Get To Know Filecoin: Because A Decentralized Web Needs Decentralized Storage
Protocol Labs’ Filecoin is a altcoin cryptocurrenty that utilizes the (FIL) to operate a peer-to-peer network for the purpose of storing and retrieving data files. Filecoin users can either pay miners (computers) to store files and proving the files have been stored correctly over time, or get paid to mine and store files. The great thing about the Filecoin network is that anyone can participate and earn FIL for storing files. Peer-to-peer transfers and transactions are recorded on the blockchain as proof that miners are storing the files correctly, and because it is decentralized, the price for storage is controlled by the open market.
Decentralization is the key component that makes the Filecoin network different than other centralized platforms like AWS or Cloudflare. With Filecoin there is no gatekeeper or any one company has control over your data and no one central hub where all data is stored. The Filecoin network makes it easy to hold the keys to your own data, and with no personal data attached. Since the data transfers are made using crypto accuracy, and wallet addresses, privacy and integrity are kept intact.
Translation: You can use your old or extra computer to rent out space on your computer and make coin!
The Filecoin network currently stores over 7 million NFTs NFTs to the tune of about 54Tib of date from platforms including OpenSea, OneOfNFT and more.
Prominent investors who are rallying behind Filecoin include Civic CEO, Vinny Lingham and Coinshares Chief Strategy Officer,, Meltem Demirors. For a glimps of other interesting projects and platforms jumping into the Filecoin Network Ecosystem see below…
Filecoin Network Projects
Bitdeer
Bitdeer promises customers entry to the world of digital asset mining without any complicated processes or technical hurdles and now supports Filecoin mining as part of its Cloud Hashrate service.
Provides off-chain storage of NFT metadata and assets in a free, simple service. Data uploaded to NFT.Storage’s HTTP endpoint is persisted onto Filecoin and made available to the public IPFS network.
Web3.Storage
With over 5 Million uploads Web3.storage is a simple interface for developers to store and retrieve data from Filecoin’s decentralized storage network! Web3.Storage 一 which will remain free indefinitely 一 gives developers an easy avenue to build applications with redundant, decentralized storage and secure, content addressed data. By handling a ton of the complexity of interacting directly with decentralized storage, it is one of the best ways to integrate with Filecoin storage for all developers, from Web3 newbies to IPFS veterans!
Filecoin Storage Bridge
Textile, a company that is rolling out tools to make it faster and easier for developers to build decentralized apps on IPFS and Filecoin, launched permissionless Filecoin storage bridges on Ethereum, Polygon, and NEAR. A Filecoin Deal Auctions pilot for clients to efficiently onboard massive datasets to the network was also rolled out with currently 2TiB per day and growing ~25% per week. As of October 1, the pilot has reached 205TB in active Filecoin deals.
Other Web3 Collaborations
Filecoin continues to grow and gain adoption as the de facto storage layer of web3, and developers continue to explore and expand upon all the possibilities of the protocol.
Recent months have been filled with exciting collaborations with the web3 community. The collaborations are multi-faceted and include joint grant programs for developers, filecoin storage bridges, joint hackathons and investments.
With smart contract systems, Filecoin is now integrated with Ethereum, Polygon, NEAR, Hedera Hashgraph, Flow, and more projects on the way. Developers in these ecosystems have discovered the ease of using Filecoin for data storage.
Chainlink, a blockchain oracle, is a key collaborator and integrated with Filecoin in May. Chainlink recently launched an extensive joint grant program to spur the development of new applications, such as data bounties and miner insurance. Other exciting collaborators in the video vertical include Livepeer with a co-mining initiative and Videocoin on video NFTS.
Filecoin was added to the Web3 Index in Sept 2021 as a fundamental and key driver of the web3 stack and new strides into Filecoin token liquidity continue to be made.
Filecoin has a limited supply cap of 2 billion tokens, and 600 million of those stay in the wallets of Protocal Labs with 6-year linear vesting).