The Blockchain is a poor means of storage. Is there a desire to store a file forever on the blockchain? With OP_Return you have a timestamp of the file so as to prove that it existed.
Under that argument, memo probably shouldn't be on the blockchain either.
To take the data down you have to take the entire currency down. This is extremely powerful.
Words can be more powerful than even large sums of money. Worth of Martin Luther King Jr's speech? Worth of whistleblowers' data? Worth of censorship exposure?
I view Memo as a nice proof-of-concept, but long form / high volume storage will be better served by other blockchains or solutions long term, and then this tech will fade out. My 2c.
Perhaps multiple blockchains is the way things will go, but to me a single chain seems more likely.
Would be very cool if we could have one chain for all. Though I think it's very unlikely/impossible,
Judging from similar structures in nature, we're looking at pairs of coins.
I actually tried the "multiple blockchains" strategy with data in mind. It introduces more attack vectors than just IPFS. It might work in some cases tho.
did you write up your findings anywhere? interested to learn more about how data could be stored on/with blockchain.
Maybe we need a way to incentive archival nodes. If eventually there's a lot of data, we could develop something like swarm nodes: parts of the blockchain stored in multiple nodes.
it isn't a question of "right and wrong" it's a question of planning now so that in five years you're still relevant
not all data must be stored on one single blockchain. "just because you can, doesn't mean you should." Why not long form hi def video content? because it'll get priced out one day.
I think there's a good chance it's the other way around. Right now it's not cost effective to store hi def video on-chain, but eventually it might be.
however it also appears to me that a competitor with a more efficient storage mechanism will also make you regret this decision one day, too :)
I respect your right to use the permissionless peer-to-peer electronic cash blockchain as a means to store short messages as well
Memo on blockchain provides good foundation. Social networking is incomplete without rich media, and it’s clearly impossible to support it onchain.
Why memo (the protocol) is important is not due to storage but due to uncensorable communication and identity ownership. All OP_RETURN data can be pruned.
It's uncensorable because it is stored on the blockchain. If IPFS suffices for storage then why would you need to use the blockchain at all?
Because there isn't ownership in IPFS. The blockchain allows identity ownership. Also, all transactions are viewed the same as long as you pay, so communications (txs) aren't censored
