Siacoin (SC) is the cryptocurrency of Sia – a blockchain-based cloud storage solution that has gotten a whole bunch of attention lately. It may be because of the fact that this platform’s coin has added 13% to its price today. It may also be because of the fact that this currency has grown to be the 28th most valuable coin on the worldwide market.

Welcome to SiaCoin (SC) Today, this is a Q&A dedicated to crypto currency miners and SiaCoin enthusiast.

But, especially during this past week, it has been drama in the mining community that has driven so much attention toward this coin. What is Siacoin (SC)? This cryptocurrency is the blockchain solution to Dropbox. It is a cloud storage service, similar to Google Cloud, where you can store your files on the cloud instead of your physical hard drive. Well, you can imagine all the problems that come along with corporate, centralized cloud storage – that is where come in.

Sia.tech This cloud storage system is a fraction of the cost that top providers in the market charge. What would cost $15 to store in Sia (5 TB) would cost nearly $600 if you were using Amazon – and it’s a similar difference to Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure. Not only that – it’s very secure. If you store your data on Sia, it is chopped up, encrypted and distributed all over the world. It is impossible to have a single point of failure for losing your data.

On top of that, each user within the Siacoin network gets to retain complete personal control over their data. The Sia mining community is in the midst of drama. Here is the rundown: Last year, a Sia-connected company called Obelisk began taking pre-orders for a Siacoin-specific mining machine called the Obelisk SC1. They sold nearly 4,000 units and set a product delivery date for the end of June – that’ s a heck of a long time to wait.

Sia.tech Then, suddenly and without warning, a company called Bitmain announced that they were taking orders for a Siacoin miner that would be in just ten days. The news seriously pissed off a bunch of people who had shelled out thousands for a product that they had to wait months for – while there was a viable mining machine right in front of them. With these new machines suddenly hitting the mining ecosystem, the mining pools might not be able to handle them well. 1 Hash Ubiq UBQ Mining on this page. It puts Sia in a tough situation, where they could basically save their own product and sabotage by doing a soft fork and making the rival mining machines useless. Members of the Sia community have published a letter outlining guidelines for mining hardware producers and advocating for a soft-fork away from Bitmain. The Sia Core team will review in detail and publish an official decision as soon as possible. — Sia Tech (@SiaTechHQ) But then again, that means a new currency could just be created that would be suited for the Bitmain machine – a huge risk to take on Sia’s behalf.

But, on Thursday, Sia announced that it would not go through with it: After much consideration and discussion, we've decided to not invalidate A3 miners via soft-fork unless Bitmain takes direct action to harm the Sia project. Best Asch XAS Cloud Mining Service. We're incredibly excited about 2018 and will move forward stronger. Full response: — Sia Tech (@SiaTechHQ) Luckily, this coin will continue chugging along as one cryptocurrency with a single mining community – but it will be interesting to see what happens as these new machines start becoming fully operational. These miners are very invested in Siacoin (SC) – a huge sign that we, as investors, should be too.

They have a reason to be: it is a coin that’s growing in value, it is worthwhile to mine, and it is a leading cloud storage alternative with serious potential. Tim is a graduate of the University of California Los Angeles, where he has a B.A. In Global Studies with a minor in Geography/Environmental Studies. He worked for nearly two years as a Research Associate at a top investment banking software provider. He then began working as a freelance writer, covering stock market news and writing corporate content.

He has been investing in and researching cryptocurrency for about a year, and has been blogging almost daily on the topic since mid-2017. Tim has contributed to both LiveBitcoinNews.com and CCN.com.