How valuable is Filecoin?

In the traditional HTTP mode, users browse content, send requests to the server, and then obtain it through its domain name address. IPFS, on the other hand, obtains content through content addressing. All content is hashed, and all files have unique hash values. Users can access files by searching through file hashes. All file contents are stored in a distributed peer-to-peer network. So what is the point of doing this?

The IPFS model changes some of the drawbacks of the HTTP protocol. For example, the traditional HTTP model is a centralized model that requests from the client to the server. When too many users access a project at the same time (such as Taobao on Double Eleven), it will cause network congestion. IPFS is a distributed file system that can obtain content from the nearest node during use, effectively diverting users during peak user access, and providing a smoother user experience.

In general, compared with centralized storage, the IPFS model has many advantages, including cost advantages, which can save network bandwidth resources and reduce server storage costs; efficiency advantages, such as faster transmission speeds without causing congestion in centralized access; security advantages, which can resist multiple attacks and will not have single point failures and personal privacy leaks; content preservation advantages, which will not lead to situations where content in the central server becomes inaccessible after being deleted, and can be preserved permanently; and privacy advantages, which can achieve a certain degree of privacy through asymmetric encryption.

These advantages are the basis for IPFS to replace the centralized storage model and even the HTTP model. It also directly determines whether Filecoin can have a sufficient business foundation as the incentive layer of IPFS. So based on its model and advantages, where can IPFS play its role?

IPFS and Filecoin are particularly important in web3.0 and blockchain, and it is one of the most important infrastructures of web3.0 and blockchain.

Data can be seen as life on the blockchain, DID as the name, storage as land and house, code as law, scoring as morality, computing power as power, and tokens as money.

According to this analogy, the field where Filecoin is located is the "land and house of blockchain". The "life" of data on the blockchain needs a place to settle down, which requires the support of these "land and house". In other words, the distributed storage represented by Filecoin belongs to the infrastructure of blockchain and is the carrier of the "data life" of blockchain.

Therefore, the more blockchain develops, the greater the value of Filecoin as the "land and house" infrastructure.

First of all, IPFS and web3.0 have the same goal, and their long-term vision is to replace the current centralized Internet infrastructure. However, distributed ledger technology represented by blockchain stores globally consistent ledgers, and consensus must be reached among all distributed nodes. If all types of data are stored on the blockchain, the cost is very high. It is not suitable for storing all data, and not all data needs to be kept safe at such a high cost.

Therefore, blockchain and web3.0 need a storage layer. IPFS allows distributed storage of data, which has hashed identifiers and cannot be changed. Through IPFS, non-critical data on the blockchain can be stored on IPFS, while the identifiers that cannot be tampered with can be stored on the blockchain, which is more efficient. This model means that with the development of blockchain and web3.0, people's demand for IPFS storage layer will increase.

Another important development of blockchain is the smart contract platform. The most important thing on the smart contract platform is dApp.

The significance of dApp compared to traditional App is that it allows users to truly have control over their own accounts and data. For example, decentralized exchanges allow users to control their own assets, withdraw them freely, and have fewer transaction fees. Another example is decentralized video content and video live streaming websites, where users can control their own content.

Although it is very difficult for dApp to replace App at present, there is a demand for dApp in certain scenarios. If dApp wants to be adopted by the mainstream population, in addition to finding scenarios where users have strong needs, it also needs to achieve a user experience similar to that of traditional Apps.

In the process of seeking a better user experience, IPFS is one of the most important choices for dApp storage. According to statistics, at least more than 90 dApps are using IPFS for storage, including Civic (decentralized identity authentication on the Ethereum blockchain), Everipedia (decentralized Wikipedia on the EOS chain), Decentraland (virtual world on the Ethereum chain), Aragon (decentralized organization system), Augur (prediction market on the Ethereum chain), DTube (video platform on the Steem chain), Sovereign, Request, 3Box, BitTube, OpenBazaar, etc.

IPFS also has a very important potential, which is to release the value of content. Since it is decentralized storage and reading, it means that a lot of content that was previously not available freely will be released to a certain extent through IPFS, which may also bring a certain degree of demand.

IPFS helps the Internet of Everything

If massive amounts of data and nodes are connected to the existing network, the cost is huge. Whether increasing bandwidth, entering the 5G and 6G era, or upgrading bandwidth to the IPV6 era, the cost of solving these problems is hard to imagine. The current smart home, including the corresponding Internet of Things, has only made a breakthrough in the storage and collection of information, but has not truly realized the interconnection of all things. True Internet Internet of Things companies are very scarce.

The way of thinking in the Internet of Things era is different from that in the current Internet era. The website structure of the Internet is not suitable for the Internet of Things. Every part of the Internet is a tree. All devices are connected to this tree, connected to the leaves through branches. It is impossible for leaves or fruits to communicate with each other, and it is impossible to achieve rapid exchange between physical objects. Instead, it must be spread through roots and stems. Because it takes unnecessary paths, it is very inefficient and consumes a lot of resources.

The Internet of Things itself has many communication protocols, including common communication protocols such as WIFI and Bluetooth, which are an indispensable link in real-time collection, exchange and processing of data. However, without a smart contract to quickly realize point-to-point transmission between materials, the real Internet of Things cannot be realized. Therefore, the in-depth application process of the Internet of Things is actually troubled by the centralized model, and centralized information exchange and control have become the bottleneck of the development of the Internet of Things.

Providing the data needed for artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence needs data. In the era of artificial intelligence, the continuous improvement of machine deep learning and algorithms also requires the accumulation of historical data and real-time data decision-making. The simple accumulation of big data is not a big challenge for centralized servers, but the amount of data in the future will grow exponentially, so the explosion of big data is a huge test for centralized servers, and the cost is also growing exponentially. At present, distributed and decentralized storage is needed, and IPFS will play a very important role at this time. It solves the bottleneck of communication and storage capacity and the original inefficiency.

Based on our view on the advantages of the IPFS protocol, although it is not easy to start, it will gradually be adopted by more people due to its technical advantages. Whether it is blockchain, Internet of Things, or artificial intelligence, IPFS is their best choice. This leads to the possibility that a large number of projects may use IPFS for content storage, leading to the prosperity of the Filecoin storage market.