Snapchain provides an elegant solution to one of the core problems in crypto infrastructure: the tradeoff between data availability and data storage. (With more time I may write up a dive deeper on how it works under the hood).

The TLDR of Data Availability vs Data Storage: systems great at publishing data (Celestia, EigenDA) are not so great at storing it. Systems great at storing data (Arweave, IPFS) are typically not so great at publishing it.

Snapchain sits elegantly between these extremes with a few key innovations:

Committee Structure: Snapchain proposes an elected committee of nodes responsible for both making data available AND storing it. This addresses the core issue where previous systems only handled either one or the other. (Though this part is the most likely to change, and was drawn from some earlier drafts.)

State Rent: Instead of paying once for permanent storage (expensive) or only ensuring short-term availability (limited), Snapchain implements "state rent", a concept Ethereum has discussed since 2018 but never implemented. Users buy credits for specific storage capacity (e.g., 10,000 posts) for one year. Want to extend? Pay the state rent again. Don't want to? Your data expires.

Overwrite Mechanics: If you exceed your post limit, Snapchain simply overwrites your oldest content. No additional payment required, just a natural cycle that works perfectly for social data (though it wouldn't work for blockchains that need complete history).