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IPFS is distinct from filecoin. IPFS works, although performance might be an issue for rarely-requested files since most of them (file blocks) will require mul
by harshreality 5y ago
IPFS is distinct from filecoin.
IPFS works, although performance might be an issue for rarely-requested files since most of them (file blocks) will require multiple hops to get to. If the file's stored on some reliable ipfs node(s), anywhere, you'll be able to access that file eventually.
Filecoin, however noble it may be, doesn't seem to be taking off (yet). IPFS doesn't currently work very well as a storage service because there's no guaranteed storage by others. Even if filecoin achieved mass adoption, you'd have to pay someone to host your files to get reliable 3rd party storage, and that offered fee might not be adequate motivation.
IPFS works perfectly well, though, for hosting file(s) yourself without the risk of getting your network link saturated if popularity of the file(s) increases a lot. As an auto-scaling CDN, it works great, though with poor performance for rarely accessed files. The solution to the file storage problem, it seems to me, is to integrate existing CDNs with ipfs, to allow fast serving of rarely-accessed files for low cost, and then cease serving it from the CDN once a file is popular enough that it's getting duplicated by a bunch of IPFS nodes for free. Maybe cloudflare can plug that rarely-accessed-file gap and offer file access, integrated with ipfs, at zero hosting cost.