IPFS is ready to add a blockchain-based currency layer called Filecoin to incentivise data storage on the network. We have noticed you are using an ad blocker To continue providing news and award winning journalism, we rely on advertising revenue. To continue reading, please turn off your ad blocker or whitelist us . Since it first appeared, the distributed file system IPFS (InterPlanetary File System) has generated a ton of interest and momentum. A year-and-a-half later, IPFS creator Juan Benet is ready to add a blockchain-based currency layer called Filecoin (a coin sale is coming) to incentivise data storage on the IPFS network. The goal of IPFS is to add decentralised permanence to data on the web, and to take advantage of many efficiencies lost via the de facto file retrieval system, HTTP, making the latter work more like a peer-to-peer system. The mechanics of IPFS can be illustrated with an analogy. Imagine if people actually said: "Hey, I just finished this amazing book, you have to read it too – it’s at the NYC public library, section nine, bookcase three, top shelf, first from the left." This is ridiculous. In the real world you would just tell someone the title of the book and they would get it at the nearest convenient place, which is what IPFS does with data. Being able to ask to be connected to whoever is closest that can provide a particular file is a much more resilient and useful way to propagate content on the network. If a file has been retrieved by your browser, why can’t you simply move it from your computer to your phone for example? One would think this is simple, but today, most content moves first to the cloud, and only after to your other devices, which makes […]
