In the second quarter of the year, Filecoin’s storage utilization surpassed 7%, indicating improved adoption on its network, according to a report by Messari published on July 13. The network currently records an average of 954.2 pebibytes (1.07 billion gigabytes) worth of storage deals, compared to its raw storage capacity of 12.2 exbibytes (14.1 billion gigabytes). This increase in utilization comes after initial slow uptake due to high storage costs compared to centralized alternatives like Amazon Web Services.
Despite the growth in storage utilization, Filecoin experienced a decline in protocol and supply revenue during the quarter. Protocol revenue generated 2.5 million FIL, equivalent to $11.5 million, representing a 40.7% decrease in dollar terms compared to the same period last year. The decline was partially attributed to the fall in FIL token prices resulting from the cryptocurrency bear market of 2022. However, the decline was somewhat offset by a significant rise in active storage deals.
The drop in FIL token prices also impacted supply-side revenue, which includes earnings from block rewards, anchored storage deals, and transaction tips. In Q2 2023, supply-side revenue declined by 66.9% year-over-year to $85.7 million. To encourage adoption, many storage providers began offering near zero-fee storage, contributing to the surge in storage utilization.
Filecoin’s stored data is primarily sourced from the IT sector (41%), followed by natural resources (31.3%), healthcare (16.7%), and social services (9.2%). A total of 1,750 clients have onboarded their data onto Filecoin’s network.
To cater to storage retrieval needs, the development of Project Saturn, a content delivery network (CDN) for Filecoin and IPFS (InterPlanetary File System), is underway. Project Saturn aims to provide fast and cost-effective content delivery services for Filecoin’s retrieval market.
In March, Filecoin introduced the Filecoin Virtual Machine (FVM) that enables Ethereum-style smart contracts on its network. Since then, over 2,300 smart contracts have been deployed on FVM, consuming 7% of the blockchain’s gas fees in Q2 2023.
Despite the decline in revenue, Filecoin’s improved storage utilization indicates growing adoption and usage of decentralized storage solutions. The network’s ongoing developments, such as Project Saturn and FVM, further strengthen its position within the blockchain and decentralized finance (DeFi) space.
Sources:
– Messari report: “Filecoin storage utilization surpasses 7% in Q2”
– Magazine article: “BlackRock bullish on Bitcoin, Gemini CEO’s ‘delusion,’ and CEXs’ unhappy staff”