In this episode, Chris talks to Matt Hamilton, Developer Advocate at Protocol Labs, about the Filecoin decentralised storage network. Filecoin currently stores around 15 exabytes of data globally, across 4000 storage providers. The ecosystem enables end-users to contract for storage capacity and store data using the Filecoin marketplace platform. Customers and providers interact with FIL, the Filecoin currency.

Matt explains how Filecoin implements data immutability through a series of cryptographic proofs, including proof of capacity, proof of replication and proof of space/time. The platform enables 3rd party service providers to layer on additional features, such as consolidation for smaller workloads, caching and content delivery networks.

Most recently, Matt has been working on FVM, the Filecoin Virtual Machine, a system to enable smart contracts. This solution enables end users to build policies or actionable workflow to optimise storage usage or ensure continued storage of data.

To find out more, follow the following links:

• Main Filecoin website – filecoin.io
• Filecoin Virtual machine – https://fvm.filecoin.io/
• Spacewarp – https://spacewarp.fvm.dev/

Elapsed Time: 00:39:55

• 00:00:00 – Intros
• 00:01:15 – What is Filecoin?
• 00:03:20 – Filecoin is a enterprise-class system, with around 4000 storage providers
• 00:05:00 – Filecoin enables easy replication and “proof of storage” called proof of space/time
• 00:06:45 – Providers puts up collateral, clients put up a fee, both kept in escrow
• 00:07:30 – Proof of replication – shows the provider received and stored the data
• 00:08:15 – Data isn’t stored on blockchain, only the audit and tracking data
• 00:09:45 – Encryption is a layer above Filecoin
• 00:10:30 – Storage aggregators consolidate smaller file and object into larger blocks
• 00:11:35 – Filecoin is archival/cold storage with the ability to layer on additional services
• 00:14:30 – Filecoin doesn’t waste the “proof of capability” resource
• 00:16:01 – How does the dynamic marketplace of Filecoin work?
• 00:20:20 – How does data move in and out of the Filecoin network?
• 00:21:02 – Protocol Labs is working a CDN solution called Saturn
• 00:21:30 – Filecoin Virtual Machine will enable smart contracts
• 00:24:50 – Protocol Labs is working on bringing compute to data
• 00:27:50 – End users can join the network as a CDN through Saturn
• 00:28:45 – IPFS – Interplanetary File System!
• 00:30:00 – Filecoin uses a content addressable ID
• 00:31:10 – What are the typical users and use cases of Filecoin?
• 00:32:55 – Many NFT platforms store content on Filecoin
• 00:35:00 – Filecoin can be used to prove immutability in the future
• 00:37:40 – Where can people learn more?
• 00:38:30 – Wrap Up

Copyright (c) 2016-2023 Unpacked Network. No reproduction or re-use without permission. Podcast episode #l4r3.