Swarm

Decentralized Storage Network

Decentralized storage and communication platform built on Ethereum, designed as the 'hard disk of the world computer.' Files are split into 4KB chunks, content-addressed, and distributed across a P2P network of Bee nodes, with storage incentivized via the BZZ token and a postage stamp economic model.

Foundation

Links

Visit Community

Details

License

Libre (BSD 3-clause / LGPL)

Dev Status 🟢 Active

Dev Status Detail

Released

Owner

Swarm Foundation (nonprofit)

Country

Switzerland (Swarm Foundation registered)

Start Year 2015

Stack

Golang (Bee client)

Funding

ICO (BZZ token sale June 2021 on CoinList)

Last Investigated Mar 9, 2026

Use Case Domains

Platform Evolution & Sovereignty

Affordances

Self-hostable

Local-first storage

Decentralized Storage Network Attributes

Origins

Ethereum ecosystem / decentralized web infrastructure

Database

Content-addressed chunk store (4KB chunks with Kademlia DHT routing)

Query Language

REST API (Bee API); WebSocket for feeds

Data Formats

Any binary; ENS domain resolution; Swarm feeds (mutable documents)

Mobile Support

N/A (infrastructure layer)

Web Support

Yes (HTTP gateway; ENS/Swarm content accessible via web browsers)

Native Apps

Native apps (Swarm Desktop app — Bee node with GUI)

Terms

Self-hosting (run Bee node); postage stamps (BZZ token) for data persistence

Funds

BZZ token sale 2021; earlier Ethereum Foundation support; exact ICO amount not publicly disclosed

Based On

Ethereum (settlement layer; BZZ is ERC-20 on Gnosis Chain / Ethereum)

P2P Architecture

DHT (Kademlia-based chunk routing via libp2p)

Overlay Network

Global

Content Addressing

Yes (chunk content hashes; Single-Owner Chunks use owner-signed addresses)

Local-First

N/A (cloud/P2P model; nodes cache popular chunks)

E2EE

Yes (Trojan chunks enable covert encrypted messaging; Single-Owner Chunks provide zero-leak privacy)

Byzantine Fault Tolerance

Partial (Kademlia routing is resilient; economic incentives deter malicious behavior; no formal BFT consensus)

Signature

ECDSA (Ethereum-compatible; BZZ cheque signing)

Permissions

Cryptographic Capabilities (Single-Owner Chunks with owner-signed access; postage stamps as access tokens)

Semantic Web Compatibility

N/A

Smart Contract

Yes (postage stamp contract and chequebook contract on Gnosis Chain)

Protocol Stack Position

Application-layer (built on TCP/IP; Ethereum smart contracts for settlement)

Asset / Value Embedding

Native (BZZ token embedded in protocol; postage stamps = pre-paid storage access; SWAP accounting built into node-to-node bandwidth exchange)

Protocol Maturity / Standardization

Community Standard (actively deployed; no formal standards body)

Update Policy

Mutable (versioned) via Swarm Feeds (mutable documents with owner-controlled update stream); immutable by default for content-addressed chunks

Storage Proof Mechanism

None formal at chunk level (postage stamp expiry model: stamps decrease in value over time; expired chunks evicted; redistribution mechanism rewards nodes holding valid stamped chunks via stake-weighted lottery)

Economic / Incentive Model

Token rewards (BZZ): publishers purchase postage stamps; BZZ redistributed to storage node operators via stake-weighted redistribution; bandwidth compensated via SWAP (off-chain cheque) system

Retrieval Guarantee

Best-effort (incentivized but not cryptoeconomically enforced at individual chunk level; popular content well-cached; cold data may be lost after stamp expiry)