The Sia blockchain is secured using a proof-of-work [consensus](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/consensus) algorithm, meaning that miners compete among each other to add new blocks to the blockchain and a majority must confirm a record for it to be posted. Sia co-founder Vorick [argued](https://blog.sia.tech/choosing-asics-for-sia-b318505b5b51) in June 2017 that proof-of-work is the best way to secure the network because it tethers a malicious actor's ability to attack the network to massive energy requirements and hardware expenses. According to Sia's development team, the fact that hosts have to put up collateral in order to participate in the network's operations [decreases](https://blog.sia.tech/addressing-thoughtful-concerns-about-sias-security-viability-103ccfff5e92) any incentive for bad actors. In addition, it has pointed to the fact that it splits uploaded data into 30 segments, which are then distributed across the globe, as reassurance that its network cannot be taken down except in the event of a massive natural disaster or geopolitical event. And as long as 10 out of 30 hosts survive an attack on its network, files can still be retrieved.

Siacoin has no maximum supply. Because it is a utility token designed to be used to power transactions via smart contracts, the project has [stated](https://support.sia.tech/article/TziYOGhl38-siacoins-total-supply) that there must be a limitless supply in order to match the effectively limitless amount of data that can be created and stored. New Siacoins are introduced as mining rewards through the Sia blockchain's [proof-of-work](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/proof-of-work-vs-proof-of-stake) mining algorithm. The mining reward started at 300,000 SC and decreased at a rate of 1 SC with each block mined until it [reached](https://siastats.info/block_reward) 30,000 SC in July 2020. The block reward will now forever remain 30,000 SC. With the launch of The Sia Foundation, the block reward was doubled, with the additional 30,000 SC per block going to the Foundation on a monthly basis. Siacoin is removed from the ecosystem when hosts lose tokens or their collateral is left unrefunded due to bad actions. In the future, the development team [intends](https://trello.com/c/xynwRelr/56-add-proof-of-burn-mechanic-to-hosts) to introduce a proof-of-burn mechanism by which hosts will be required to burn a small percentage of their revenue to prove that they are real and have good intentions. The Sia development team [mined](https://siawiki.tech/wallet/siacoin) approximately 100 blocks (around 30 million SC) before publicly releasing the mining algorithm. The platform's team and investors reportedly hold less than 0.1% of the total Siacoin supply.

According to its [whitepaper](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/whitepaper), the long-term [goal](https://sia.tech/sia.pdf) of Sia is to compete with existing storage solutions. It [sees](https://blog.sia.tech/meet-sia-the-most-viable-non-financial-application-of-blockchain-technology-afe6e7412a25) itself as being in direct competition with major cloud storage providers such as Amazon, Google and Microsoft. Because of its decentralized nature, Sia is able to [offer](https://blog.sia.tech/cloud-storage-for-2-tb-mo-8a34043e93bb) competitive storage rates. Files [stored](https://sia.tech/technology) on the Sia network are divided into 30 encrypted segments, with each segment uploaded to a unique host for redundancy. The agreements between uploaders and hosts are recorded on Sia's blockchain and enforced using smart contracts. Siacoin acts as the method of payment on the network, with renters paying hosts using SC, and hosts locking SC in smart contracts as collateral.

Sia was first [conceived](https://siawiki.tech/about/history_of_sia) in mid-2013 by David Vorick while studying computer science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He discussed the idea over email with Luke Champine, a college friend, who joined the project's development shortly after Vorick presented the concept at a HackMIT hackathon in September 2013. The project was officially named Sia in early 2014, a reference to the Egyptian god of perception. They formed the company Nebulous, Inc., which were the primary developers of Sia until the founding of The Sia Foundation in 2021. The [Sia Foundation](https://sia.tech/about-sia-foundation), a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in the US, is now the steward of the Sia project. The goals and responsibilities of the Foundation are numerous: to maintain core Sia protocols and consensus code; to support developers building on top of Sia and its protocols; to promote Sia and facilitate partnerships in other spheres and communities; to ensure that users can easily acquire and safely store siacoins; to develop network scalability solutions; to implement hardforks and lead the community through them; and much more. The Sia Foundation is funded via a block-subsidy, and has a lively grants program started in October of 2022. The goal of the [Grants Program](https://sia.tech/grants) is to fund new projects that utilize Sia in some way to benefit the network and ecosystem.

Siacoin (SC) is the native utility token of Sia, a [blockchain](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/blockchain)-based distributed, decentralized cloud [storage](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/storage-decentralized) platform. Sia acts as a secure, trustless marketplace for cloud storage in which users can lease access to their unused storage space. Agreements and transactions are enforced with [smart contracts](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/smart-contract), and Siacoin is the medium of exchange for paying for storage on the network. The main [goal](https://sia.tech/about) of the project is to become the "backbone storage layer of the internet." Sia was originally [announced](https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=591283.0) in May 2014 before being revised and [re-announced](https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1060294.0) a year later in May 2015. It officially [launched](https://twitter.com/NebulousLabs/status/607639984489811969) in June 2015.