Decentralized File Sharing: Leveraging Blockchain and IPFS for Secure Data Storage

The rapid growth in data creation and the demand for secure storage solutions have driven the development of decentralized file-sharing platforms. Traditional centralized systems face issues like single points of failure, data breaches, and censorship, which threaten data integrity. Blockchain, known for its security and transparency, combined with the Inter Planetary File System (IPFS), offers a robust alternative for decentralized file sharing. This research explores how blockchain and IPFS enhance data security, reliability, and efficiency. The system uses blockchain for secure transaction logging, ensuring data immutability and traceability. IPFS provides decentralized file storage by splitting files into chunks, hashing them, and distributing them across nodes. Access is managed through blockchain-based smart contracts, handling authentication and authorization. Performance is evaluated through experiments measuring data retrieval speed, system throughput, and security.Initial results show that integrating blockchain with IPFS significantly improves security and resilience over traditional systems. IPFS ensures high availability and redundancy, while blockchain offers a tamper-proof record of transactions. The system matches centralized systems in data retrieval speed and throughput, with added security and reliability.Blockchain and IPFS offer a promising solution for decentralized file sharing, addressing the shortcomings of centralized systems. This approach enhances data security and integrity and supports data sovereignty.Our key contribution is the implementation of a multi-formatting technique that increases the flexibility and efficiency of data storage and retrieval.