Layer 1 blockchain
Filecoin ticker FIL
Summary
Expected Consensus. Every 30-second epoch, storage providers holding at least 10 TiB of proven storage power run a secret, verifiable leader election seeded by the drand randomness beacon; the chance of winning is proportional to quality-adjusted storage power, and about five winners are expected per epoch. Each winner must submit a WinningPoSt storage proof, and all valid blocks with the same parents form one tipset. Power comes from sectors sealed with Proof-of-Replication and kept alive by WindowPoSt proofs across a 24-hour proving period; providers also lock FIL as pledge collateral that is slashed for faults. Since F3 activated on mainnet in April 2025, providers holding at least two thirds of power sign certificates that finalize tipsets. 12389182021
Design
- System
- Layer 1 blockchainPermissionless layer 1 whose chain is a sequence of tipsets (groups of same-height blocks) rather than single blocks. Its consensus weight comes from proven storage, so it is a storage network with its own chain, not a layer on another chain. The Filecoin EVM runtime makes it EVM-compatible, but consensus and native state are Filecoin's own.
- Settlement family
- Its own design
- Scarce resource
- Other
- State model
- Accounts
- Finality
- Checkpointed
- Who makes blocks
- Storage providers (miner actors) that meet the network's 10 TiB minimum storage power, elected in proportion to their quality-adjusted power. Zero, one or several can win in an epoch; winners stay anonymous until they publish a block.
- Fork choice
- Heaviest chain of tipsets, where weight grows with blocks and storage power. Since F3, nodes never reorganize a tipset covered by a finality certificate; if F3 stalls, Expected Consensus keeps producing blocks with its older 900-epoch (7.5-hour) soft-finality rule.
Qualifications
- Scarce resource · Partial. Recorded as other. Consensus power comes from proven storage kept alive by proofs over time, which is why Filecoin calls its proof Proof-of-Spacetime. Providers must also lock FIL as pledge collateral that is slashed for faults. The reviewed Filecoin consensus sources describe no verifiable delay function, and sectors hold either client data or random filler data.
- Finality · Partial. Two layers apply. F3 certificates signed by providers with at least two thirds of power finalize tipsets, designed to take tens of seconds. Without F3, settlement is probabilistic with a 900-epoch soft-finality rule. Filecoin's performance page still calls 120 blocks (one hour) a conservative number of confirmations for high-value transfers, advice that may predate F3.
- Block interval · Partial. Epochs are 30 seconds, but an epoch can contain zero, one or several blocks (about five expected), grouped into a tipset. The Ethereum-compatible interfaces of the Filecoin EVM runtime report a tipset as one block.
- Staking · Not applicable. FIL is not delegated to validators. Products described as FIL staking are smart-contract pools that lend FIL to storage providers for collateral; they carry contract and borrower risk rather than protocol delegation.
- Quality adjusted power · Partial. Verified Filecoin Plus deals have multiplied a sector's power by ten. FIP-0118 (Solstice) would instead give every new sector full power and split block rewards with service operators; it is scheduled on the Calibration testnet for 28 September 2026, with no mainnet date yet.
- Tps · Unknown. No sourced, classified throughput figure for Filecoin was found, so none is recorded. Filecoin's own performance page says reliable network benchmarks are highly non-trivial and describes timings for deals and sealing rather than a transaction rate.
- Settlement family · Partial. Recorded as other: Filecoin settles under its own protocol, Expected Consensus over tipsets with state in the Filecoin Virtual Machine. Its EVM runtime makes it EVM-compatible, but consensus and native state are Filecoin's own.
Tradeoffs
- Emphasizes
- Security and Decentralization
- Gives up
- Base-layer speed and throughput: epochs are 30 seconds, chosen partly to limit hardware needs, and settlement relied on a 7.5-hour soft-finality window until F3 arrived in 2025. Block production is also far from home-scale, since it needs 10 TiB of sealed storage, proof hardware and locked FIL.Security here means an attacker needs both storage hardware and pledged FIL. Decentralization means any provider above the power minimum can join and every valid block in an epoch is rewarded; it does not mean home-runnable consensus, and concentration of power among providers was not measured.
