About

Filecoin is a decentralized storage network for securely monetizing, storing, retrieving, and computing data. It is built as an incentive layer for the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS), a peer-to-peer protocol leveraging a content address system for sharing, routing, and storing data. Designed to facilitate a data storage marketplace, Filecoin enables any user with excess data storage to trade available space for a fee with users needing storage space. Subsequently, Filecoin ensures that users needing data storage services are guaranteed quality and secure storage space.

History

Juan Benet established Protocol Labs, a research and development company, in 2014. Protocol Labs introduced Filecoin in May 2017 as a decentralized storage network for monetizing, storing, and retrieving data securely. Filecoin is built as an incentive layer for the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS), a peer-to-peer protocol also developed by Protocol Labs that leverages a content address system for sharing, routing, and storing data.

Notable milestones in the history of Filecoin’s development include:

• Sept. 25, 2019 - Alphanet release.
• Oct. 16, 2019 - Lotus protocol implementation.
• Dec. 11, 2019 - Testnet Phase One release.
• Jan. 31, 2020 - Filecoin implementation in Rust and C++.
• May 14, 2020 - Testnet Phase Two release.
• Oct. 15, 2020 - Mainnet release.
• Feb. 2, 2021 - Venus protocol implementation on mainnet.
• Aug. 3, 2021 - Released Web3 storage, a simple interface for data storage and retrieval.
• Oct. 13, 2021 - First official storage collaboration with Flow blockchain.
• April 11, 2022 - Public Network Indexer for querying content-addressable data on Filecoin.
• March 14, 2023 - Filecoin Virtual Machine (FVM) mainnet release.
• March 20, 2023 - Celer cBridge and IM support for Filecoin FVM.
• May 25, 2023 - Filecoin Data Tools.

Since the mainnet launch in October 2020, Filecoin has undergone several network upgrades, including Hyperdrive and Watermelon. The latest upgrade (Watermelon upgrade - V21) was activated successfully on Dec. 12, 2023. The upgrade simplifies storage provider operations and introduces improvements to the protocol and to the FVM. A list of past upgrades can be followed on Messari Intel.

Filecoin is scaling with the Interplanetary Consensus (IPC), a framework that addresses challenges with transaction volume and application heterogeneity by enabling the creation of hierarchical subnets that execute transactions in parallel and facilitate cross-subnet transactions. On April 25, 2023, Filecoin deployed the first phase of the IPC Framework to the network’s Spacenet. An eventual mainnet release is planned for 2024, although a commercially reasonable search found no disclosures on a definite release date.

As of May 3, 2024:

• Filecoin has produced ~3.88 million blocks with a network storage capacity of ~23.43 EiB.
• 1,889 data clients have collectively uploaded ~2.3 EiB of data to Filecoin.
• There are 2,688 active miners on the network collectively pledging ~161.92 million FIL (~8.26% of the total token supply).
• Miners receive an average block reward of ~8.27 FIL.

Source: Filecoin Explorer (Filfox)

Filecoin’s 2024 roadmap highlights the following key goals:

• Launch the IPC on mainnet to enable application-specific subnets (Layer-2s) on Filecoin.
• Position Filecoin as the fundamental storage layer for Web3, offering data aggregation and storage support to the broader blockchain ecosystems (e.g., Layer-1s and Layer-2s).
• Improve Filecoin’s data retrieval capabilities by enabling hot data and fast retrieval support on the network.
• Expand Filecoin’s decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem by supporting projects building new solutions with the FVM.