Launched in October 2020, Filecoin is a peer-to-peer network that enables the secure storage of files on the internet. Simply put, it is a decentralized protocol that allows anyone to rent out spare storage space on their computer in exchange for FIL. On the other hand, it also offers the opportunity for individuals to purchase storage space on the network.
Filecoin aims to create a vast source of data storage by allowing anyone with internet access to join the network. Being decentralized, Filecoin does not have centralized control over available storage spaces and service pricing. Instead, it offers open markets where everyone can participate in file storage transactions.
The Filecoin network enables anyone to join as a storage provider, allowing them to earn money from their open hard disk space. The network is designed to reward participants at various levels, from large-scale data centers to local entrepreneurs with mining rigs.

The Filecoin network is a distributed, peer-to-peer network created by different participating Filecoin peers. Peers communicate over secure channels to distribute information (gossip), transfer data among themselves, and discover other peers, maintaining a well-connected process for rapid information flow, such as blocks or messages.
Filecoin nodes or Filecoin clients are peers that validate messages in each block, synchronizing the Filecoin Blockchain and providing a global state when implemented. Nodes can manage Filecoin wallets and receive FIL.
Filecoin clients and other miners continuously validate the proofs contained in each block, ensuring security and penalizing miners who fail to honor their agreements.

In Filecoin, miners earn FIL through storage contracts. The way storage miners (storage miners) earn Filecoin is based on the principle of computing cryptographic proofs to verify storage over time for clients. Miners provide service to the network by running different types of contracts and adding new blocks every 30 seconds, collecting FIL rewards.
From a user's perspective, users pay miners for storing their files. Storage miners are computers responsible for storing files and proving they have correctly stored the files over time. Anyone wanting to store their files or earn money by storing others' files can join Filecoin. Available storage and its price are not controlled by a single company. Instead, Filecoin facilitates open markets for storing and retrieving files where everyone can participate.
Mining configurations range from desktop computers to large racks with disks and computing power. The more storage space added, the more Filecoin is earned.
Miners in the Filecoin network are responsible for storing, providing content, and publishing new blocks. Filecoin miners contribute to creating a more open, flexible, and reliable internet by decentralizing and democratizing the way data is stored on the web.

In Filecoin, earning block rewards and transaction fees is proportional to the amount of storage contributed to the Filecoin network, not the miner's hash power. Through the Filecoin deal market, miners are rewarded for quickly delivering content.
Filecoin uses a blockchain and its native cryptocurrency, FIL, for transactions. Storage miners earn FIL for storing files. The Filecoin Blockchain records transactions and proofs that storage miners have correctly stored the files. Users can verify that their files are correctly stored at any time by checking the proofs on the Filecoin Blockchain.

There are two types of deals in Filecoin: storage deals and retrieval deals.
Storage deals are agreements between clients and storage miners to store some data on the network. Once a deal is initiated and the miner receives the data to store, it will repeatedly prove on the chain that it still holds the data according to the agreement, or else the miner will lose FIL.
Retrieval deals are agreements between clients and retrieval miners to extract data stored on the network. Unlike storage deals, these deals are conducted off-chain using payment channels to progressively pay for the retrieved data.
Storage miners must prove they are keeping the data according to the terms of the deal. Therefore, they must store all data sent by the client throughout the duration of the agreement.

Filecoin promises several advantages over centralized data storage solutions. These advantages include:
Cost: It will lower the price by creating a larger free market for data storage.
Scale: It will create a massive storage network by bringing together millions of computers worldwide.
Economy: It uses existing resources instead of creating new storage computers.
Security: A decentralized network is more secure because it does not have a single point of attack.

While Filecoin has advantages, there are also some disadvantages. Storing documents in pieces across different servers, instead of on a single server, requires access to multiple servers when the documents are requested. Therefore, the completion of the process depends on the servers being online and on internet speeds, which can create a disadvantage in terms of speed.

Saving your documents on someone else's computer is always risky, but since Filecoin stores data in pieces across different locations, no one can piece it together. Only Filecoin knows how to reassemble the data when requested, so anyone trying to hack into the stored data will only find a meaningless stream of data.

Including transactions or proofs in the chain consumes both computational and storage resources on the network. Gas represents a measure of the resources consumed. The gas consumed by a message directly affects the cost the sender has to pay for a miner to include it in a new block.
In other blockchains, miners specify a gas fee in the native currency and then pay a priority fee to the miners producing the block, depending on how much gas the transaction consumed. Filecoin works similarly, except for burning a certain amount of fees (sending to an unrecoverable address) to compensate for the network's resource expenditure, as all nodes need to validate transactions. The general idea is based on Ethereum's EIP1559.
The amount of fees burned in the Filecoin network is given by a dynamic BaseFee that is automatically adjusted according to network congestion parameters (block sizes).
Additionally, a set of parameters related to gas is attached to every message, determining the amount of reward miners will receive.

The maximum supply of Filecoin is set at 2,000,000,000 FIL. The current circulating supply is 101,504,447 FIL.