What Is Filecoin?
Filecoin is an open-source, public cryptocurrency and digital storage and data retrieval method. It is built off the InterPlanetary File System, allowing users to rent hard drive space. It is a decentralized storage system aiming to “store humanity’s most important information.”
Background
Protocol Labs and Juan Benet founded Filecoin in 2017.
How It Works
Filecoin is a peer-to-peer network with an incentive layer built on top of the InterPlanetary File System, a protocol that enables peer-to-peer data storage. It’s designed to provide a framework for storing and retrieving data that is verifiable and linked through a system of cryptographic proofs.
Users pay to store their files on storage providers responsible for storing them and proving they are storing them correctly over time. No single company controls the storage price. This system facilitates a wide range of data storage and retrieval use cases, from storing Web3 native NFT and metaverse/game assets and incentivized permanent storage to archiving Web2 datasets as a cheaper alternative to cloud storage. The Filecoin blockchain has a built-in self-healing process where faulty storage nodes are detected, and their stored files are redistributed to reliable nodes.
Key Takeaways
- Filecoin is an open-source, public cryptocurrency offering digital storage and data retrieval.
- It was founded in 2017 by Protocol Labs and Juan Benet.
- It operates on a peer-to-peer network built on the InterPlanetary File System.
- Users pay storage providers to hold their files, with the price determined by open markets, not a single company.
- Filecoin is used for various data storage and retrieval use cases, including storing NFT and metaverse/game assets, permanent storage, and archiving datasets as an alternative to cloud storage.
