⛓️Solana, IPFS, Livepeer integrations

Storing data on-chain in blockchain applications is a nuanced topic, especially with concerns about scalability, costs, and efficiency. Solana, known for its high throughput and low transaction costs, presents an interesting case for on-chain data storage.

Solana's Transaction Model and Gas Fees

Solana achieves its scalability through a unique combination of proof-of-history (PoH) and proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanisms, which allows it to process tens of thousands of transactions per second (TPS). This high throughput significantly reduces the cost per transaction, or "gas fee," compared to other blockchains like Ethereum.

Gas fees on Solana are measured in "lamports," which are the smallest unit of the SOL cryptocurrency, where 1 SOL = 1,000,000,000 lamports. The cost of a transaction on Solana can vary based on the network's congestion and the complexity of the transaction, but it remains significantly low, typically fractions of a cent.

IPFS

IPFS is a modular suite of protocols for organizing and transferring data, designed from the ground up with the principles of content addressing and peer-to-peer networking. Because IPFS is open-source, there are multiple implementations of IPFS. While IPFS has more than one use case, its main use case is for publishing data (files, directories, websites, etc.) in a decentralised fashion.

Livepeer

Livepeer is a network built on Ethereum for transcoding live and on-demand video. Livepeer differentiates itself from traditional video streaming services like YouTube by not hosting, storing or distributing video. Rather, Livepeer is building a technology that utilizes excess computing power to more efficiently share video from broadcasters to consumers.