Recently a lot of people have asked about the differences between ThreeFold and IPFS and/or Filecoin.
Let’s start with IPFS. IPFS (InterPlanetary File System) is a protocol and peer-to-peer network for storing and sharing data in a distributed file system. IPFS uses content-addressing to uniquely identify each file in a global namespace connecting all computing devices. Simply put it is a distributed storage protocol.
Filecoin uses IPFS as a baseline protocol and a blockchain to create a decentralized network of storage providers remunerated according to the storage they provide to the network. Filecoin can store anything from data files to archives.
Where Filecoin could do better, is that they replicate their files several times on their network, meaning files are duplicated - making it quite inefficient. Nevertheless, Filecoin represents a good platform for people looking for decentralized storage.
Where ThreeFold truly differentiates itself from the rest of the blockchain projects, is that we started from scratch at the operating system level to enable a more secure, efficient, and sustainable global internet. The whole ThreeFold infrastructure was designed to flip today’s data center model and enable a peer-to-peer Internet owned by the people.
With ThreeFold, you can do all that is possible on Filecoin and IPFS, and actually way more, as all storage tools and protocols were made compatible with Zero-Knowledge Proof Filesystem. Also, Files are not duplicated, but split into shards and distributed across the ThreeFold Grid. So even in the unlikely case that someone hacks into the hardware (Which by the way is almost impossible due to Threefold’s architecture), they would only find an equation instead of the file itself.
And that’s only for storage. ThreeFold is also developing a peer-to-peer compute solution. We already integrated with Kubernetes and Docker - the most used developer tools for container orchestration. It provides the agility to create and deploy containers on the edge and allows for micro-services architectures with automation frameworks executed via Helm Scripts. Any IT developer working with those standards to deploy their IT workloads on the ThreeFold Peer2Peer Cloud in the format they already use today.
While IPFS, Filecoin, and ThreeFold share the same vision for peer-to-peer systems for the world and the next generation developers, ThreeFold is building the most complete infrastructure in the decentralized space. Actually, Filecoin and IPFS would be able to improve their efficiency, security, and scalability if using ThreeFold’s infrastructure instead of data centers (Filecoin) and people’s devices (IPFS).
What do you think about what IPFS and Filecoin are doing? Do you see the difference between them and ThreeFold? Is it clear? Would love to hear your feedback below!