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What Sets Us Apart: Filecoin’s Proof System

filecoin.io

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Re: What Sets Us Apart: Filecoin’s Proof System

#2
Like so many cryptocurrency projects, Filecoin just seems like a solution in search of a problem more than anything else. What exact problem is Filecoin trying to solve that's not possible with current infrastructure? It seems like the decentralization adds a lot of overhead and complexity for no benefit.

The main argument that I hear is that somehow Filecoin will be cheaper than centralized competitors. However, services such as Backblaze are already quite efficient. Why exactly would costs be cheaper and why can't Backblaze do those same things and overtake Filecoin?

Re: What Sets Us Apart: Filecoin’s Proof System

#3

Like so many cryptocurrency projects, Filecoin just seems like a solution in search of a problem more than anything else. What exact problem is Filecoin trying to solve that's not possible with current infrastructure? It seems like the decentralization adds a lot of overhead and complexity for no benefit. The main argument that I hear is that somehow Filecoin will be cheaper than centralized competitors. However, ser…

They needed to compensate providers of storage for IPFS. The challenge is how to prove that a provider has your block and that they aren't double dipping, ie claiming redundancy when they only are storing one copy.

Re: What Sets Us Apart: Filecoin’s Proof System

#4

Like so many cryptocurrency projects, Filecoin just seems like a solution in search of a problem more than anything else. What exact problem is Filecoin trying to solve that's not possible with current infrastructure? It seems like the decentralization adds a lot of overhead and complexity for no benefit. The main argument that I hear is that somehow Filecoin will be cheaper than centralized competitors. However, ser…

Presumably they think decentralization is a benefit in its own right.

Re: What Sets Us Apart: Filecoin’s Proof System

#5

Like so many cryptocurrency projects, Filecoin just seems like a solution in search of a problem more than anything else. What exact problem is Filecoin trying to solve that's not possible with current infrastructure? It seems like the decentralization adds a lot of overhead and complexity for no benefit. The main argument that I hear is that somehow Filecoin will be cheaper than centralized competitors. However, ser…

Technical complexity isn't the only dimension.

Surveillance capitalism and privatized censorship are byproducts of data centralization.

Cryptocurrency has a political aspect. Why view it only through a lens of technical complexity?

Re: What Sets Us Apart: Filecoin’s Proof System

#6

Like so many cryptocurrency projects, Filecoin just seems like a solution in search of a problem more than anything else. What exact problem is Filecoin trying to solve that's not possible with current infrastructure? It seems like the decentralization adds a lot of overhead and complexity for no benefit. The main argument that I hear is that somehow Filecoin will be cheaper than centralized competitors. However, ser…

If a decentralized system is using spare resources that are literally free it could theoretically be cheaper than a business that pays for hardware. It will be interesting to see if that works in practice.

Re: What Sets Us Apart: Filecoin’s Proof System

#7
post #3

Like so many cryptocurrency projects, Filecoin just seems like a solution in search of a problem more than anything else. What exact problem is Filecoin trying to solve that's not possible with current infrastructure? It seems like the decentralization adds a lot of overhead and complexity for no benefit. The main argument that I hear is that somehow Filecoin will be cheaper than centralized competitors. However, ser…

They needed to compensate providers of storage for IPFS. The challenge is how to prove that a provider has your block and that they aren't double dipping, ie claiming redundancy when they only are storing one copy.

That's pretty neat. I wonder if similar could be achieved for processing power. Distribted hosting ftw.

Re: What Sets Us Apart: Filecoin’s Proof System

#8
post #3

Like so many cryptocurrency projects, Filecoin just seems like a solution in search of a problem more than anything else. What exact problem is Filecoin trying to solve that's not possible with current infrastructure? It seems like the decentralization adds a lot of overhead and complexity for no benefit. The main argument that I hear is that somehow Filecoin will be cheaper than centralized competitors. However, ser…

They needed to compensate providers of storage for IPFS. The challenge is how to prove that a provider has your block and that they aren't double dipping, ie claiming redundancy when they only are storing one copy.

Exactly. IPFS has millions of end users and hundreds of apps storing data on the decentralized network, creating demand for decentralized persistence of that data. Current solution is to either run your own IPFS node or pay a pinning service to run a node persisting your IPFS data for you - but even better to have a highly resilient marketplace of storage nodes that can store redundant copies!

Re: What Sets Us Apart: Filecoin’s Proof System

#9
post #7
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They needed to compensate providers of storage for IPFS. The challenge is how to prove that a provider has your block and that they aren't double dipping, ie claiming redundancy when they only are storing one copy.

That's pretty neat. I wonder if similar could be achieved for processing power. Distribted hosting ftw.

that's what https://golem.network/ is trying to do.

Re: What Sets Us Apart: Filecoin’s Proof System

#10
Filecoin's Proof of Replication sounds similar to Valueflo.ws and Holochain's asset backed currencies. Let's go full distributed computing and use mutual credit while we're at it. Otherwise we're just going to carry forward the broken dynamics and assumptions of the current economy.
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