Allocating Resources in Storage Cooperatives with Pseudo-Currencies

Storing multiple copies of data on widely distributed nodes is a strategy to increase availability and survivability of data. To reduce the cost of distributing redundant data, researchers have been investigating the use of storage cooperatives in which members share bandwidth and storage resources. We present the foundations of a simple, extensible economy in which network entities share storage and bandwidth resources by buying and selling data storage contracts with currencies created by members of the cooperative. Methods are developed to protect users from untrustworthy members, so that trading relationships can develop between anonymous users. Our work emphasizes the development of a simple web service interface that encourages multiple implementations within multiple application contexts.