What is Filecoin (FIL)
Filecoin describes itself as a decentralised cloud storage network: the underlying idea is to create a peer-to-peer storage infrastructure as an alternative to the centralised services of Amazon Web Services, Dropbox, iCloud and Google Drive. Anyone with storage space and a good connection can make it available to the network.
The FIL token adds an economic incentive to IPFS (InterPlanetary File System) based storage: developers, customers and companies use FIL as a means of exchange for storage services within an internal economy built by Protocol Labs.
How it works
The network is secured by two specific consensus mechanisms, proof-of-replication and proof-of-spacetime: operators (storage miners) must cryptographically prove that they are actually keeping the data entrusted to them, over time. In return they receive rewards in FIL.
Mining on Filecoin is therefore not tied to computing power as in Bitcoin, but to the storage capacity made available and proven. Any rewards are variable and not guaranteed.
Ecosystem and how it began
Filecoin was founded by Juan Benet, the creator of IPFS, and is run by Protocol Labs (founded in 2014). It became well-known after a notable ICO, around 205 million dollars raised in 2017, which materialised with the launch of the mainnet in 2020.
More recently the ecosystem expanded with the Filecoin Virtual Machine (FVM), which added support for smart contracts and the programmability of the protocol, contributing to the growth of total value locked (TVL) and of the number of users and projects built on the network.
Price trends and what to consider
Like all crypto-assets, FIL has shown a highly volatile price trend. Its quotations can be influenced by the general trend of the crypto market, by the actual demand for decentralised storage and by the development of the ecosystem.
Past performance is not a guarantee of future results.
Filecoin Market Data
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