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Filecoin is an open-source, decentralized storage network that is based on the Interplanetary File Storage (IPFS) protocol. The protocol enables developers to lease their unused storage space on their computer.
In recent years data storage has become one of the major problems for companies around the world. If you want to run a certain business, you need to collect data. But problems arise when the lack of storage hinders the process due to the inflated cost of storage devices and their solutions.
The Filecoin network is designed in such a way that it has created a storage marketplace that can be accessed by users around the world. It is a cloud-based decentralized storage network that makes storaging cost-efficient and secure.
It ensures that the stored data is distributed and immutable which means no one can tamper once stored on the blockchain.
This review of Filecoin – FIL was created for informational purposes. This article is not intended for promotion.
Filecoin has many features which make it easier for users to store data on the blockchain. Let’s take a look at how these features improve data storage for developers around the world.
Proof-of-Replication (PoRep) is a mechanism that ensures the miners have replicated a copy of the data they agreed to store. This allows users to easily retrieve data that is stored by the storage miners.
In this system, the participants in the network join as provers and in return, they receive rewards for leasing their storage space.
The proof-of-spacetime mechanism helps in ensuring that a storage miner is continuously maintaining a copy of the data over a period. It proves that the copy is maintained by miners that are randomly selected and that they have their data read for verification purposes.
In the verification process, miners are given a cryptographic challenges. The correct answer to this challenges will be stored in the copy of sealed data. So, if a miner is honestly storing a copy of the sealed data, he will be able to answer the challenge correctly.
IPFS is a decentralized file storing and sharing system that was launched in 2015 by Protocol Labs. It allows users to store their files across a network of computers that indexes each file on the network with a cryptographic hash.
IPFS utilizes a content addressing mechanism to identify the information requested by the user. It searches for relevant content keywords to fetch the information for the user.
There is a separate market, created by Filecoin, for HHD storage where users or clients who are looking to store data are allowed to bid on available storage. These will be provided by miners.
They are assessed based on their reliability and the asking prices for the HDD storage.
Recently there have been many projects that have been leveraging Filecoin and IPFS for data storage and data integrity. We have listed a few for a better understanding of how it is being used on the blockchain market.
The Sailplane is a peer-to-peer file storage service that works similar to Dropbox. It works in a web app using IPFS and OrbitDB. Users will have to run a local node to store the files and when that file needs to be retrieved it will have to run a local node as well.
Sailplane was created in a way that the IPFS node runs inside the browser. So, when an individual drags a file into the app, the browser stores the file locally and pins it to IPFS. So no separate software will be required in this process.
BlockSig is a signing solution for notarized documents, where a notary sends out an invite document (signed) wich if accepted by involved parties generates a unique doc token.
After the notary signs the document, the signature proof hashes from each party are attached to each original document. Resulting in the document persisted on IPFS as encrypted content. This document is then mailed to all the concerned parties.
Filecoin was created by Protocol Labs in 2014, with it’s founder Juan Benet. Acomputer scientist who studied at Stanford University and was involved with creating IPFS. Protocol Labs continues its research in modern technologies in the blockchain arena.
The Filecoin team consists of experts from different sectors such as fintech, open-source software development, open-source community development, cryptographyand distributed systems.
The launch of Filecoin’s v13 ‘HyperDrive’ Network upgrade has increased the storage onboarding rate which means the storage capacity has been increased by 10x-25x on the network.
The native currency of the Filecoin ecosystem is FIL. FIl has a total supply of 2 billion tokens? Where 30% is held by Protocol Labs and the private investors of 2017 SAFT sale.
Developers who build applications to improve Filecoin’s technology and markets are funded by the Protocol Labs and Filecoin Foundation.
Retrieval miners ensure the files to be stored on Filecoin and are efficiently available for the clients on the network. These clients pay the miners with FIL tokens to retrieve their data.
Storage miners are paid by clients for providing data storage services. They are also rewarded for participating in Filecoin consensus. Clients are also allowed to message miners for prioritizing their transactions in exchange for an extra fee of FIL tokens.
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Storing your data on someone else’s computer can be risky but Filecoin mitigates by splitting the document into small bits that stores it on different computers across the network. So, if someone wants to to hack the document, they will end up collecting meaningless bits of data.
There have been more than 70 organizations that have collaborated with Filecoin. As of November 2020, the platform has exceeded 1 exbibyte of storage capacity. Truffle Suit, one of the best tool providers for smart contracts announced that it will be allowing Filecoin to facilitate its investors to build dApps with 100% uptime.
Filecoin also partnered with ConsenSys by providing millions of traders with new cost-efficient digital data storage options and storage miners around the world. They also integrated Chainlink, that enables smart contract developers to automate data transfers between Filecoin and external systems.
One day after the launch of the mainnet, Filecoin’s largest storage miners went on a strike protesting about the low storage rewards. However, later these claims were refuted by Benet.
In a bullish market, we believe that Filecoin has the potential to grow besides centralized storage providers because of it’s cost-effectiveness and decentralisation.
Filecoin has only tapped a small bit of the total storage space available across the world. When the storage capacity increases, it will lower the cost for clients, which will maybe boost the adoption of the protocol.
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