Learning Objectives

Filecoin

Filecoin is at the foundation of Protocol Labs’ mission to create a distributed, decentralized internet and a foundation for a better digital future. The mission of Filecoin and Filecoin Foundation is to create a decentralized, efficient, and robust foundation for humanity’s information.

IPFS is not a blockchain-based protocol and it alone does not include a built-in mechanism to incentivize the storage of data for other people. This is where Filecoin comes in. Filecoin is a peer-to-peer network that stores files, with built-in economic incentives to ensure files are stored reliably over time. In other words, Filecoin is a decentralized storage network that provides data persistence via a decentralized protocol, and publicly verifiable storage proofs on a blockchain.

On the Filecoin network, users pay in Filecoin tokens to store their files with storage providers. Storage providers earn units of Filecoin (FIL) for storing files, and they are responsible for storing files and proving they have stored the files correctly over time.

Available storage and the price of that storage is not controlled by any single company. Instead, the Filecoin network facilitates open markets for storing and retrieving files (by making storage deals between clients and providers) that anyone can participate in. At any time, users can verify that their files are being stored correctly by looking at proofs on Filecoin’s blockchain.

Learning Objectives

Shallow Dive Goals

  • 1.0 – Understand how and why Filecoin was created, what it’s used for, and the different sub projects that have evolved to improve it’s usability & functionality
  • 1.1 – Gain a basic understanding of account-based blockchain state model and economic mechanisms (shared with Ethereum and many others)
  • 1.2 – Have a conceptual understanding of the sector sealing and proving process (unique replication, proof of replication, ongoing proof of space-time)
  • 1.3 – Have a process understanding of deal-making, including data preparation and transport, and retrieval deals

Deep Dive Goals

  • 1.4 – Understand the Filecoin state tree as a piece of structured IPLD, and actors as state transitions
  • 1.5 – Be able to explain and give examples of the concepts of storage-powered consensus, secret leader elections
  • 1.6 – Understand the operation of an over-collateralized lending market on Ethereum (e.g. Aave), as an analogy to basic platform possibilities on the FVM

IPFS | Docs | GitHub - IPLD | Docs | GitHub - libp2p | Docs | GitHub - Filecoin | Docs | GitHub