- Full node at home
- Demanding 101117The Lotus docs ask for an 8-core CPU, 32 GiB RAM and SSD space for the chain, which they say grows by about 38 GiB per day; they add that the chain can be synced from trusted state snapshots and compacted or pruned, which trades some independent verification for disk space. The Forest node is listed at 16 GiB RAM and 4 cores. A Lotus lite node needs only 2 GiB RAM but relies on a remote full node, so it is not independent verification.
- Throughput claims
- No classified figure recorded
Scaling layers
- Filecoin payment channel actor · Payment channels, mainnet 419
Built-in actor for one-way channels: the sender funds the channel and signs vouchers off-chain; the recipient redeems the latest voucher on-chain. After either party calls settle, the spec gives a 12-hour window to submit outstanding vouchers before funds can be collected. Vouchers can carry time locks and a hash lock. The spec says the retrieval market uses these channels; current usage was not measured. - InterPlanetary Consensus (IPC) subnets · Sidechain, research 122238
Child networks (subnets) with their own consensus and rules; the repository describes a CometBFT-based stack. IPC's docs say that if a subnet fails, funds in it cannot be recovered without a valid checkpoint signed by the latest validator committee. They are not rollups. The IPC repository warns that the stack is unaudited, lacks crash recovery and should not be used on mainnet or with tokens of real value.
Capabilities
| Capability | How it is provided | Notes and sources |
|---|---|---|
| Account abstraction | Structured assessment pending | Not yet assessed for any chain. |
| Atomic swaps | Unknown | Not yet assessed under the current definitions; payment channel vouchers support optional hash locks and time locks inside a channel, and contracts on the Filecoin EVM runtime could implement hash-locked swaps, but these are building blocks, and no deployed cross-chain swap tooling was reviewed. 19 |
| Authenticated data publication | Built into the protocolLimited scope | Filecoin storage deals: storage providers, who are also the consensus participants, keep content-addressed data off-chain for a deal's stated duration under on-chain deal records and keep proving it (replication and spacetime proofs, plus data-possession proofs for Onchain Cloud), so data can be checked against its content address. Scope is limited: retrieval is a service that providers or retrieval providers offer, there is no publish-and-subscribe or update mechanism, and the proofs do not show the data is true. 367 |
| Light clients | Built into the protocolLimited scope | F3 finality certificates, signed by providers holding at least two thirds of power, are produced by consensus and designed so light clients and contracts can check finality without replaying the chain. Scope is limited: the documented Lotus lite node connects to a remote full node, and no deployed trust-minimized light client was reviewed. 1120 |
| Native staking or delegation | Structured assessment pending | Not yet assessed for any chain. |
| On-chain governance | Structured assessment pending | Not yet assessed for any chain. |
| Parallel execution | Structured assessment pending | Not yet assessed for any chain. |
| Payment or state channels | Native (protocol or core-team software) Earlier definition | A built-in payment channel actor supports one-way channels settled on-chain; the spec says the retrieval market uses them. General state channels were not found. 419 |
| Programmable spending | Native (protocol or core-team software) Earlier definition | The Filecoin Virtual Machine, live since March 2023, runs built-in actors and user smart contracts through its EVM runtime, including multisig and payment channel actors. In its EVM runtime, gas and some opcodes behave differently. 459 |
| Protocol-verified messaging | Structured assessment pending | Not yet assessed for any chain. |
| Reversible transfers or recovery | Unknown | Not yet assessed under this row's current definition. |
| Rollups | Unknown | The earlier note said absence was not exhaustively verified, so under the rule that absence needs a source this is unknown rather than not present. Earlier finding: no rollup settling to Filecoin was found in the reviewed sources; IPC subnets run their own consensus and are recorded as an experimental sidechain family, not rollups. 1222 |
| Shielded transfers | Structured assessment pending | Not yet assessed for any chain. |
| Signed partial offers | Unknown | Not yet assessed under this row's current definition. |
Reading these values
- How this feature is provided
- Built into the protocol, core-team software or independent software says where a feature lives and who can change it. These are implementation layers, not quality: core-team software is not closer to the protocol than independent software.
