There are numerous new cryptocurrency projects that can be discovered every day. Filecoin is a Protocol Labs initiative that acts as the decentralized storage provider, storing data on a distributed network of thousands of nodes worldwide. With its decentralized file storage system and growing functionality, the network has progressively taken a leading position in the industry.

Fundamental Overview

The FIL price increased perpendicularly in late July, rising over 110% to its recent record high of $11.39.

The Filecoin Foundation revealed the specifics of its support for the Harvard Library Innovation Lab in late July (LIL); The first unlisted retail funds in Australia were introduced by the digital asset venture capital company Holon Global Investments with the launch of three new cryptocurrency funds: Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Filecoin (FIL).

While it is not certain that the positive news directly leads to this rise, they clarify some signals for the storage market for sure. Large institutions continue to seek risk diversification and flexible investment aims and are bullish on high-performing assets like BTC&ETH. Moreover, the development of Web3 applications cannot be implemented without large data storage. The fact is that IPFS/Filecoin has been recognized by the market and various organizations, which is why it has led to more cooperation and investments.

There are always market factors that can affect the fluctuation of the coin price. It's not just every rise or good news that gives confidence to investors holding Filecoin, but what keeps Filecoin in bullish shape is the continued development of its underlying fundamentals as follows.

The launch of FVM opens a new chapter for Filecoin

FVM can bring a whole new story to FIL with the basic model of distributed ledger + smart contract computing + IPFS data storage, and web 3.0 ecology building. The Filecoin protocol was initially developed as an incentive layer for the Interplanetary File System (IPFS), a peer-to-peer storage network. Filecoin is an open protocol that builds on the properties of IPFS, while FVM is a virtual machine introduced by Filecoin that is compatible with EtherChannel EVM. Simply put, FIL will make an Ethereum-like public chain, similar to BSC, and many Ethereum applications can be directly panned to the FIL ecosystem.

The FVM adds programmability and compatibility to Filecoin, enabling users to implement their smart contracts on the Filecoin blockchain. We believe that Filecoin with FVM will continue to boost the entire ecosystem.

Useful data storage is the focus of Filecoin

The key efforts at the early stage of the Filecoin ecosystem's development are to get storage operators involved, set up more storage nodes, expand the available capacity, and lay the groundwork for commercial operations. At this point, there are no particular requirements for the data stored, and the goal of storing all forms of data is to identify and fix faults, enhance supervision, and create a structure with rules.

There is no doubt that the value of the data stored on Filecoin determines the value of the Filecoin network. To accelerate the realization of Filecoin's goal of becoming the most important decentralized storage network for humanity, the Filecoin Plus program was launched. Storage ecosystem participants (Root key-holders, notaries, clients, and storage providers) interact with each other through DataCap allocations and spending. It allows participants to earn 10x block rewards through Filecoin Plus. This establishes a mechanism that encourages all participants to increase the usefulness of Filecoin.

In addition, Filecoin Plus has enabled two services---NFT Storage and Web3 Storage, and both are essentially free on Filecoin at no additional charge to users. These initiatives have significantly increased the storage capacity and utilization of the Filecoin network.

According to the latest official update, the Filecoin ecosystem is in healthy growth, with over 18 EiB of network storage capacity and over 1,835 new projects currently added to build on Filecoin. Filecoin is also widely used in various aspects, including NFT, Web3, gaming, metaverse, and audio/video.

The popularity of decentralized storage solutions and the addition of smart contracts developed on top of them may pave the way for future cutting-edge web3 applications. Open data and decentralized computing may enable the next generation of applications. If the development of web3 is incremental in its demand for fast, affordable and secure storage, it will bring even more value to FIL. We believe that in such a virtuous cycle, the value of Filecoin will soar.

The Token Economics of Filecoin

Like many digital assets, FIL fundamentally has value because of the forces of supply and demand, which makes it similar to a commodity. We look at the forces of supply and demand for Filecoin below.

Two key players for Filecoin demand

Storage miners — who earn Filecoin by storing data for their customers — provide the infrastructure for the Filecoin ecosystem. To ensure that incentives remain consistent over time, the Filecoin system forces storage miners to provide collateral in FIL.

Using the current collateral requirements and making some assumptions about the growth of the network, we can estimate the number of FILs that storage miners will lock up.

Logically, the demand for FILs should and will come from customers. Customers who want to use the filecoin storage (and at a later date, Filecoin retrieval) system will need access to FIL to pay for their storage contracts.

Filecoin provides a unique value proposition for users (outside of a centralized incumbent). And thanks to heavily subsidized contracts, the cost is greatly reduced. This makes it the best choice for cheap, long-term storage (file storage). For example, Filecoin contracts cost about 3% of Amazon Web Services (AWS) Glacier Deep archival storage. If customers are storing data for the long term, the cost savings start to become very compelling, especially for large data sets.

