A blockchain and an API: what is the relationship between Lynx and Logware
May 2021
Lynx is a blockchain project, originally founded in 2013, that has a cryptocurrency called LYNX. You can trade LYNX on exchanges and send it to your friends. LYNX can be solo mined with a built-in miner in its desktop wallet with almost no configuration required. LYNX is also easy to mine with inexpensive, low-energy intensive computers like the Raspberry Pi. You can even mine LYNX with a $5/m cloud computer with Linode, Digital Ocean or AWS. This Medium channel has other articles to learn more about the mining aspect of Lynx.
Because Lynx is such an energy efficient blockchain, the cost of each transaction is very, very low. Lynx remains resistant to 51% attacks because of unique modifications to its Proof of Work algorithm. No other known blockchain project uses the unique algorithm leveraged by Lynx and this makes Lynx a very special project.
The cost of each transaction is so low, that there is the opportunity to store huge payloads of data inexpensively and directly on the Lynx blockchain. Lynx can store data in a manner much different than most other blockchain data storage projects. The cost of storage space is so much higher on other blockchain projects that the data is often stored ‘elsewhere’ and then referenced on the primary blockchain. Innovative projects like Storj and Chia work like this. The solution employed by those other projects use ‘drive farmers’ to maintain the referenced storage data. While the risk of loss is very low, there is still a risk of loss. Additionally, complex economic incentives exist, and need to be maintained between the drive farmers and the maintainers of the primary blockchain.
For customers looking for stable long term (generational) data storage, the drive farm design might be risky. Lynx does things differently by storing directly on-chain.
This is where Logware comes into the story. Logware is a standards based, easy to use public API that any software developer can use. The Logware API is the gateway or middleware that a software developer uses to permanently store data. The software developer doesn’t have to know about or mine LYNX coins, understand cryptocurrency or even own LYNX cryptocurrency. The Logware API abstracts and hides all those complex layers while presenting a truly permanent platform for storing data. How is it permanent? Lynx stores data directly on its public blockchain. There are no referential pointers, no ‘off-chain’ drive farms.
Literally, Lynx stores data directly with the money.
And because the integrity of the cryptography which tracks the money is sound, the same can be said for the data stored. Once data is stored and confirmed on the Lynx blockchain, it’s truly 100% permanent. Generations later, the data can be retrieved without risk of loss, without maintaining complex incentive programs to drive farmers.
In summary, Logware is an easy to use API that developers leverage to store data permanently on the Lynx blockchain. Think of Logware as a gateway or middleware that developers integrate into their software. Developers and customers that use the Logware API are not required to mine LYNX or run a Lynx node.
Logware competes in the data storage marketplace by focusing on a very select customer profile. Logware is very good at storing lots of critical, small sized data payloads. For customers looking to store large files like movie and music, the platforms like Storj and Chia might be better candidates. Logware offers storage of 3 payload sizes. Logware excels for developers looking to store cryptographic hashes, payloads that are 2K or smaller in size and payloads that are 500K or smaller in size. This is due to how Lynx encodes its data on-chain. Logware is a very specialized data solution for business customers looking to store lots of small payloads.
An expansive array of use cases exist. Logware has customers who store raw Internet of Things sensor data. Logware stores SSH key data for technology customers who need a 3rd party, off site, data storage layer for user authentication data. Logware can store proof of COVID vaccination, incapable of being lost, replicated or forged. Logware can be used by manufacturers to thwart counterfeiters. Logware can store NTFs, with zero risk of loss! Other blockchain projects use Logware to store data way cheaper than they can on their own. A big advantage: Logware customers pay only once to store data and can forever access it for free. Compared to traditional data storage models of paying monthly to maintain access to a dataset (that might deteriorate), this is an extraordinary technology for generational data storage.
Logware makes B2B data storage easy for developers. Lynx makes data storage inexpensive and permanent. Both Lynx and Logware are built and maintained by the same team ensuring stability.
