The Internet Computer (IC) showcases its unique approach to blockchain storage by emphasizing fully replicated storage where every node in a subnet maintains a complete copy of the state—offering RAM-like permanence and direct programmability. This contrasts with distributed blob-style storage that offers scale but not native read/write capabilities.
Fully replicated storage enables richer dApps but faces scalability challenges.
IC tackles these challenges with: • Deterministic decentralization via the NNS DAO, • A reworked high-performance storage layer (Stellarator milestone), and • Subnet scaling for elastic capacity.
Each subnet currently supports 1 TiB; 34 subnets give IC a 34 TiB replicated capacity.
Path to 2 TiB per subnet involves stress-testing “state sync” and hashing edge cases.
Scaling beyond 2 TiB will require protocol changes to reduce overhead and reclaim disk space by pruning stale states.
IC’s push enables onchain AI and large-scale data-driven apps that were once impractical.
Read the whole article at: medium.com