Dropbox ends unlimited storage plans due to crypto miners

After years of providing users with unlimited cloud storage, Dropbox is finally abandoning the “all the space you need” storage plan. This decision comes in response to users exploiting the service for activities such as crypto mining and reselling storage to others.

In a blog post, Dropbox also pointed out a notable instance involving the cryptocurrency Chia, which heavily relies on storage capacity as a fundamental component of its mining process. The currency’s “proof of space and time” model, which rewards users based on their ownership of “plots,” each demanding 100 GB of storage on physical hard drives, led to crypto miners combining their storage resources.

“In recent months, we’ve seen a surge of this behaviour in the wake of other services making similar policy changes. We’ve observed that customers like these frequently consume thousands of times more storage than our genuine business customers, which risks creating an unreliable experience for all of our customers,” reads Dropbox’s blog post.

New plans

As a result of the shift, the company’s Advanced plan, which includes three active licenses, will now provide 15TB of shared storage space, sufficient for storing approximately 100 million documents, 4 million photos, or 7,500 hours of HD video content. Additionally, Dropbox emphasizes that users who utilize less than 35TB of storage will retain their current storage capacity and receive an extra 5TB of pooled storage credit for five years. However, for businesses exceeding the 35TB threshold, the company will offer a similar arrangement, including a 5TB credit for one year, up to a maximum total of 1,000TB.

Moreover, starting September 18 for new customers, Dropbox will introduce new storage add-ons, which will provide an extra 1TB of storage at a monthly rate of $10 or a discounted rate of $8 per month for annual purchases.

However, it is important to note that the company will introduce the changes gradually from November 1st, giving users at least 30 days’ notice before their scheduled migration date.