- Structured assessment pending
- The shared review has not assessed this feature for any chain yet (Account abstraction, Native staking or delegation, On-chain governance, Parallel execution, Protocol-verified messaging and Shielded transfers). That does not mean it is absent, and a chain’s profile may already describe it.
- Unknown
- The review has not established this for this chain under the current definition; the note beside it says why. Unknown is not absent and not a low score. A feature reads “Not present” only when a source shows it is absent.
- Earlier definition
- Payment or state channels, Programmable spending and Rollups keep the earlier definition until the next fact-check. There, “Native” does not separate the protocol from core-team software, “Ecosystem software” does not say who publishes it, and “Partial” does not say which layer.
- Reading across rows
- The list of capabilities is incomplete. Do not read these rows as a chain leading or lagging overall.
Ecosystem & custody
| Product type | Status | Notes and sources |
|---|---|---|
| Automated market makers | ThinSushiSwap, Uniswap V3 (DefiLlama listing, unconfirmed) | Sushi serves a Filecoin Mainnet swap and pools page. DefiLlama also lists Uniswap V3, Themis DEX and Archly on Filecoin, but Uniswap's own v3 deployments page does not list Filecoin. DefiLlama shows little liquidity on Filecoin venues; depth was not measured here. 232425 |
| Issuer-native stablecoins | ThinUSDFC (Secured Finance) | USDFC is minted on Filecoin against FIL collateral (110% minimum ratio) in Secured Finance's trove protocol and is the payment token for Filecoin Onchain Cloud. Circle's USDC list and Tether's protocol list do not include Filecoin; bridged USDC and USDT are wrapped tokens, not issuer-native. 262728293031 |
| Algorithmic stablecoins | Unknown | No algorithmic stablecoin with material usage was identified; USDFC is over-collateralized by FIL, not algorithmic. Not exhaustively reviewed. |
| Bridges | Established in the ecosystemAxelar, Celer cBridge, Squid Router (Axelar-based) | Filecoin's docs list Axelar and Celer with bridged token addresses (for example axlUSDC and ceUSDC). Axelar's own mainnet deployment config lists Filecoin (chain ID 314) with gateway contracts, and Celer's own cBridge transfer configuration lists Filecoin (chain ID 314) with tokens including USDC, USDT and wFIL. Squid is named for wrapping and routing. Risk: Filecoin's docs say the team is focused on notary-based bridges and that trustless light-client bridging will come later: bridged tokens are only as safe as each bridge's signer set and contracts, not Filecoin consensus. Current bridge liquidity and any paused routes were not checked. 13143239 |
| Block explorers | Established in the ecosystemFilfox, Beryx, Filscan, Starboard, Blockscout (filecoin.blockscout.com) | Filecoin's docs list these five and say none is run by Protocol Labs or the Filecoin Foundation. Explorer data is provider-indexed, not independent verification. 153334 |
| Hardware wallets | Established in the ecosystemLedger | See custody rows: Ledger supports FIL in its own wallet app, while Trezor states it does not support Filecoin. Filecoin's docs also list the Glif web wallet with Ledger and the D'CENT hardware wallet. 16353637 |
Hardware-wallet custody
| Device maker | Status | What users can and cannot do |
|---|---|---|
| Ledger | Native supportSame as native: Yes | Can: Send and receive FIL in the Ledger Wallet app, with transactions signed on the device Can: Use a Ledger device with the Glif web wallet, which Filecoin's docs list as Ledger-compatible Cannot: Delegate FIL for protocol staking: Filecoin has no delegation, and Ledger's Filecoin module has no staking functions 163536 |
| Trezor | None foundSame as native: No | Cannot: Manage FIL in Trezor SuiteTrezor's Filecoin page says Trezor does not currently support Filecoin. Third-party signing paths using a Trezor were not checked. 37 |
Public data
iKnow Blockchain has no public-data lookups for Filecoin yet. This is a limit of the service, not a statement about the network.
| Lookup | Status | What it covers and its limits |
|---|---|---|
| Address or account | Not available yet | Public-data lookups for this chain are not built yet. |
| Tokens and assets | Not available yet | Public-data lookups for this chain are not built yet. |
| NFTs | Not available yet | Public-data lookups for this chain are not built yet. |
| Transactions | Not available yet | Public-data lookups for this chain are not built yet. |
Sourced developments
Developments: Review overdue Reviewed Sep 27, 2026; next review was due Oct 7, 2026, 12:00 UTC.
