Filecoin: Understanding the Complex Crypto System Meant to Rival AWS

Filecoin might be the most complex thing the blockchain industry has ever brought to market.

While Filecoin has been quieter than most over that time, Filecoin is currently wrapping up a very active incentivized testnet called Space Race.

Filecoin's creator Juan Benet has a bright vision for the future of the web, and thus the Filecoin network aims to be a next-generation marketplace for data storage and retrieval, potentially competing with the web giants that control the data storage space - Amazon, Microsoft and Google - and content delivery networks like Cloudflare.

"Unlike centralized cloud storage services, which back up data in ways clients can't change or verify, Filecoin allows clients to easily express their own preferences for reliability and cost," a new document released ahead of the network launch, Engineering Filecoin's Economy, explains.

Mining on Filecoin is largely about providing storage space using traditional storage systems.

"The overall result is that Filecoin rewards to miners more closely match the utility they, and the network as a whole, provide to clients," the "Economy" document states.

It's effectively empty space that has nevertheless received the Filecoin cryptographic treatment and is getting logged and rewarded on the system.

AWS isn't the only thing Filecoin might unseat.

Everything in the Filecoin system has an upfront cost.

The Filecoin system requires storage clients to commit their payments upfront over the life of a deal, though miners will only get paid if they meet their commitment.