{"id":9418,"date":"2023-06-20T12:39:41","date_gmt":"2023-06-20T12:39:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/?p=9418"},"modified":"2022-05-16T16:44:42","modified_gmt":"2022-05-16T16:44:42","slug":"what-is-filecoin-the-complete-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/en\/what-is-filecoin-the-complete-guide","title":{"rendered":"What is Filecoin? The complete guide"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_82_2 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-transparent ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Alternar tabla de contenidos\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #ffffff;color:#ffffff\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #ffffff;color:#ffffff\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 eztoc-toggle-hide-by-default' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/en\/what-is-filecoin-the-complete-guide\/#how_does_it_work\" >How does it work?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/en\/what-is-filecoin-the-complete-guide\/#history\" >History<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/en\/what-is-filecoin-the-complete-guide\/#ipfs_and_filecoin\" >IPFS and Filecoin<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/en\/what-is-filecoin-the-complete-guide\/#what_is_post\" >What is PoST?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/en\/what-is-filecoin-the-complete-guide\/#main_advantages_and_disadvantages_of_filecoin\" >Main advantages and disadvantages of Filecoin<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Tiempo de lectura:<\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 4<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutos<\/span><\/span><p>Filecoin is a Peer to Peer network\u00a0<strong>that stores data, leveraging the storage space of devices that connect to its network<\/strong>. It also\u00a0<strong>handles financial rewards<\/strong>\u00a0to ensure that files are stored reliably.<\/p>\n<p>Devices that connect to the Filecoin network,\u00a0<strong>rent their storage space so that Filecoin in return rewards them with tokens from its platform,<\/strong>\u00a0these tokens can be exchanged for other tokens or cryptocurrencies.<\/p>\n<p>Filecoin users\u00a0<strong>pay to store their files,<\/strong>\u00a0as you would do on any other platform that provides cloud data storage service such as Dropbox. What sets Filecoin apart is that\u00a0<strong>you can both pay to store your data and receive money for storing other users\u2019 files.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This storage, as well as the availability and price, are not controlled by any company since\u00a0<strong>Filecoin is decentralized<\/strong>\u00a0and allows anyone to access the network.<\/p>\n<p>Filecoin is a protocol that also has a blockchain in addition to its own\u00a0<strong>FIL cryptocurrency. The Filecoin blockchain records the sending<\/strong>\u00a0and receiving transactions of FIL, along with\u00a0<strong>Proof-of-Spacetime (PoST)<\/strong>, which tell us the creation of files or that the save has been successfully completed by the miners.<\/p>\n<p>Another positive point of the Filecoin Platform is its level of expansion in the markets, as\u00a0<strong>Filecoin is listed on the main cryptocurrency exchange platforms<\/strong>. It is also supported in a large part of virtual wallets, which greatly facilitates the exchange of FIL for other cryptos.<\/p>\n<p>So if you have free space on your computer,\u00a0<strong>why not rent it and earn cryptocurrencies passively?<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"how_does_it_work\"><\/span><strong>How does it work?<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>To understand\u00a0<strong>how Filecoin works<\/strong>, we need to understand what function each party performs in the process.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2013 Users<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Users who wish to rent virtual space to store their files\u00a0<strong>have to choose between cost, redundancy and speed.<\/strong>\u00a0They must then select the miner (provider) that meets their needs. Filecoin<strong>\u00a0allows to select the miner freely<\/strong>\u00a0without restrictions, unlike other storage providers that would ask us for a different API for each provider.<\/p>\n<p><strong>At any time, users can verify that their files are being stored correctly by looking at the evidence on the Filecoin blockchain.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>-Suppliers<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>These are\u00a0<strong>individuals and organizations that rent storage in exchange for FIL.<\/strong>\u00a0Anyone can provide this service and only needs their computer to have internet access with enough free space or either a server with a large amount of free storage.\u00a0<strong>The Filecoin blockchain rewards its providers for renting out their storage<\/strong>, not for completing complicated calculations as with other cryptocurrencies.<\/p>\n<p>When a storage provider implements the Filecoin protocol, it gains access to the market for renting out your space. Once there,\u00a0<strong>you won\u2019t need to do much, as that is taken care of by the Filecoin protocol and network. We\u2019ll just have to wait for some user to catch our storage\u2019s eye.<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"is-divider divider clearfix\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"image_1654688960\" class=\"img has-hover x md-x lg-x y md-y lg-y\">\n<div class=\"img-inner dark\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-large size-large lazyloaded\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Que-es-Filecoin-1024x701.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1020px) 100vw, 1020px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Que-es-Filecoin-1024x701.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Que-es-Filecoin-300x206.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Que-es-Filecoin-768x526.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Que-es-Filecoin-1536x1052.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Que-es-Filecoin-2048x1403.jpg 2048w\" alt=\"Que es Filecoin Bitnovo\" width=\"1020\" height=\"698\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Que-es-Filecoin-1024x701.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Que-es-Filecoin-300x206.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Que-es-Filecoin-768x526.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Que-es-Filecoin-1536x1052.