$SHDW: A Non-Technical Breakdown of the Token and its Future That Even Your Mom Could Understand

With the launch of shdwDrive V2 and the Incentivized Testnet, I thought now would be a great time to do an in-depth breakdown of what shdwDrive, D.A.G.G.E.R., and $SHDW actually are to those who are either A) new to crypto, B) not looking for the core technical analysis of each mechanism (resources for this already exist, see here), C) stumbled upon this token and want to learn more from an outsider’s perspective, or D) all of the above. Regardless — I will first layout key terms surrounding this project before diving into everything it aims to accomplish + why we need decentralized storage now more than ever, the future of $SHDW, where to buy $SHDW, as well as key dates to keep in mind with this project. All terms highlighted in bold have their own sections below. Let’s dig in!

Key Terms

• shdwDrive: The home for decentralized data and information storage. Think of it as you would Google Cloud in Web2 or Akord of Arweave in Web3.
• D.A.G.G.E.R: The backbone mechanism that powers shdwDrive. The core technology that enables the shdwDrive itself.
• SHDW/$SHDW: The token that connects shdwDrive to consumers. Users pay in this token to have access to shdwDrive’s storage systems.
• GenesysGo: The name of the team building all of this, and their Twitter/X handle.
• Shadowy Super Coder DAO/SSCD: The name for the NFT connected to this project. Originally used to stake and earn $SHDW at this project's inception.
• Testnet: Used to reference stages of shdwDrive before it is live to the public.
• SHDW Operators/Node Operators: Individuals offering computing power to the shdwDrive. The people that are operating systems in charge of storing your encrypted files and data.
• Solana/SOL/$SOL: The blockchain that the $SHDW token is on and the technology shdwDrive uses as the home of its storage. In Web2 terms, Solana is to shdwDrive what the internet is to Google.
• DePIN: Short for Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks. Best described here in this CoinGecko article — “It is a term that connotes projects developing blockchain-based management systems for real-world facilities like marketplaces for computing power and real-world data.”

An example of the SSCD NFT’s

Everything They Aim to Accomplish + Why We Need Decentralized Storage Now More Than Ever

With all the terminology out of the way, let’s discuss the basics of this project and what its end goal is. It really boils down to taking back control of your data. Best described by the GenesysGo team themselves — your Cloud, your token. In Web2, we put a MASSIVE amount of trust in centralized systems that are often targeted and vulnerable to a plethora of exploits; see here or here for examples of the biggest players in the industry being exploited and exposing sensitive information of their users. These will not be the last times these systems are exploited, regardless of how good their security is — there exists a fundamental issue with everyone using the same few systems to store data: all of the data is stored with one end server. If a bad actor is able to exploit any part of said server, critical information is revealed about the users. With a decentralized model, there is no one server holding all its users' sensitive information. It is encrypted and spread among many individual operators. Think of it like this: with a centralized storage system, a puzzle is sent to a server. In this example, the puzzle can be a picture of your dog that has been uploaded to iCloud. That server holds every piece of the puzzle, it is complicated and messy to put the pieces together — but it is possible. Only you are supposed to have access to these pieces, but when you are sending and receiving every piece of it from the same place, it leaves you, the user, susceptible to the competency of only a few actors over everyone in the world who wants to steal your information. Thus — these systems have been exploited plenty of times over the years and will continue to be as long as they are the standard for Cloud storage. Decentralized storage systems fix a key issue in this process — the pieces of each puzzle are NOT all sent to the same server. Instead, some of the pieces are stored in North America, others in Eastern Europe, and so on. Your picture has been divided among many different individual actors — getting all the pieces back would be a nightmare for anyone other than the end user, you. Your dog picture is now safer because a layer of security has been added that did not exist with iCloud. I am sure you are wondering — but what if one of these individuals decides they no longer want to support this storage system and turns off the systems holding your information? Well, it is then re-divided among the other individuals who are supporting the system — your information is not lost, simply moved.

That is what the goal of shdwDrive is — a place for users to more securely store their information without relying on a handful of players to store it. As it is now, “the eight largest providers control almost 80 percent of the market.” While I doubt even in their wildest dreams they would hope to crack even a few percentage points in that, I don’t believe it to be completely and utterly farfetched to say they can hold a market share above 0.0781% (found using $SHDW’s current market cap of $193.5m in an industry currently valued at $247B). Even with just Web3 competitors, they barely crack a 1.5% market share with just 1.87% of the total Web3 storage markets currently valued altogether at $10.3B. Creating a home for more open, and secure storage of information is inevitable in an efficient market that values security and privacy with its data. The shdwDrive is a step in that direction as users drive the DePIN narrative to the forefront of possibilities within all Blockchain technology and Web2 + 3 as a whole.

That begs the question: what makes shdwDrive and $SHDW stand out among the competitors? Let’s get into it.

