Filecoin is a decentralized storage system, which goal is to ‘store humanity’s most important information’. It’s an open protocol backed by a blockchain that records commitments made by the network’s participants. The blockchain is secured by proof-of-replication and proof-of-spacetime. Transactions on the blockchain are made using FIL, Filecoin’s native currency.

Decentralized storages aim to make data easily accessible (simpler to retrieve and harder to censor). Filecoin has a storage market and a retrieval market. In the storage market, nodes called storage miners compete for contracts to provide clients with custody of files. The data is then added to a unit of storage called sector and is sealed. The storage miners are paid in deal fees. In the retrieval market, nodes known as retrieval miners compete to serve files to clients as quickly as possible. They earn rewards through small FIL fees.

Important: please note that FIL deposits and withdrawals are currently not supported. You can exchange and store FIL. If you'd like to receive or send it, you'll have to first exchange it for a currency which supports crypto deposits and withdrawals – you can always check with the list in this article.

In compliance with the Financial Promotion Act which came into force on 8 October, 2023, at 8 AM UTC, some account functionality is temporarily limited for the Cryptopay customers with verified UK residency.
Check what services are available: Service availability in the UK

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