Understanding a customer’s Filecoin needs over time is difficult to predict, but there are some key factors. One is the scale of data storage needs. We are rapidly moving into an artificial (AI) and Internet of Things (IOT) enabled world where the demand for data is almost endless. We need more and cheaper data storage solutions than we have today: potentially 100 times cheaper than today. Demand in dollar terms will translate into FIL demand.

Supply side of Filecoin

Supply minted. The supply of FILs entering the market comes from FILs purchased by early investors. Their Filecoins are subject to an attribution schedule. the FILs are also released to miners from the blockchain via “block rewards”. Block rewards are an incentive to build the infrastructure of the Filecoin network.

The chart below shows the annual supply released if the network reaches 100% of the KPI (baseline reward). If the Filecoin network does not reach 100%, the rate of supply slows down. In our analysis, we assume that it does.

This corresponds to 1.7 billion FIL potentially entering the market supply (with an additional 300k set aside for further incentives needed in the future).

Another factor burning supply. Removing FIL from the supply is one of its defining features as an investable asset. filecoin has introduced EIP-1559 (Ether Improvement Proposal), which introduces a fee-burning mechanism that permanently removes coins from the total circulating supply of FIL. This means that transaction fees are burned and the circulating supply is reduced. Some FILs are burned to fund on-chain computation and bandwidth as network information fees (priority fees are not burned but given to miners for block production including information). The burning of transaction and network information fees creates long-term deflationary pressure as tokens burn due to storage and consensus failures.

While the fee mechanism is intended to address the user experience issue of predictability of transaction fees, especially as the network becomes congested, it has the added benefit of driving scarcity of the underlying asset to the benefit of all existing users (FIl holders). As the utility of the Filecoin network increases, the number of transactions on the network increases. The more transactions there are, the more FILs are burned in the process.

Understanding the value of FIL is difficult, but understanding the components that affect the supply and demand of the network is an important task.

Regardless, the above reading should illustrate how the demand (value proposition) for the Filecoin protocol is directly tied to the price of FIL over time, and that this price should stabilize over time and represent the value of the network as a whole.

Filecoin is complemented by IPFS, a protocol for storing and sharing data on a distributed network. All Filecoin nodes are IPFS nodes and can use libp2p to connect to other IPFS nodes and get data in IPLD format. Both systems are free, open source, and share many components.

The Filecoin platform mining works differently than the classic mining of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. First, the Filecoin network has two consensus mechanisms. Proof of Replication (PoRep) and Proof of Space-Time (PoSt). In Filecoin, miners don’t contribute computational power but storage capacity for users/clients who want to store data. In Filecoin, five types of users can trade FIL tokens: developers, customers, miners, token holders, and ecosystem partners. Three types of marketplaces: file storage, file retrieval and token exchange.

The three types of miners are 1. Storage miners earn rewards in FIL tokens by storing data for customers and calculating cryptographic proofs to validate storage time. Unlike Bitcoin miners, the probability of earning per block rewards and transaction fees depends on the amount of storage these miners contribute to the Filecoin network, not on hashing capacity. 2. Retrieval miners: earn FIL tokens and mining fees for a specific file, depending on the market value and size of that file. Their bandwidth and the initial bid/offer time of the transaction determine the total number of transactions they can make. 3. Fix Miners: To be implemented in the future.

Each Filecoin miner has an associated power value on the network proportional to the amount of space contributed and determines the chances of winning the right to mine blocks per epoch.

In the Filecoin network, miners are rewarded for their contributions to the network with different types of rewards. For example, customers pay storage fees periodically after reaching an agreement in exchange for data storage, and miners regularly send storage proofs to the chain. These fees are automatically deposited into the miner’s associated wallet as they perform their duties and are briefly blocked upon receipt. The other is block rewards, whereby mining blocks, miners are rewarded, and charged fees based on the amount of storage space contributed to the network. Unlike storage fees, these rewards do not come from the customer in question, and it is the network “prints” new FIL tokens as a measure of inflation and as an incentive for miners to move on the chain.

