As the blockchain industry develops, the range of services offered by blockchain projects is expanding. Of course, it was only a matter of time before blockchain developers got to the cloud storage market. It's a growing segment, and given the speed at which data is being created, it makes sense that the need for additional storage space continues to grow.

On top of that, established data storage solutions are centralised and, therefore, vulnerable to attacks. Until recently, cloud storage services were the domain of big companies that own large centralised data warehouses. One project aimed at competing against the monopoly of cloud server companies is Filecoin. In this article, we'll explore this project, the associated FIL cryptocurrency, and their future.

What is Filecoin (FIL)?

Filecoin is a decentralised file storage protocol that allows users to rent out disk space and get paid for it in Filecoin (FIL) cryptocurrency. People who purchase storage space can get it at a very competitive price compared to centralised cloud services. This technology should create a global market for disk space.

Unlike cloud storage, where storage companies can control the information stored and act as an intermediary, Filecoin uses a decentralised architecture that returns control over data to users, protecting the data's integrity and making it easier to retrieve data and prevent censorship.

Examples of data that you can use Filecoin to store are:

• Personal files
• Company files
• Personal information
• Application files
• Website hosting
• Protected databases

Filecoin's origins

Development on the Filecoin project began back in 2014. In the fall of 2017, the project raised $257M through an Initial Coin Offering (ICO), one of the largest in crypto market history.

Filecoin was created by Protocol Labs, an American software company that aims to develop technologies for Web 3.0, the next generation of the decentralised Internet. Other significant projects from Protocol Labs are the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) and libp2p protocols. Juan Benet, an American computer scientist, is the founder and CEO of Protocol Labs.

Initially, the launch of Filecoin's mainnet was slated for early 2019, but it was postponed several times due to development difficulties. It finally launched on 15 October 2020, and the project's coin was immediately listed on the market's largest cryptocurrency exchanges.

Filecoin's features

Filecoin is a decentralised storage market — think of it like Airbnb for cloud storage — where anybody with extra hard drive space can sell it on the network. — Juan Benet

The Filecoin network is built on IPFS, a distributed storage system that connects a network of peer-to-peer nodes. Each node, in turn, stores only a fraction of the entire system's shared files. As such, IPFS provides data storage, and the Filecoin network allows users to rent out available space on a computer's hard drive in exchange for a reward in FIL cryptocurrency.

Miners play a key role in keeping the Filecoin network up and running. Decentralised storage users pay Filecoin to miners to store, retrieve and distribute data. The size of miners' commissions is determined by the supply and demand for data storage and the user-selected transfer rate.

There are two types of miners on the Filеcoin network:

1. Storage miners provide their hard drives for user data. The probability of getting a block reward depends on the amount of disk space the miner provides to the network, not on the hashing power.
2. Retrieval miners extract and provide files to users outside of the Filecoin blockchain.

Here's how the Filecoin network functions. Customers place a storage claim at a specified price with a specific replication factor in the Storage Market. There, they agree to a deal with storage miners and transfer their hashed data to those miners. Storage miners place files on their disk space, which is recorded in the blockchain. The client is then provided with private keys to the files. To ensure a higher level of security, user files are stored simultaneously by several miners. Miners add a deposit to the system, which they can lose if the Internet connection is broken or they can't confirm the data storage.

To receive the data back, the client places an order on the Retrieval Market and concludes a deal with the receiving miner, who returns the data for a fee.

Filecoin uses two unique consensus algorithms to ensure that miners comply with the network's rules:

1. Proof-of-Spacetime is what happens when generating a block: the network verifies that the miner actually stores data for the required period of time.
2. Proof-of-Replication confirms that miners keep the stated number of file copies.

Filecoin is a token with fundamental value. Filecoin is like Bitcoin, but miners amass hard drives instead of hashing computers. — Juan Benet

FIL tokens are the Filecoin network's native cryptocurrency. Network participants use them to make payments and receive rewards.

Filecoin (FIL) price analysis

At the time of writing, the FIL token ranked 34th among cryptocurrencies by market capitalisation at $1,705,316,364.

