Hello world.
This is Banyan.
We are a team building a decentralized file storage solution designed with usability and security in mind.
We wanted to take this opportunity to introduce ourselves and talk about the problems we see in the file storage space and how Banyan aims to handle these problems. We also wanted to share a bit about our journey and what lies ahead in hopes that, if these topics resonate with you, you might be interested in joining us in remaking what is possible for users and their data.
Banyan's Beginnings
Banyan's origin can be traced back to our founder's days as an engineer at Protocol Labs. Claudia envisioned a popular, user-friendly, secure, private, and censorship-resistant file storage solution. Working at Protocol Labs, she saw tremendous potential in Filecoin's decentralized technology. However, she also recognized the challenges users faced when looking to leverage decentralized storage for personal or business needs.
The best decentralized, censorship-proof, and private data storage options in the market have problematic user experiences. They mostly fail to connect with users’ needs and wants about safeguarding data. So, Banyan appeared from a commitment to reshape decentralized storage into an accessible alternative to suboptimal centralized file storage systems.
In November 2022, after some initial experiments, our team began exploring new strategies to make existing decentralized storage systems more user-friendly. This process required thorough research into various industries’ storage needs, ranging from healthcare, media, and sports organizations to defense and education.
As we gained deeper understanding of the market, we noticed some common challenges across these industries.
The Trouble with Storage
Many of those we talked to struggled to balance usability, efficiency, and security while maintaining reasonable costs. Smaller businesses, in particular, struggled with escalating storage prices and data control issues, often juggling complex combinations of different solutions in an effort to establish something that functioned as a workable system.
The most notable storage issues came from creative industries and academia.
Architects, photographers, scientists, and others relied on a mishmash of storage solutions, backups, and file transfer systems, always apprehensive about data loss. Users struggled to locate specific files and lacked a reliable way to keep data safe and secure.
Tales of lost files and ransomware attacks underscored the critical need for a dependable storage alternative.
Where are they now?
After months of development, our vision started taking shape.
We embarked on creating an end-to-end encrypted, decentralized storage product, streamlining everything from hot storage and backups to file sharing and permissions.
We expanded our team to cater to users' needs, and began pursuing the SOC2 security certification to ensure the highest standards for ourselves and our storage providers.
Banyan is all about giving control back to you.
Your data is yours; it’s always accessible, safe, and secure, and storing it won’t break the bank. We strive to eliminate your data risks, from loss to manipulation to censorship, and we ensure it remains under your control forever.
The goal is that: if you aren’t using your data, you don’t have to worry about it.
We strive to add thoughtful and human-friendly touches to all aspects of Banyan’s user experience because we care that the time you do spend using your cloud storage is brief, pleasant, and ergonomic.
We are now in the home stretch, putting the final touches on our product and gearing up to launch by the end of the year. To align with our long-term goals and values, we revamped our website to communicate the calm feeling of confidence you get when you know your data is secure and under your control.
If this sounds appealing, we encourage you to try Banyan for yourself!
We're set to proceed with alpha and beta testing in September and October 2023. If you're interested in participating, please sign up on our website! We're eager to hear your feedback and can't wait to share what we've been working on. We’re planning our full launch in November 2023, but you can sign up for our newsletter to stay up-to-date on the timeline.
n the lead-up to our launch, we'll write a series of blog posts detailing our work, values, team, and more. We’ll share these posts on our blog, Twitter, and Linkedin – be sure to follow us on socials to be informed when we drop new content.
Your interest and support are very much appreciated! Talk soon!
Yours,
The Banyan Team
