About FileCoin
Overview of Filecoin and IPFS
Filecoin and IPFS are complementary protocols, both created by Protocol Labs. IPFS allows peers to store, request, and transfer verifiable data with each other. IPFS is open-source and free to download and use, and is already in use by numerous groups.
With IPFS, individual nodes store data that they consider important; there’s no simple way to incentivize others to join the network or store specific data.
Filecoin is designed to solve this key problem by providing a system of persistent data storage.
Under Filecoin’s incentive structure, clients pay to store data at specific levels of redundancy and availability, and miners earn payments and rewards by continuously storing data and cryptographically proving it.
In short: IPFS addresses and moves content; Filecoin is the missing incentive layer.
Technical Integration
Filecoin also employs many components of IPFS. For example:
- Filecoin uses IPLD for blockchain data structures
- Filecoin nodes use libp2p to establish secure connections to each other
- Messaging between nodes and Filecoin block propogation utilizes libp2p pubsub
Team and Compatibility
Moreover, the Filecoin core team includes some members of the IPFS core team. Compatibility is intended to be as seamless as possible between IPFS and Filecoin.
Even after Filecoin launches, we expect the IPFS and Filecoin open-source communities to continue to collaborate and improve compatibility.