Introduction:
The technology landscape is tilting towards a completely decentralized era. Developers and adopters of the internet are looking for efficient, fast, and everlasting accessibility to the web, its resources, and content storage. This is being done through the creation of several systems that will measure up with the web3 features. One such technological move is the creation of Filecoin which dubs itself as the future of data storage.
What is Filecoin?
Filecoin is simply a form of decentralized data storage and retrieval network. Launched by Protocol Labs and built on top of the Interplanetary File System (IPFS), Filecoin gives users the liberty to rent out unused hard drive storage. The motive for this is to bring to play the era of decentralized data storage and retrieval process, thereby creating a limitless global form of data storage. The data on a Filecoin is stored using blockchain technology. This will not only allow the data to be transferred from one person to another, but will also retain such data by not altering its content for as long as it exists.
The major objective of Filecoin is to disrupt the known centralized form of data storage and retrieval protocol. As such, instead of entrusting a single company with your data, you can decide to have them split up and saved in different computers around the world. In 2017, Filecoin’s initial coin offering (ICO) generated an estimated amount of $257 million from its investors, while its main net was launched in October 2020. Since then, it has witnessed a commendable growth of up to 2.5billion gigabytes of platform storage.
The adoption of Filecoin poses many advantages, parts of which are:
- Cost-effectiveness: The centralized system of data storage and retrieval comes at a high cost. Having a decentralized system that would create a larger market for data storage would drastically beat the existing cost.
- Interconnectedness: The interconnection of several computers around the world would open the gateway for a better storage network.
- Data protection: A lot of centralized data storage systems are easily hacked, with private data leaked to the public. Dropbox got hacked in 2012, and close to 68 million users reportedly had their passwords leaked. A decentralized storage protocol guarantees better safety and data protection.
How safe is Filecoin?
Filecoin saves data by splitting them up. This is done in such a way that no one can bring the data together in one piece, except the owner. This means that even if the data gets hacked and compromised, the hacker will only have access to incomplete information. Filecoin has detailed information of all users, and it assembles their data for proper usage, upon request.
How do Blockchain domains access content stored on its system?
As a decentralized storage network that turns cloud storage into an algorithm market, Filecoin runs on a blockchain with a native protocol token referred to as ‘Filecoin’. This token is earned by its miners by providing storage for clients. To store or distribute data, clients spend filecoin tokens in hiring miners. The blockchain domain fully backs the miners to ensure they are rewarded by clients upon completing a task.
Final Thoughts
In ensuring data protection and privacy, the adoption of a decentralized protocol in storing and retrieving data is what we must learn to live with. In doing so, Filecoin stands as a gateway to the world of storage possibilities.
Aditya Walia
Cofounder