Product Features

Filecoin is storage for the decentralized world of Web3. Filecoin is a peer-to-peer network that stores files, with built-in economic incentives to ensure files are stored reliably. Users pay to store their files on storage providers, which are responsible for storing files – and proving they have stored the files correctly over time. 

Anyone who wants to store files, data, NFTs, games, and other digital assets – or get paid for storing other users’ files – can join Filecoin! Available storage (and the price of that storage) is not controlled by any single company. Instead, Filecoin facilitates open markets for storing and retrieving files that anyone can participate in. 

• Open source meets open market: In Filecoin, file storage and retrieval deals are negotiated in open markets. Anybody can join the Filecoin network without needing permission. Running a storage provider only requires an internet connection and spare disk space. By lowering the barriers to entry, Filecoin enables a thriving ecosystem of many independent storage providers.
• Native cryptocurrency: Filecoin includes a blockchain and native cryptocurrency (FIL) and storage providers earn units of FIL for storing files.
• Verifiable blockchain confidence: Filecoin’s blockchain records transactions to send and receive FIL, along with proofs from storage providers that they are storing their files correctly.
• Hypercompetitive prices: Filecoin enables users to store their files at hypercompetitive prices and verify that their files are being stored correctly.
• Incentive-based marketplace for storage providers: Filecoin enables storage providers to sell their storage on an open market. A storage provider could be any internet-connected computer with spare disk space or a dedicated system with lots of storage built specifically for Filecoin. Filecoin’s blockchain rewards storage providers for contributing useful storage to the internet, not for completing wasteful proof-of-work computations.
• Censorship resistant: Filecoin resists censorship because no central provider can be coerced into deleting files or withholding service. The network is made up of many different computers run by many different people and organizations. Faulty or malicious actors are noticed by the network and removed automatically.
• No storage provider lock-in: Migrating to a different storage provider is made easier because they all offer the same services and APIs. Users aren’t locked into providers because they rely on a particular feature of the provider. Also, files are content-addressed, enabling them to be transferred directly between providers without the user having to download and re-upload the files.
• Active community: Filecoin has an active community of contributors to answer questions and help newcomers get started. There is an open dialog between users, developers, and storage providers. If you need help, you can reach the person who designed or built the system in question.