Data Storage in the Decentralized World: Blockchain and Derivatives

We have entered an era where the importance of <PRE_TAG>decentralized solutions</POST_TAG> has become more obvious. Blockchain technology and its derivatives are distributed ledger technologies that keep the registry of data between peers of a network. This ledger is secured within a successive over looping <PRE_TAG>cryptographic chain</POST_TAG>. The accomplishment of the <PRE_TAG>Bitcoin</POST_TAG> cryptocurrency proved that <PRE_TAG>blockchain</POST_TAG> technology and its derivatives could be used to eliminate intermediaries and provide security for cyberspace. However, there are some challenges in the implementation of <PRE_TAG>blockchain</POST_TAG> technology. This chapter first explains the concept of <PRE_TAG>blockchain</POST_TAG> technology and the data that we can store therein. The main advantage of <PRE_TAG>blockchain</POST_TAG> is the security services that it provides. This section continues by describing these services.. The challenges of <PRE_TAG>blockchain</POST_TAG>; <PRE_TAG><PRE_TAG><PRE_TAG>blockchain</POST_TAG> anomalies</POST_TAG></POST_TAG>, energy consumption, speed, scalability, interoperability, privacy and <PRE_TAG>cryptology</POST_TAG> in the age of quantum computing are described. Selected solutions for these challenges are given. Remarkable derivatives of <PRE_TAG>blockchain</POST_TAG>, which use different solutions (<PRE_TAG>directed acyclic graph</POST_TAG>, <PRE_TAG>distributed hash table</POST_TAG>, <PRE_TAG>gossip consensus protocol</POST_TAG>) to solve some of these challenges are described. Then the <PRE_TAG>data storage</POST_TAG> in <PRE_TAG>blockchain</POST_TAG> and evolving data solutions are explained. The comparison of <PRE_TAG>decentralized solutions</POST_TAG> with the lcentralized database systems is given. A multi-platform interoperable scalable architecture (MPISA) is proposed. In the conclusion we include the evolution assumptions of data storage in a <PRE_TAG>decentralized world</POST_TAG>.