Filecoin (FIL) is a decentralized storage system that aims to store a variety of information. It is an open protocol supported by a blockchain that records commitments made by the network's participants, with transactions made using FIL, the blockchain's native currency. Filecoin is open-source and aims to be decentralized, with governance in the hands of the community. The platform provides an opportunity for developers to create cloud file storage services. FIL, Filecoin's native currency, powers the entire network and all processes. Clients exchange transactions in FIL tokens, and miners place FIL as collateral, guaranteeing their services. Filecoin seeks to address the challenge of inefficient file storage and retrieval by providing an efficient set of tools and its core development, IPFS.

Filecoin operates through a system involving three parties: clients, storage miners, and retrieval miners. Clients exchange for storing or retrieving data, placing an order on the online storage market where a deal is concluded with storage miners. Storage miners store the client’s data and are compensated. They place files in free sectors of a hard drive, all actions are recorded in the blockchain, and clients receive private keys. Retrieval miners extract data at a client's request. Clients place a trade on the off-chain Retrieval Market. Filecoin is based on IPFS where all data is stored on a peer-to-peer blockchain. Users choose miners to store personal data and exchange for placement in FIL tokens. Miners execute trades, receive participation fees and FIL compensation. The more storage miners offer, the higher the chances of getting compensated.

Filecoin can be used in a variety of ways. It can serve as a decentralized storage network for personal files, app data, company files, public datasets, private data, websites, videos, and dapp websites. It can also be used for data exchange, allowing users to sell data on the network, facilitating data exchanges and markets. Filecoin can also be used for storing data for distributed ledgers and applications, supply chains, and more. It can also serve as a system where Filecoin tokens can be exchanged for goods and services and transferred between users. Furthermore, it can be used for time-stamping, providing a service for storing large amounts of data for long periods of time.

Filecoin was founded by Juan Benet, who also created the Interplanetary File System. Benet is an American computer scientist who studied at Stanford University. After founding Protocol Labs in May 2014, he attended Y Combinator in the summer of 2014 with the intention of supporting both IPFS and Filecoin, as well as other projects. The project accumulated $205 million in an initial coin offering (ICO) in 2017. The project was first described back in 2014 as an incentive layer for the Interplanetary File System (IPFS), a peer-to-peer storage network.