Pipe Network Seeks to Challenge Cloudflare with Decentralized Firestarter Storage Protocol

Pipe Network, a decentralized CDN (Content Delivery Network) built on Solana, has announced the launch of its proprietary storage protocol, Firestarter Storage.

Aiming to eliminate the inefficiencies that plague traditional cloud-based storage operators, Pipe Network’s Firestarter positions the protocol as a full-stack decentralized competitor to household names like Cloudflare.

What does this mean for Solana, and how does Pipe Network’s native token, $PIPE, support the protocol?

Firestarter Storage - Live on Solana

A Solana-based decentralized storage service, the Firestarter Storage protocol represents a key development in expanding Pipe Network’s product suite. After reportedly operating successfully behind the scenes and hosting Solana’s entire PoH archive, Pipe’s Firestarter is now available for public use.

David Rhodus, founder of Permissionless Labs, a core contributor to the Pipe Network, asserts that Firestarter elevates decentralized storage efficiency right to the extremities of its network.

“Storage from day one has been a critical element of Pipe Network’s service as a decentralized CDN running a global network of over 280,000 points-of-presence (PoP) node operators. This would be impossible without origin support, which is already holding Solana’s full data set—1 PB containing 350 million files—and cutting sync time by up to 30% through Solana Snapshots. By exposing developers to the capabilities of Pipe Firestarter Storage, users will experience this efficiency as they reach the last mile, whether that be somewhere as rural as Mauritius or as accessible as Miami.” - David Rhodus, Permissionless Labs founder

Leveraging its global network of decentralized nodes to power content delivery, Pipe claims to provide low-latency delivery as fast as 5ms.

Before launching to the public, Firestarter Storage has internally hosted Solana’s full Proof-of-History Archival data set, as well as periodic network snapshots. By going live as a permissionless layer, Pipe Network now seeks to challenge leading infrastructure stacks like Cloudflare’s R2 storage and CDN offerings by a providing a decentralized alternative. 

$PIPE’s Role in Firestarter Storage

While still unlaunched, adoption and usage of Pipe Network’s Firestarter may give traders and investors some clarity into the projected $PIPE demand.

According to the protocol’s documentation, $PIPE will follow a mint-and-burn mechanic popularized by Solana DePIN projects like Helium and Hivemapper. In order to access Pipe Network’s services, users are required to burn $PIPE tokens in exchange for data credits.

$PIPE tokens are minted based on the number of data credits burnt and distributed to network contributors. Pipe Firestarter Storage service is being offered on a tiered system, starting from 1 $PIPE token per GB for the basic tier at token launch.

Pipe Network is yet to announce a TGE date, though it has been confirmed that the project’s native token will be launched via Metaplex’s Genesis protocol. The protocol has previously hosted a token presale via Coinlist, selling 30M $PIPE, or 3% of the total supply. 

The sale was split into two vesting schedules. Purchasers opting for immediate token unlocks at TGE were able to purchase $PIPE at a $250M FDV, while more long-term aligned investors were offered tokens at a $200M FDV, subject to a one-year vesting period.

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