# Welcome to Sia! Sia is a decentralized cloud storage platform secured by blockchain technology. The Sia storage network leverages underutilized hard drive capacity around the world to create a data storage marketplace that is more reliable and lower cost than traditional cloud storage providers. Sia has its own blockchain, and a utility token that powers it – the Siacoin. Your data is truly private and gets stored across the globe to eliminate any single point of failure and ensure the highest possible uptime. Since you hold the keys, you own your data. No outside company can access or control your files. Data cannot be de-platformed. Files can not be hacked. ## Sia is here for good Not only is your data safe on Sia, but you can feel confident that Sia isn't going anywhere. Sia has been in development for six years and has been live for five. The Sia software has been downloaded over a million times, and thousands of TB have been uploaded to the network since its inception. If the Sia dev team quit tomorrow, the network can autonomously run forever. Sia has a thriving community of renters, hosts, miners, data storage enthusiasts and an ecosystem of open source software and commercial data storage platforms. Discover the ecosystem on our [website's community and ecosystem page](https://sia.tech/community-ecosystem). --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://docs.sia.tech/legacy/readme.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.