Swarm
Decentralized Storage NetworksDecentralized storage and communication platform built on Ethereum, designed as the 'hard disk of the world computer.' Files are split into 4KB chunks, content-addressed, and distributed across a P2P network of Bee nodes, with storage incentivized via the BZZ token and a postage stamp economic model.
Fully P2P Foundation Low capture risk
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Details
License LGPL / BSD
Dev Status Released
Owner Swarm Foundation (nonprofit)
Country Switzerland
Start Year 2015
Stack Golang
Funding ICO
Last Investigated Mar 10, 2026
Decentralized Storage Network Attributes
P2P Architecture DHT (Kademlia-based chunk routing via libp2p)
Overlay Network Global
Content Addressing Yes (chunk content hashes; Single-Owner Chunks use owner-signed addresses)
Local-First N/A (cloud/P2P model; nodes cache popular chunks)
E2EE Yes (Trojan chunks enable covert encrypted messaging; Single-Owner Chunks provide zero-leak privacy)
Byzantine Fault Tolerance Partial (Kademlia routing is resilient; economic incentives deter malicious behavior; no formal BFT consensus)
Signature ECDSA (Ethereum-compatible; BZZ cheque signing)
Permissions Cryptographic Capabilities (Single-Owner Chunks with owner-signed access; postage stamps as access tokens)
Semantic Web Compatability N/A
Smart Contract Yes (postage stamp contract and chequebook contract on Gnosis Chain)
Protocol Stack Position Application-layer (built on TCP/IP; Ethereum smart contracts for settlement)
Asset / Value Embedding Native (BZZ token embedded in protocol; postage stamps = pre-paid storage access; SWAP accounting built into node-to-node bandwidth exchange)
Protocol Maturity / Standardization Community Standard (actively deployed; no formal standards body)
Update Policy Mutable (versioned) via Swarm Feeds (mutable documents with owner-controlled update stream); immutable by default for content-addressed chunks
Storage Proof Mechanism None formal at chunk level (postage stamp expiry model: stamps decrease in value over time; expired chunks evicted; redistribution mechanism rewards nodes holding valid stamped chunks via stake-weighted lottery)
Economic / Incentive Model Token rewards (BZZ): publishers purchase postage stamps; BZZ redistributed to storage node operators via stake-weighted redistribution; bandwidth compensated via SWAP (off-chain cheque) system
Retrieval Guarantee Best-effort (incentivized but not cryptoeconomically enforced at individual chunk level; popular content well-cached; cold data may be lost after stamp expiry)