Jackal Protocol
Blockchain and storage infrastructure network.
After a bajillion interviews, many businesses see the geo-distributed data redundancy with verifiable cryptographic proofs as the main value proposition. The difficulty is to use Jackal, distribution is boxed in by the crypto wallet providers.
We built an API that uses the Jackal Protocol for storage and delivers.
- 3x multi-region redundancy
- Copy/paste integration
- No upfront costs
- No contracts
- Save 80% compared to "big cloud" redundancy.
Kinda like a centralized crypto exchange for storage. Get access to the benefits without the self custody headache if that is your ideal experience.
Give stratus a try here: https://stratuscloud.xyz/
After a year of building and re-building, we finally launched version 1 of the Jackal Protocol.
We built...
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An application-specific blockchain with a bunch of custom chain modules using the Cosmos SDK and Tendermint BFT consensus.
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The implementation of a storage provider.
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Jackal development kit for TS/JS.
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A Jackal interaction library written in Golang
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A drop-box-ish dashboard for B2C customers looking to use Jackal for personal use. (give it a try here: https://app.jackalprotocol.com/)
With this, we have bootstrapped the supply side of the protocol with around 200 storage providers globally, providing around 5 PBs of storage space in total.
On the blockchain validator front, we have about 100 validators participating in consensus.
The Begining: The Plot Twist in Legal Drama
My co-founder and I was working in digital forensics and investigations. While combing through nitty-gritty of digital evidence, we stumbled upon a real head-scratcher. The chain of custody for digital evidence? Akin to using a floppy disk in the age of cloud computing. So we thought, why not blockchain?
Our First Product:
Blockchain isn't just for cryptonauts and finance fiends. We crafted a SaaS e-discovery gem for lawyers and courts built on blockchain rails for end-to-end visibility and a ridiculously secure chain of custody. It was slick, secure, and suddenly, a fan fave for lawyers beta testing.
Here Comes the 'But':
It's all fun and games until you hit a cloud-sized roadblock. Turns out, the likes of S3 and Azure might have the keys to your evidence locker. Enter the "oops" moment. Traditional cloud services and "backdoor" access that can tinker with evidence at anytime? It's a definite no-go for our forensics friends and caselaw.
The Big Brain Move:
After scouring the blockchain world, we found Filecoin and Arweave playing in the storage sandbox, but none had their game face on for on-chain data ownership and chain of custody. Every model was a storage marketplace. Think eBay for data storage, bid on storage deals, manage them, and get screwed a lot.
The Jackal Blueprint:
So, what is our master plan? It's time to build a purpose built blokcchain and data storage Hulk, tailored for the task:
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On-chain everything. If it's self-custody and ownership you want, it's custody and ownership you'll get, managed by the blockchain directly. No backdoors for us. We will also throw in client-side e2e encryption by default.
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No manual labor here; let the blockchain do the heavy lifting for managing storage deals on your behalf with our proof of persistance and internal detection of loss algorithms.
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Speed is the name of the game, we will deliver hot storage. Because who likes waiting for the current blockchain-based cold storage?
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Modular, sovereign, and proof of stake? Check. This blockchain's going tailor-made.
The Twist You Didn't See Coming:
Plot twist: the build was so stellar, it turned into a passion project. A community sprouted up like wildfire, and before you could blink, we were knee-deep, full-time, building the Jackal Protocol.
The Takeaway:
If you're tired of the "classic" way of doing things and crave a bit of that sweet, sweet innovation, keep your eyes peeled on Jackal Protocol for data storage needs. The digital privacy and cybersecurity posture on this infrastructure is out of this world. We - the people that built it - can't access your data even if we wanted to.
Stay tuned for more news from the world of Jackal Protocol.
How you can get involved: 1. Store data 2. Provide storage space 3. Help us get more TBs on this infrastructure.
We're open source too if you want to nerd out. https://github.com/JackalLabs
1 Comment
The progression from a blockchain built around chain-of-custody to a practical storage API is pretty interesting. Curious how that original vision has evolved after all these years, especially what ended up becoming the strongest real-world use case.