Background
It is estimated that people create around 1.145 trillion MB (megabyte) of data PER DAY. As society relies more and more on digital data to work, study, socialize and shop, especially with the emergence of 5G and other technologies such as the internet of things (IoT), data storage needs are expected to increase exponentially.

Currently, Amazon Web Services (AWS) has 32% of the world’s cloud storage market, while Microsoft Azure has 19%, which means that 51% of the world’s data storage is held on the servers of two companies. Having so much of the world’s data on centralized servers will continue to lead to more and more server outages and data hacks that are becoming more common today.

What is Filecoin?
Filecoin is similar to Dropbox but powered by blockchains. It was created to provide a faster, cheaper, and more reliable distributed infrastructure for storing and retrieving data. Filecoin is based on blockchain protocol using Inter-Planetary File System (IPFS) technology to create decentralized data storage. Filecoin and IPFS are two complementary data systems, both created by Protocol Labs.

The Filecoin network will create an unlimited number of cloud providers and developers who provide robust and reliable data storage. Filecoin’s peer-to-peer network is much more efficient and secure than centralized servers that are under corporate control. Filecoin’s network also achieves staggering economies of scale by allowing anyone to participate as a storage provider and compete for cloud storage business.

Filecoin is more than a network; the protocol lays the groundwork for a market economy built around a marketplace for the storage and retrieval of data.

How Does Filecoin Work?
If you have extra storage and computing power, you may provide the space to others for a fee - while those seeking data storage may be willing to pay for storage services. Aligning the two prices would result in a deal (i.e., a market-clearing transaction). Creating a marketplace allows consumers and providers to come together and express how much they value commodities.

In a global digital marketplace, it is necessary to choose at least one valid currency for transactions. Because Filecoin is a permissionless market with cryptographically verifiable goods, design constraints could only be satisfied with a native token, the filecoin (FIL). This token acts as a medium of exchange, facilitating transactions and production activities, somewhat similar to the in-game currencies of virtual economies in multiplayer online games.

In the Filecoin Economy, there are three distinct markets; storage market, data retrieval, and token exchange. In the storage market, storage miners offer to rent out digital storage that will be verified by the Filecoin Network. Conversely, storage clients offer FIL to have their data stored. This storage is priced based on the amount of storage space used and the duration of the contract in time. There is a retrieval market, where clients pay FIL to retrieval miners to provide them with a copy of the data. Lastly, token exchanges enable participants to put FIL in the hands of clients, miners, and other token holders.

Filecoin’s digital storage market is what makes it different from other digital currencies. Filecoin miners perform several computationally intensive processes (called proofs) to prove they are storing the data they claim to be storing and they’re doing it reliably.
Filecoin mining doesn’t require massive, specialized hardware. Cloud Rush has mining plans that start at 16 terabytes and are available at very affordable prices.
Now is a great time to get into the Filecoin mining business. Contact Cloud Rush, 626-779-2286 or ConsultCR@CloudRush.io TODAY to learn how you can begin to mine Filecoin tokens.