The problem DeVault solves

❓ What Problem Does DeVault Solve?
DeVault solves the major issues caused by traditional, centralized cloud storage systems. These include:

🔓 Lack of Data Ownership
In centralized systems, users don't truly own their data — it's stored on servers controlled by third-party companies. DeVault gives full ownership and control back to the user.

🛑 Single Points of Failure
Centralized servers are vulnerable to outages, hacks, and data loss. DeVault uses a distributed network to ensure high availability and resilience.

👀 Privacy and Surveillance Risks
Traditional storage providers can monitor, censor, or hand over your data to governments or advertisers. DeVault stores encrypted data across a decentralized network, making it private and censorship-resistant.

💰** High and Unfair Costs**
Users often pay premium prices for storage space and bandwidth. DeVault reduces costs by cutting out intermediaries and using token-based incentives to reward storage providers directly.

🔒** Trust Issues**
Users have to trust companies to store and secure their files. With DeVault, blockchain smart contracts handle storage deals and access control in a trustless, transparent way.

So in short, DeVault solves the problems of ** trust, privacy, ownership, and cost in cloud storage** — making it a future-proof alternative to services like Google Drive, Dropbox, and AWS.

Challenges I ran into

Progress During Hackathon
✅ Designed and finalized the project architecture for DeVault
✅ Implemented file encryption and decentralized storage using IPFS
✅ Deployed basic smart contracts for storage agreements on testnet
✅ Integrated wallet login (MetaMask) for secure user access
✅ Built a functional frontend using React.js and Tailwind CSS
✅ Developed demo flow: upload → encrypt → store → access