FIL price statistics (as of 20/03/22)

FIL price history

Although the token has existed since the fall of 2017, it was only listed on large exchanges after its mainnet launched in October 2020. As such, there were insignificant trading volumes until the mainnet launch date. Throughout most of this period, the price remained between $2 and $10. Only in the summer of 2020 did the price pass the $10 threshold, from which it continued to rise until the mainnet launched.

Filecoin price prediction 2020

After being listed on major crypto exchanges, the token's price rose sharply but quickly corrected and then moved sideways in the range between $27.30 and $35.00. This lasted until 21 December, when the price broke through the support level. After that, it moved sideways in the range of $20.00-$25.00. By the end of the year, the price was $24.33.

Filecoin price prediction 2021

Filecoin opened around $24 in 2021 and consolidated sideways until February, when it too was carried along by the growth that stormed the crypto market. Within the first three months into the new year, FIL had grown by almost 1000% to set a new all-time high at $237.24. Unlike other mainstream cryptocurrencies, FIL didn't sustain that growth spurt for longer. It fell hard, and by July, it had lost more than 80% of the recorded growth to set a yearly low of around $40.

FIL/USDT price chart

FIL technical analysis

The current trend for FIL's price is overwhelmingly bearish. The correction after FIL's price peak was huge, which should generally mean good news for investors who were late to invest in it. But the price action in the last few months hasn't inspired many. A brief rally took gains to over 100% in late July, breaking through some local daily highs. However, since then, FIL has lost over 80% of those gains as of early September 2022. All these things considered, there is general uncertainty about price directions for the coming days. Any more bearish pressure and Filecoin may move to the support level at $2.50.

Filecoin (FIL) price prediction for 2022, 2023, 2025 and 2030

Well-known crypto experts couldn't ignore a cryptocurrency as popular as Filecoin. Let's take a look at what they think about its future.

Trading Beasts' FIL price prediction for 2022, 2023, 2025 and 2030

Trading Beasts predict a slow decline in FIL's price until 2024, after which it will begin to rise steadily. By the end of 2025, they predict the price will have traded as high as $42.63.

WalletInvestor's FIL price prediction for 2022, 2023, 2025 and 2030

WalletInvestor is also quite bearish with its predictions for the coming years. According to their estimates, the token will fall by over 93% before the end of 2023 and may stabilise around $0.397. They expect this trend to continue in the future and have even predicted the token may eventually crash.

Long Forecast's FIL price prediction for 2022, 2023, 2025 and 2030

Long Forecast agrees with Trading Beasts that Filecoin's price may keep trending lower. They predict that the token's value will fall to $1.48 by the end of 2023 but will not recover meaningfully above $2 throughout 2026 when their prediction ends. That's not a very good outlook for Filecoin.

DigitalCoinPrice's FIL price prediction for 2022, 2023, 2025 and 2030

DigitalCoinPrice has the most optimistic price prediction yet. They predict that FIL will be valued at around $8.00 by the end of 2022. They also forecast that growth from 2022 to 2026 will be minimal. However, they believe that, by 2030, the token will be worth more than $100.

Filecoin (FIL) overall future value predictions in general

Data storage is a promising and growing market, and Filecoin has many advantages over its competitors in the industry. In addition, experienced developers are working on the project, and fairly large investors have invested in it.

However, don't forget that the project has serious competitors, both centralised and decentralised, who were early comers to this market and are unlikely to sit idly by. Unfavourable circumstances in the crypto market can cause the token's price to drop, even if everything is going well for the project itself.

Will Filecoin go up?

We think this is quite possible even if the crypto market is currently bearish. Most crypto experts also believe that the token will grow in value in the future if the crypto market turns bullish again.

How high can FIL go?

Given the uncertain development of events in the world right now, it is difficult to give a specific figure. It may be some time before Filecoin reaches its current all-time high or even sets a new one.

Filecoin price prediction today

Right now, the token's price is in a downtrend, but there are signs of a possible reversal. Things are generally uncertain from the point of view of price action, so caution is advised.