The Future of $SHDW

This section will be a two-prong approach — one: the future of the $SHDW project as a whole, and two: the future of just the $SHDW token. Let’s start with the former here. When compared to its two most obvious competitors, $FIL and $AR, much of the information on why one over the other is very technical and not the core purpose of this article, though I do encourage those wanting even more to check them out here ($SHDW vs. $FIL), here (shdwDrive V2 vs. Filecoin), or anywhere else you trust to give you quality information. What can the $SHDW team actually accomplish with the product they are looking to bring to market? How is it applicable to Solana, and potentially other blockchains? Simply put — $SHDW is not only a token and project for the Solana ecosystem, but also a means of leveraging the fastest technology available on any blockchain to enable a new gold standard in data accessibility. Want to use their project to store information on an Ethereum project’s NFT’s? It’ll be possible. Want to move your video files to a new platform because it is way too expensive to continue paying for Web2 cloud services to store that information? Go for it. Store AI training models for your startup? You bet, and it will do so not only being more affordable than its Web2 competitors — but it will do so on day ONE! That’s right. Day one. Don’t believe me? Let’s show an example below of the company currently dominating cloud computing technology versus SHDW. Estimate is based on a need for 50 GBs of storage per month. If you would like to play with AWS estimates yourself, I used the Amazon Elastic File System (EFS) service in the pricing calculator with a need to access 20% of that data monthly.

AWS Estimate: Only 20% of data frequently accessed per month. 50GB’s = $0.96/year per GB. Total cost: $48/year.

SHDW Pricing: Straight forward, not dependent on data accessed. 50GB’s = $0.05/year per GB. Total Cost: $2.5/year.

Through this lens — we are able to understand the true power of shdwDrive and $SHDW. The fastest, cheapest, most flexible, and most efficient way to store data at the tip of your fingers.

Now, the future of the $SHDW token. With around 80% of the token currently circulating, you do not have to worry about any massive token unlocks or subsidies being the backbone of cheap storage. Additionally, there is no VC money involved. All of the money for the $SHDW token was raised from the SSCD NFT mint and the $SHDW IDO (Initial Dex Offering) (think IPO in Web2 terms). Currently the market values $SHDW at just 7.12% of $FIL’s value ($193.5m for $SHDW at time of writing to $FIL’s $2.71B), and I think this is directly attributed to a few things. Number one, the token is not listed on any centralized exchanges (CEX’s) for people to buy, but I believe this changes very soon. The team has even spoken about getting the token listed, as shown here. Credit to @Panicselling on Twitter/X for the information. Number two, shdwDrive is not live yet/people are unaware this is not a Solana-only data solution. Both are reasonable, though I would assume the former is the bigger of the two reasons. Regardless, I believe $SHDW is a gem in the Solana ecosystem that is very undervalued when comparing the capabilities of shdwDrive against any competitor, be it Web2 or Web3. With DePIN at the forefront of what crypto and Web3 have to offer, I see a legitimate case to be made for $SHDW being the overall winner in decentralized storage options in the coming years. I am super excited for the future of this project, and the development of the shdwDrive, D.A.G.G.E.R., and whatever else is still to come!

Where to buy $SHDW

The best and most trustworthy place to buy $SHDW at the moment is here with Jup.AG. Jup.AG is a site to buy on-chain assets on the Solana blockchain. You can also purchase $SHDW here or here as well, as Raydium and Orca are great as well. You can purchase $SHDW using any available asset on these sites, but I would recommend sticking to USDC, USDT, or SOL for this. If you are new to Solana as a whole and need help getting started, check out this article to get started with a Phantom wallet.

Key Dates

Here is a link to their most recent blog with these dates. I will update these dates as they pass, and we move forward to mainnet launch hopefully in Q4 of 2024. Keep up with all the roadmap information yourself, here.

• shdwPoints Start Date: Dec 28th, 2023 (125,000 $SHDW in rewards)
• Testnet 2 Start Date: Jan 16th, 2024
• shdwStaking Start Date: Jan 16th, 2024 (175,000 $SHDW in rewards)
• shdwStaking, shdwOperators (incentivized V2 period), and shdwPoints End Date: April 16th, 2024
• Testnet 3: Q2-Q3 of 2024
• After Testnet 3 the GenesysGo Team will publish an updated roadmap with key dates, likely including the much-anticipated launch of their Mainnet for the public

Quotes/Information Sources:

• Felix Richter of Statisa: Chart: Amazon Maintains Lead in the Cloud Market | Statista
• Joel Agbo of CoinGecko: What Is the DePIN Narrative in Crypto? | CoinGecko
• The GenesysGo Team: Blog (shdwdrive.com)
• AWS Pricing Estimate: AWS Estimate
• Twitter/X Accounts Referenced: @Panicselling, @CryptoSeq

Contact Information:

• Twitter/X Handle: @lolapennySOL
• Email: lolapennySOL@gmail.com
• Medium Articles: https://medium.com/@lolapennysol

Disclaimer

None of the above information is financial advice.