Filecoin (FIL)

Filecoin (FIL) is a decentralized storage network designed to turn the world’s unused disk space into a global marketplace for data. Built on top of IPFS (the InterPlanetary File System), Filecoin lets clients pay storage providers to host files under cryptographic guarantees, with each deal recorded on-chain. The native FIL token is used to pay for storage, retrieval and gas, and to collateralize providers who pledge their hardware to the network.

The protocol secures storage through two cryptographic proofs: Proof-of-Replication (PoRep), which proves a provider has uniquely encoded a client’s data, and Proof-of-Spacetime (PoSt), which proves the data is still being stored over time. Providers earn block rewards by submitting these proofs continuously, and lose collateral if they fail. Since 2023, the Filecoin Virtual Machine (FVM) has added EVM-compatible smart contracts, enabling DataDAOs, perpetual storage, liquid staking and DeFi primitives directly on top of storage deals.

Filecoin’s mainnet launched on October 15, 2020 after one of the largest token sales of 2017, in which Protocol Labs raised over $257 million. FIL has a hard cap of 2 billion tokens released over decades through block rewards, mining vesting and protocol allocations. The project is governed by Protocol Labs and the independent Filecoin Foundation, with an ecosystem spanning storage onboarding tools, EVM-compatible Layer 2s, and integrations with Layer 1 chains for cross-chain data availability. Filecoin is one of the largest decentralized infrastructure (DePIN) networks by both onboarded storage and active providers.