**假如说Web1.0的本质是内容的聚合，那么Web2.0的本质就是内容的互动，它让用户更多地参与信息产品的创造、传播和分享，而这个过程是有价值的。**Web2.0的缺点是没有体现出用户的价值，Web2.0是脆弱的，纯粹的2.0 会在商业模式上遭遇重大挑战，需要跟具体的产业结合起来才会获得巨大的商业价值和商业成功。Web3.0是在Web2.0的基础上发展起来的能够更好地体现用户的劳动价值，并且能够实现价值均衡分配的一种方式。

简单例举一些应用，大家就应该能够明白：

Web 1.0 ：Yahoo、新浪、搜狐 （内容的聚合）

Web 2.0 ：Facebook、抖音、 知乎（内容的聚合和交互）

Web 3.0 ：区块链、物联网、人工智能（万物互联、价值回归）

本篇文章着重沿着区块链方向，列举一些更符合Web 3.0愿景的基础设施或项目。

价值交换物：BTC、USDX、算法稳定币、ETH

**BTC：**未来 Web3.0 时代最硬的通货，没有之一，这里无需过多解释。

**USDX：**最方便的「钱」，还是 USDX 系列，当前 USDT 和 USDC 两大巨头独领风骚。相对于USDT，美元稳定币 USDC 发行机构 Circle 宣布计划成为一家全国性的全储备商业银行和「数字货币银行」，将在美联储、美国财政部、OCC 和 FDIC 的监督和风险管理要求下运营。（说个题外话，小编本人还是希望未来有ANYX，美帝这块确实领先于我们，如果我们一如既往的反对和打压的话，未来结果会怎么样，大家都应该心知肚明）

**算法稳定币：**算法稳定币是非常吸引人的货币实验，其成功无可避免。从 AMPL，到 ESD，到 BAS，到 Frax，Fei，Bank，OHM……已经进化了好多代出来，经济学家弗里德里希·奥古斯特·冯·哈耶克在其 1976 年的杰作《货币非国家化》中写道：「我相信人类可以比历史上的黄金做得更好。政府无法做得更好。自由企业，例如从竞争过程中脱颖而出的机构，毫无疑问可以提供很好的货币，毫无疑问会的」。

**ETH：**在 ETH 党的眼里，ETH 才是终极货币，而不是 BTC，ETH 的总市值也早晚会超越 BTC。当然，在 BTC 党里，这属于「痴人说梦」……两边谁对谁错，下一轮牛市，大概率会见个分晓。

底层公链：ETH、DOT、Cosmos、Dfinity

**ETH：**不用多说，基本所有的「ETH 杀手」现在都是 ETH 朋友了，不是朋友的……已经被遗忘了，这年头你不兼容个 EVM，还怎么混？

**DOT：**区块链界 Web3.0 的概念就是 Gavin 博士几年前提出的，ETH 也是他和 V 神一起做出来的，波卡自然在 Web3.0 中占据着一席之地。从范式角度，波卡还是智能合约平台的范畴。它在以太坊的生态之下会走向何方？是超越以太坊？还是成为以太坊的重要补充？这取决于开发者、社区和公链自身的演化。以太坊的Layer 2、分片能否在未来扮演重要角色，Layer 2之间、分片之间如何实现互通？以太坊的可扩展之路是否顺利？波卡的跨链模式是否是更好的路径，是否能够赢得开发者的青睐？这些问题，可能要到下个牛市才能看清了。

**Cosmos：**和波卡主打类似的概念，但完全不同的风格，波卡是 ETH2.0 的共享安全体系，Cosmos 则是完全开放的 IBC 通信协议，孰优孰劣，同样得穿越一轮牛熊，下个周期见分晓。

Dfinity: Dfinity 的上线可以说是把公链赛道最后的大门焊死了，在 ETH2.0 尽可能的往树莓派去中心化努力时，Dfinity 以数据中心和专有硬件的设计惊艳了圈内一票人，那流畅的速度，丝滑的体验……让我们看到了 DApp 复活的希望。

Dfinity 是与当前主流区块链思路完全不同的设计，所以大概率不会和其他项目打个你死我活，圈内很多大佬看好未来 Web3.0，ETH 做大后端，Dfinity 做大前端，两者相亲相爱，你中有我我中有你……

存储：Filecoin、Storj、AR、Crust

如果说 Web3.0 两条腿，上面的公链是负责计算的那条腿的话，那另一条腿非存储莫属。

**Filecoin：**都 2021 年了，就别再把 IPFS 协议和 Filecoin 混为一谈了，当然，你可以把 Filecoin 理解成 IPFS 的官方应用，其他的就当 OEM 好了。 

Filecoin 无疑是 Web3 存储里面最为重要且目前看起来发展得最好的一个项目，而且经常和另一个项目 Storj 拿出来作对比，Storj 更偏向商用，Filecoin 更加通用，Storj 最早不支持 IPFS，但是和众多「以太坊杀手」最早不兼容 EVM，发现打不过，还不如加入 EVM 阵营做 ETH 朋友一样， Storj 现在也支持 IPFS 了。

