HBO’s popular sitcom, based on a startup trying to make it big in Silicon Valley, under the same name, has seen its made-up product become a reality with the power of Blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies.
Pied Piper, which has a phony website that looks a lot better than some real companies, is supposedly a compression technology that, in the real world, does not exist, or until recently had no scope for being a reality.
Now, the boom in Blockchain technology and the expansion of its uses has seen the idea of Pied Piper become a reality.
What is Pied Piper?
In the series, Pied Piper is a compression software company that stores your data across a network of devices, giving you instant access to your data even though that data is not physically stored on the device you’re using.
In essence, space is saved because the data is spread across a larger network of devices, yet the same data is secured privately with access only granted to the user with the correct access to it.
While that sounded pretty far fetched and unattainable in 2014 when the show started, the boom of cryptocurrencies and its associated Blockchain technology has now seen a number of companies following that very business model.
A real world Pied Piper
There are actually a few companies who can claim the title of being the ‘real world Pied Piper’ for example, Storj - a decentralized cloud storage network, as well as Sia - a similar cloud storage based on the Blockchain.
Essentially, by utilizing the Blockchain, as a global network of computers that is recording transactions, or even pieces of information on a public ledger, data can be stored on the Blockchain.
The information is thus split, encrypted and distributed on the Blockchain across a network of decentralized computers. The data is kept safe thanks to private encryption keys but is still readily available and easily accessible.
Blockchain bringing science fiction into reality
Blockchain technology has been doing a lot of this recently, solving seemingly unsolvable technology problems, while at the same time disrupting traditional models of business and society.
As still a relatively new technology and one that has only recently been explored on a mass scale, Blockchain technology seems to keep providing answers, even going into space.