Publication date · newest first
-
Solstice (FIP-0118) scheduled on the Calibration testnet; no mainnet date
Lotus v1.37.0-rc1 schedules network version 29, Solstice, on the Calibration testnet for 28 September 2026 and says mainnet is not yet scheduled. FIP-0118, now marked Accepted, would retire Filecoin Plus, give every new sector full quality-adjusted power, and split block rewards between block winners, a burn and registered service operators.
- Proposal:FIP-0118 Accepted
- Implementation:implemented in Lotus v1.37.0-rc1 with built-in actors v19
- Release:release candidate only
- Activation:Calibration testnet upgrade scheduled for 2026-09-28; mainnet not scheduled
Sources: filecoin-project/lotus — Lotus v1.37.0-rc1 (network version 29, Solstice) (external site) · Filecoin Improvement Proposals — FIP-0118: (Solstice) Deprecate Fil+ and Fund Services via Block-Reward Split (external site) · Filecoin (filecoin.io) — Solstice: Towards a Filecoin Service Economy (external site)
-
Lotus v1.36.3 fixed a remote memory-exhaustion flaw
Lotus Node v1.36.3 is a recommended patch that closes a remote memory-exhaustion issue in the default WebTransport listener (CVE-2026-57497) and stops Ethereum-style log and receipt queries from returning incomplete results while event indexing is unfinished.
- Implementation:patched in Lotus v1.36.3
- Release:released 2026-09-11
- Activation:takes effect per node when operators upgrade; adoption not observed
Source: filecoin-project/lotus — Lotus Node v1.36.3 (external site)
-
Lotus v1.36.2 corrected Ethereum-style RPC answers and changed tracing settings
Lotus Node v1.36.2 is a recommended patch release, not tied to a network upgrade. It corrects several Ethereum-style RPC methods (eth_call and eth_estimateGas now accept a from address that is a contract or not yet on-chain, and lookups of replaced transactions return null), makes StateWaitMsg wait for the confirmation depth a caller asks for, and replaces the Jaeger tracing exporter with an OpenTelemetry (OTLP) exporter.
- Implementation:changes shipped in Lotus v1.36.2
- Release:released 2026-07-27 as a recommended patch
- Activation:takes effect per node when operators upgrade; no network upgrade attached; adoption not observed
Source: filecoin-project/lotus — Lotus v1.36.2 (external site)
-
Network version 28 (Fire Horse) activated on mainnet
Filecoin's NV28 upgrade was scheduled by Lotus v1.36.0 for epoch 6052800 on 27 May 2026, and the Filecoin blog announced it live that day. It lets contracts check sector status and expiry (FIP-0112), adds a P-256 signature precompile for passkeys (FIP-0113), adds the CLZ opcode (FIP-0114) and changes base-fee adjustment to a tip-based target (FIP-0115).
- Proposal:FIPs 0112 to 0115 Final
- Implementation:implemented in Lotus v1.36.0 with built-in actors v18
- Release:Lotus v1.36.0 released 2026-05-13
- Activation:announced live on mainnet 2026-05-27; activation not independently observed
Sources: filecoin-project/lotus — Lotus v1.36.0 (network version 28, Fire Horse) (external site) · Filecoin (filecoin.io) — Filecoin's NV28 Fire Horse Network Upgrade is Here (external site) · Filecoin Improvement Proposals — FIP-0115: Premium Percentile Base Fee Target (external site)
-
Filecoin Onchain Cloud went live on mainnet
The Filecoin blog announced that Filecoin Onchain Cloud, a storage and payments stack using Proof of Data Possession and Filecoin Pay, is live on mainnet after a testnet launch the previous November. The post describes default two-copy replication, approval thresholds for providers and a public proof explorer.
