fees fund endowment. Our endowment is dedicated exclusively to covering storage provider costs and aims to cover the costs of storage providers for the long term, keeping the data safe and accessible.
Programmatic payments and decentralized management
Our endowment will utilize an on-chain mechanism for management, creating a trustless environment where payments to storage providers are executed programmatically through smart contracts. This method streamlines the payment process, upholds transaction integrity and transparency, and reinforces the decentralized nature of our service. The Filecoin Ethereum Virtual Machine (FEVM) enables clients to automatically renew deals or find cheaper storage providers when the time limit of a given deal has reached maturity. This automated renewal can persist indefinitely, financed by an associated endowment of FIL tokens.
A sustainable storage fee model
We are committed to sustainable NFT preservation through a disciplined financial strategy. To create a viable model for long-term storage, we have introduced a minimal one-time fee per GB of storage. As a public good, this approach reflects our commitment to maintaining low costs for users and being accessible to all.
To fund the endowment, each month, we evaluate the volume of data entrusted to our care and allocate sufficient funds to cover 20 years of storage provider fees based on our current rates. Our investment philosophy is conservative yet strategic, modeled on a return of 5.33%, equal to the US Fed Rate at the time of publishing the litepaper. Over time, we will iterate on our strategy, diversify to mitigate risk and capitalize on growth opportunities.
Endowment status
As of 4 July 2024, 53GB of data has been added to NFT.Storage. Following our model to store three copies of each CID with two different storage providers and to seed the endowment with 20 years of storage costs for each CID stored, we have seeded the endowment with FIL equal to $103.98 at that time.
Embracing a trustless ecosystem
The Filecoin Ethereum Virtual Machine (FEVM) is central to our strategy, enabling us to deploy smart contracts for endowment management, payment automation, and comprehensive data management. This move towards a trustless operation reduces reliance on intermediaries and boosts transparency. Our current implementation of RaaS (Replication, Renewal, and Automatic Repair) aims to ensure data persistence, renew storage contracts, and swiftly repair any data loss, maintaining the robustness of our decentralized storage solution.
Collaboration with trusted partners
Our strategic partnership with Lighthouse has been instrumental in developing this endowment. By leveraging Lighthouse's open-source technology, we accelerated the development of the NFT.Storage endowment. Today, we aggregate NFT.Storage data with Lighthouse's data to enhance system reliability and ensure frequent data transfers to Filecoin. As data uploads grow, we will transition to dedicated Filecoin deals. At that point, the endowment will begin to pay the storage providers directly. Until then, the endowment will pay Lighthouse for storage provider fees.
The future: Progress to data DAOs
Data DAOs empower communities to curate, monetize, and govern valuable data in sectors like healthcare, finance, and knowledge management. Leveraging the FEVM, Data DAOs can optimize operations, improve dataset governance, and foster collaborative innovation within the Filecoin ecosystem. NFT.Storage aims to progress to a Data DAO in the future, further decentralizing the management and funding of our data.
Moving forward together
As we continue to embrace the challenges of sustainable NFT preservation, NFT.Storage remains devoted to innovation and fostering a community-driven approach. We invite the NFT community to join us in our mission to preserve digital assets for the long term. Together, we can work towards ensuring that every NFT is preserved as a timeless asset.
Learn More
To learn more about our endowment and how we are building a future-proof solution for NFT storage, check out the following resources:
- View the endowment pool at this Filecoin smart contract address: 0xDbAfc8E4f47101e48c8976c04fF4071bacC44D07
- Learn about Lighthouse and their storage solutions
Thank you for your support and commitment to the future of digital preservation.
