Blockchain technology is not the same as other tech developments of recent years. Instead of being an improvement to an existing paradigm (like high-speed internet), it is going to bring about entirely new possibilities and change markets. An excellent example of this is what is happening to cloud computing. Previously, the difficulty of allocating such resources ruled out any chance that individuals could buy computing resources from each other en masse.
In effect, this raises the possibility of a whole new market being made where spare computing resources can be bought and sold on the open market.
In the past, issues made peer-to-peer cloud computing unfeasible, but a new blockchain project call DADI is in the process of making it a reality. In this review we’ll go through the claims made by the platform, their progress thus far, and the main pros and cons of what they’re trying to achieve.
Tapping into unused resources
The reason that peer to peer cloud computing doesn’t exist at scale now is down to the lack of a market. The industry for conventional cloud computing might seem efficient now, but consider how much computers lie idle on a daily basis. Imagine a world where all computer resources can be lent out at the click of a button.
In turn, the causes for this lack of offerings is manifold. Mainly, the cost and hassle of setting up cloud computing to be sold to a peer is not worth the time or investment. It is too finicky and this prevents any critical mass of buyers and sellers to make it a viable option. There is no market because it is too hard to sell the goods.
There are also security considerations. While the risk is low, there is the possibility that the owner’s hardware could be compromised or the seller’s privacy infringed.
Finally, there is the issue of payment. This refers to the fact that it is hard to meter and charge for computing resources efficiently, and also hard to guarantee payment. Without escrow and smart contracts, you are at best relying on a central actor to enforce payment and at worst failing to bill accurately.
The DADI platform
While the technology behind it is far from simple, the concept of DADI is simple. Using smart contracts, they can meter computing resources shared between users and bill based on that, withdrawing payment from funds in escrow. Aside from this, there is the added benefit of the use of encryption to guarantee data security. This is all made available on a platform market that links up buyers and sellers.
Patchy progress but optimism
While other blockchain projects are based around solutions that are in development or have never been tried before, DADI has a leg up in this respect: they have a working basis already released after a few years of working on it and also the technology is being worked on by other companies.
“In stark contrast to other ICO events, the technology of DADI is already here. The microservices at the heart of the platform have been in development for four years and are in production today, powering products like Empire Online, Monocle and Virgin Limited Edition.”
This sounds good for DADI, but in truth, the situation of their ICO was far from smooth sailing. As you can see by browsing their subreddit forum (reddit.com/r/dadi), many paying users have still not received their tokens. Furthermore, they did not reward referrals properly .
There are also criticisms that their proof of concept is not nearly developed enough and also that their whitepaper and reported milestones aren’t nearly as advanced as they should be or claim they are.
Verdict
The project is going okay, and the idea behind it is a world beater. It is only a matter of time before this concept gains market share.
That being said, there are some causes for concern. Apparently, the management of the ICO was not up to standard. The team seems stretched very thin. And finally, there is not as much proof of concept as there seems to be. This is not to say the team isn’t good enough, just that it has been bogged down recently.
Overall, this coin could be a worth some small investment when it hits exchanges. It doesn’t look like it is going to skyrocket in price for at least a few months based on investor sentiment and their roadmap.
The DADI token is based on the Ethereum protocol and will be on exchanges in q2 of 2018. The ICO sold out and is finished.