- Implementation:deployed as smart contracts and services on mainnet
- Release:mainnet launch announced 2026-03-26
- Activation:live according to the official announcement; usage not independently observed
Sources: Filecoin (filecoin.io) — Filecoin Onchain Cloud Is Live on Mainnet (external site) · Filecoin Docs — Filecoin Onchain Cloud (external site) · Filecoin Onchain Cloud Documentation — Quick Start with Synapse SDK (external site)
Topics your AI can explain
Your AI can explain these topics for Filecoin through the connection, with sources.
Known gaps
What this profile's review did not establish:
- Concentration of storage power among providers and the number of independent block producers were not measured.
- Observed F3 finality times and how often F3 has stalled on mainnet were not measured; the tens-of-seconds figure is the proposal's design expectation.
- The Filecoin docs still describe 900-epoch soft finality and a one-hour confirmation guideline without mentioning F3, so exchange and app practice may differ from the protocol.
- Whether signing conflicting F3 messages is penalized was not found; the F3 proposal reviewed describes discarding such messages but no stake penalty.
- Payment channel usage on mainnet was not measured; the 12-hour settling window comes from the protocol specification, not from observed use.
- IPC deployment status on Filecoin mainnet was not confirmed beyond the repository's warning against mainnet use.
- AMM liquidity depth was not measured, and Uniswap V3 on Filecoin rests on an aggregator listing, not Uniswap's own documentation.
- Celer support rests on Filecoin's docs and Celer's transfer configuration; current Celer liquidity and route status were not checked, and other bridges were not reviewed.
- Reversible or delayed transfers and recovery paths (for example with the multisig actor) and algorithmic stablecoins were not reviewed.
- Storage-provider hardware for sealing and proving (GPUs, memory) was not captured; only full-node requirements are cited.
- The outcome of FIP-0118 (Solstice) on mainnet is pending; quality-adjusted power and reward rules may change after this review.
Sources
Oldest dated source check: Source checked Sep 27, 2026 Next check due Oct 27, 2026.
- Blockchain (external site)
- Consensus (external site)
- Proofs (external site)
- Actors (external site)
- Difference with Ethereum (external site)
- Storage model (external site)
- About PDP (external site)
- Mainnet (external site)
- FIL collateral (external site)
- Implementations (external site)
- Spin up a lite-node (external site)
- Interplanetary consensus (external site)
- Cross-chain bridges (external site)
- Wrapped FIL (external site)
- Explorers (Mainnet) (external site)
- Wallets (external site)
- Prerequisites (external site)
- Expected Consensus (external site)
- Payment Channels (external site)
- FIP-0086: Fast Finality in Filecoin (F3) (external site)
- Lotus Node v1.32.3 release notes (external site)
- consensus-shipyard/ipc repository (external site)
- Sushi swap on Filecoin Mainnet (external site)
- DefiLlama protocols API (external site)
- Uniswap v3 deployments (external site)
- USDFC Stablecoin: Overview (external site)
- USDFC System Overview (external site)
- USDFC Contracts and Security (external site)
- Quick Start with Synapse SDK (external site)
- USDC Contract Addresses (external site)
- Supported Protocols (external site)
- Axelar mainnet chain configuration (external site)
- Filfox - Filecoin explorer (external site)
- Filecoin blockchain explorer (external site)
- Filecoin wallet (external site)
- Ledger Live Filecoin coin module (external site)
- Filecoin (external site)
- Subnets (external site)
- cBridge transfer configuration API (external site)
Report an error
Found something wrong or out of date? Reporting is free, and every chain goes through the same process. Published corrections appear in the public log.
Funding disclosure
Funding disclosures appear here when an upkeep arrangement exists, in the form “Upkeep funded by [name]; verdicts unaffected.” The funder ledger has not been published yet. Neutrality & funding