但很多人不知道的是，Filecoin 是封装数据就给奖励，现在封装的也基本都是垃圾数据，理念是先把网络做大了再说。Storj 是只有你存储真实有效的数据且被调用了，才给你奖励，导致在国内基本回不了本，国外也异常缓慢，在拓展市场和奖励方面完全是两个思路。 

**AR：**主打永存。AR 的技术实现和 Filecoin 完全不一样，存储方式也不一样，毕竟是「一次付费，永久存储」，乍一听有那么点天方夜谭的样子，但你仔细研究，还是颇具可能性的，所以也有人把 AR 看做是链上的亚历山大图书馆。

**Crust：**基于波卡的明星存储项目，你可以把它看成波卡上面的 Filecoin，也支持 IPFS，但是技术实现和 Filecoin 完全不一样，Filecoin 需要大量的计算成本和硬件成本，基本都是走机房和数据中心路线，Crust 则是对硬件要求低很多，个人电脑和服务器都可以跑。

网络：NKN，HNT

Web3.0 网络本身也可以去中心化，但这并不会取代互联网，这是对现有的一种有效补充而已。所以今后要有谁说，哪个区块链网络项目能干掉互联网某某巨头，就想想吧。

NKN 建立在已有的互联网上，目的是「激励互联网用户共享网络连接并利用未使用的带宽」，挖矿也容易得多，普通电脑或者树莓派就能挖，之前默默无闻，上半年上了 coinbase 之后突然就火了。

HNT 则是利用低功率传输设备，通过天线建立一个完全独立于互联网的网络，被戏称「People’s Network」（人民的网络），用电波挖矿。

不过最近出了一个瓜，重庆有个HNT矿场，产量极其高，据说运用了“高科技”，然后某参与国人眼红了，直接举报给了官方。结果，官方也给力，没办法也找不到解决办法，直接将国内ip或者说国内这一型号的矿机，直接全体减产减产再减产。这一波操作坑了全体中国矿工，这下好了，都赚不到钱了，万恶的嫉妒心。所以还是中国的老话说得好：闷声发大财。扯远了，下面继续说……

中间件：Link、GRT、Mask

Web3.0 和 2.0 一个很大的差别在于，很难产生垄断，因为可分叉与可组合型。然而中间件可能是个例外，比如大家最为熟悉的 Link。 

**Link ：**不用多说了，基本上所有的区块链项目，尤其是 DeFi 相关的，都得和 Link 合作，毕竟要和现实世界产生交互，预言机就是你最不可或缺的中间件。

**GRT：**Graph是去中心化协议，用于索引和查询区块链数据，应用于以太坊。Graph使数据查询变得简单易操作。任何人都可以构建和发布开放的API，也就是子图，使数据易于访问。因为GRT能够把链上数据带回链下，因此又被称之为“反向预言机”。

**Mask ：**Mask Network目标是成为Web 2.0和Web 3.0的桥梁总和，不过目前还处于较为早期的阶段。和一些项目的不同之处在于，Mask Network并不会直接去尝试“颠覆”现有的中心化巨头，而是以提供工具的形式，给予现有巨头平台（如Twitter、Facebook）的海量用户多一个选择。它希望通过这样的方式，能更顺畅地将用户从Web 2.0迁移到Web 3.0时代。。

隐私与身份：Horizen、DID

这里的隐私，不是指匿名 Token，而是链上或者说 Web3.0 行为的整体隐私性。这是目前还得引起重视的一个赛道，毕竟 Web3 的概念才出来没多久，DeFi 之类的应用用户还不够多，隐私这种事情，大家还没有太在乎。

但其实一些专业的 DeFi 农民，尤其是大户和鲸鱼，是非常在意隐私的，当前区块链这种链上完全透明，「不穿衣服」的行为，让他们很是别扭。专门做隐私的链，Horizen 可能是最早的一个，且是灰度宠儿，同时还是节点最多的一条链。

然而因为是自成体系，完全游离在 ETH 和 EVM 框架之外，导致目前存在感很低，感觉未来有可能更多依靠灰度的优势主打商业隐私侧链。

而去中心化身份（DID）可以说是 Web3.0 最为重要的一环之一，不光是 Web3.0 也好元宇宙也罢，我们到时候一定会需要一个 ID 来代表我们自己，并和链下的自己产生关联。

当前，大家的链上身份说白了就是 ETH 地址，这种方式无疑过于简陋，然而这个赛道甚至比隐私还要早，连一个可以被称之为龙头的项目都没有，目前只能想到老牌的 CVC，新生代的 Litentry 这几个。

换句话说，除非将来万链归一，否则多链宇宙共存的前提下，做一个统一的链上身份系统，本身就是一件「几乎不可能完成的任务」，身份这一块，只能边走边看了。