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Que-es-Filecoin-2048x1403.jpg 2048w\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Que-es-Filecoin-1024x701.jpg\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 1020px) 100vw, 1020px\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"history\"><\/span><strong>History<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><strong>Protocol Labs, the developer of Filecoin<\/strong>, began its journey in 2014 driven by\u00a0<strong>Juan Benet<\/strong>. He, along with his team, were the ones who built\u00a0<strong>Filecoin<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0<strong>IPFS<\/strong>, and decided to make a few rounds of seed capital which would allow them to finance the process. Then, in 2017,\u00a0<strong>they decided to hold a token sale which would secure the funds to be able to develop Filecoin.<\/strong>\u00a0This was a success as they managed to raise 205 million dollars!<\/p>\n<p>The creation of the\u00a0<strong>Filecoin<\/strong>\u00a0project is supported by another project that complements it, called\u00a0<strong>IPFS \u201cInterPlanetary File System\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0or Interplanetary File System. This allows it to fulfill its purpose of storing data in a decentralized way.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"ipfs_and_filecoin\"><\/span><strong>IPFS and Filecoin<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><strong>As we saw in the article on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/en\/what-is-interplanetary-search-engine-ipse\/\">InterPlanetary Search<\/a>\u00a0Engine, IPFS is a system that controls the distribution of files<\/strong>\u00a0and its main goal is to\u00a0<strong>connect all the devices that contain this same system.<\/strong>\u00a0This system comes hand in hand with Filecoin as it is the one that manages the distribution of files.\u00a0<strong>This file system can be accessed in several ways, among these we have the FUSE protocol and HTTP.<\/strong>\u00a0The latter is the protocol that makes possible the functioning of the internet as we know it today.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Identifying the files is an easy task as they are hashed<\/strong>\u00a0and distributed in a BitTorrent-based protocol.\u00a0<strong>This makes it possible for other users who see this content<\/strong>\u00a0to help spread this content to others on the network.<\/p>\n<p><strong>IPFS<\/strong>\u00a0has a name service called\u00a0<strong>IPNS<\/strong>, a global namespace based on\u00a0<strong>PKI<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>(Public Key Infrastructure)<\/strong>, which is used to build trust chains, is compatible with other\u00a0<strong>IPNS<\/strong>\u00a0and can map\u00a0<strong>DNS<\/strong>, onion, bit, etc. to<strong>\u00a0IPNS<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<div id=\"image_46363216\" class=\"img has-hover x md-x lg-x y md-y lg-y\">\n<div class=\"img-inner dark\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-large size-large lazyloaded\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Que-es-Filecoin-2_Mesa-de-trabajo-1-1024x701.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1020px) 100vw, 1020px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Que-es-Filecoin-2_Mesa-de-trabajo-1-1024x701.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Que-es-Filecoin-2_Mesa-de-trabajo-1-300x206.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Que-es-Filecoin-2_Mesa-de-trabajo-1-768x526.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Que-es-Filecoin-2_Mesa-de-trabajo-1-1536x1052.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Que-es-Filecoin-2_Mesa-de-trabajo-1-2048x1403.jpg 2048w\" alt=\"Que es Filecoin Bitnovo\" width=\"1020\" height=\"698\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Que-es-Filecoin-2_Mesa-de-trabajo-1-1024x701.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Que-es-Filecoin-2_Mesa-de-trabajo-1-300x206.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Que-es-Filecoin-2_Mesa-de-trabajo-1-768x526.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Que-es-Filecoin-2_Mesa-de-trabajo-1-1536x1052.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Que-es-Filecoin-2_Mesa-de-trabajo-1-2048x1403.jpg 2048w\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Que-es-Filecoin-2_Mesa-de-trabajo-1-1024x701.jpg\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 1020px) 100vw, 1020px\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"what_is_post\"><\/span><strong>What is PoST?<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>This is t<strong>he protocol that keeps the Filecoin network within the functionality, security and scalability parameters<\/strong>\u00a0it needs for its operations.<\/p>\n<p>The purpose of this protocol\u00a0<strong>is to ask network participants to provide a test<\/strong>. For this, each node within the network must allocate resources such as memory or storage space. T<strong>he more resources this node contributes, the greater the participation in the network. Something very similar to the operation of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/en\/what-is-a-mining-pool-and-how-does-it-work\/\">cryptocurrency mining pools<\/a><\/strong>, since its objective is decentralization, in a secure way with a wide participation of the community.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"main_advantages_and_disadvantages_of_filecoin\"><\/span><strong>Main advantages and disadvantages of Filecoin<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><strong>One of the main advantages is the decentralization<\/strong>\u00a0that Filecoin provides by distributing data storage on the network,\u00a0<strong>establishing in its network storage and data retrieval mechanisms<\/strong>, which\u00a0<strong>allows any user to rent space on their hard drives.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Perhaps the main disadvantage is still the difficulty of obtaining profitability<\/strong>\u00a0and the lack of interest in large investors in a project that undoubtedly anticipates the future of data storage on the Internet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Tiempo de lectura:<\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 4<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutos<\/span><\/span>Filecoin is a Peer to Peer network\u00a0that stores data, leveraging the storage space of devices that connect to its network. It also\u00a0handles financial rewards\u00a0to ensure that files are stored reliably. Devices that connect to the Filecoin network,\u00a0rent their storage space so that Filecoin in return rewards them with tokens from its platform,\u00a0these tokens can be [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9422,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-criptomonedas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9418\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}