Does @nextcloud have a @[email protected] mode? Where 2 devices can be connected to a NC server, and then send files to each other directly.
So not only would the server not need to store the data (local first), it wouldn't even need to route it between the devices. Akin to the way WebRTC is supposed to enable 2 peers to connect via a kind of handshaking server and exchange voice/video streams directly.