Filecoin is a distributed storage network powered by cryptocurrency and backed by cryptographic proofs. The keystone of this course is a tutorial exploring how Filecoin's built-in verification methods make it possbile to trust peers in an incentivized, decentralized file storage system. Lessons focus on the unique cryptographic proofs that set Filecoin apart from other blockchains: Proof of Replication (PoRep), in which storage miners prove that they're physically storing a unique copy of the client's data, and Proof of Spacetime (PoSt), which proves that they're continuing to dedicate storage space to that same data over time. In other tutorials, we'll learn the basics of content addressing and cryptographic hashing, key building blocks of the decentralized web, and take a deep dive into the properties of CIDs (Content Identifiers), the unique labels used to point to data stored on distributed information systems including IPFS, Filecoin, libp2p, and IPLD.
ProtoSchool's self-guided interactive tutorials are designed to introduce you to decentralized web concepts, protocols, and tools. The tutorials in this course on Filecoin offer a code-free experience with text-based lessons and multiple-choice quizzes. We recommend proceeding through the tutorials in the order in which they're presented.