In today’s article, we will be looking at the features and uses provided by the Sia-UI Siacoin Wallet, and also evaluate its pros and cons.
Siacoin Wallet Overview
The Sia Storage Platform (SSP) is a blockchain platform that was developed for cloud storage, similar to Amazon AWS and Google Drive.
Sia is the crypto that allows users to rent data storage capacities through a global network, which is encrypted using blockchain protocols.
Sia-UI is the only official wallet app launched by Nebulous, which is the developer of the Sia Storage Platform. Nebulous, Inc. is a Boston-based company that was founded in 2014. The company is backed by Raptor Group, First Star Ventures, Fenbushi Capital, and INBlockchain.
Team
David Vorick and Luke Champine are the co-founders and lead developers of the project, starting the Sia Storage platform out of their passion for blockchain and programming.
Supported Currencies and Available Countries
Sia-UI only supports the depositing and receiving of Sia tokens.
Users from all over the world are able to download and use the Siacoin wallet.
Siacoin Wallet Compatibilities
The desktop app is compatible with Mac, Linux, and Windows operating systems. There are also mobile versions for Android and iOS devices.
User Interface and Experience
The user interface is very clean and intuitive to use. Upon opening the wallet, you will notice five tabs, which are pretty self-explanatory: Files, Hosting, Wallet, Terminal, and About. Under each of the aforementioned tabs, you will find sub-tabs on the upper right end of the app.
From these sub-tabs, you will be able to perform tasks, such as uploading files, view file transfers, or create an allowance.
How to Get Siacoin Wallet
- Go to the official Https://Sia.Tech.
- Click on the “Get Started” button.
- You will then be redirected to another website to download “Sia UI” or “Sia Daemon.” (in this guide, we’ll be using Sia-UI Wallet for Windows).
- Click on the operating system of your device.
- Download the wallet.
- After it has finished downloading, right-click on it, and select “Extract All.”
- Click “Allow Access” if your firewall notification appears.
- Wait for your wallet to sync.
- After it is finished synchronizing, click on the “Wallet” on the left side.
- Click on “Create a New Wallet.”
- In the window that will appear, copy or write down the featured seed and password. Losing them means you will not be able to access your wallet.
- Hover the mouse over the black box to reveal the password.
- Click “I have written these down in a safe place.”
- Confirm the “Seed and Password.”
- Copy and paste them to confirm.
- Click “Confirm.”
- In the window that will ask you to unlock the wallet, type the password, and click “Unlock.”
- Wait until the wallet is unlocked.
- It is recommended at this point to change your password, so both seed and password are different.
- Click on “Wallet” on the left side and click “Change Password.”
How to Use Siacoin Wallet
Making transactions is very easy with this wallet, as you will soon find out:
How to send Siacoins:
- Go to your wallet and click “Send Siacoin;”
- Type in how much you want to send in the “Send Amount (SC)” tab;
- Enter the address to which you want to send your coins;
- Check the details and then click “Send.”
How to receive Siacoins:
- Go to your wallet and click on “Receive Siacoin;”
- Your Siacoin address will be featured in a window. Hover the mouse over the address, double-click on it to copy;
- Click “OK;”
- Send the address to the person that wants to send you the coins.
There are also other functions that can be effectuated from your Siacoin wallet, which we will soon explain.
Creating an allowance
Creating an allowance allows you to access cloud storage space. You set up how much Siacoin you want to allocate for the storage space, and the program automatically calculates the fees and how much you would receive.
Hosting
You can also rent to other people storage space for their files on your drives, and you get money for it. You just set how much space you offer and the price you charge for your services.
Terminal
The terminal allows you to end, reset, and modify your allowance or rent contract.
Siacoin Wallet Fees
There are no fees for downloading the wallet.
Sending Siacoin requires a fee, which is calculated by the wallet when you decide to make a transaction. The fee is deducted from your wallet balance, so make sure to take into account the transaction fee.
There are also certain fees that are applied when you want to rent storage space:
Transaction Times
Transactions can take up to a few minutes to appear in your wallet. This is because transactions are paired into blocks that are finalized every 10 minutes by miners.
The transactions need to be grouped and confirmed in order to complete your Siacoin transaction.
Security Features
File segments that are sent from the renter’s computer are encrypted to make sure that hosts only store encrypted segments of user data.
Unlike traditional cloud storage providers such as Amazon, that do not encrypt user data by default, Sia hosts only storage of encrypted file segments, as opposed to entire files.
Sia makes use of an open-source algorithm called Threefish, which is a secure, high-performance encryption standard.
The Sia blockchain uses file contracts, which are a type of smart contracts, in order to establish the terms between the renters and the hosts. These smart contracts enable the creation of cryptographic service level agreements (SLAs), which are recorded on the Sia blockchain.
Customer Support
The Sia team can be contacted through email, and the site features descriptive tutorials on how to install and use the wallet.
Siacoin Wallet Reputation
There are not many complaints online regarding the wallet. The app has been downloaded over 1,023,682 times so far.
Siacoin Wallet Review: Verdict
Even though the Sia project was launched in 2015, there are very few wallets that support this coin. Sia-UI is the only wallet that has been developed by the official team, so we recommend using this wallet if you intend on using Sia.
Siacoin Wallet: Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Clean interface;
- Long transaction times;
- Allows you to rent file storage space;
- Permits you to make money renting space to others.
Cons:
- The terminal can be tricky to use;
- Not much information on security protocols.
