<story><title>Filecoin Foundation Grants 50k FIL to the Internet Archive</title><url>https://blog.archive.org/2021/04/01/filecoin-foundation-grants-50000-fil-to-the-internet-archive/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>ignoranceprior</author><text>The idea of making the Internet Archive decentralized is a very good one. It would be a real tragedy if the IA burned down like the Library of Alexandria did. I know Archive Team&amp;#x2F;Jason Scott attempted this a few years back with the IA.bak project but it seems like that died, so I hope this time turns out better.&lt;p&gt;That said, I don&amp;#x27;t actually understand how cryptocurrency or blockchains help with distributed file storage. Are these &amp;quot;filecoins&amp;quot; actually useful for anything, like incentivizing people to make copies of files? I&amp;#x27;m by default skeptical when I hear about cryptocurrencies because the majority of ICOs seem to be get-rich-schemes riding off the Bitcoin buzzwave that then fizzle out over time.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>pradn</author><text>From what I understand, Filecoin contracts are fixed-term. This means you need to read data back from the Filecoin network at the end of the term and negotiate another fixed-term contract to store those files again. Though Filecoin storage fees are low, isn&amp;#x27;t this back-and-forth a big pain for real archivists? I suppose you only need 1&amp;#x2F;n of the storage on your side if you stagger the data &amp;quot;withdrawal&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;deposit&amp;quot; actions. Does anyone have insight into this?</text></comment>
<story><title>Filecoin Foundation Grants 50k FIL to the Internet Archive</title><url>https://blog.archive.org/2021/04/01/filecoin-foundation-grants-50000-fil-to-the-internet-archive/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>ignoranceprior</author><text>The idea of making the Internet Archive decentralized is a very good one. It would be a real tragedy if the IA burned down like the Library of Alexandria did. I know Archive Team&amp;#x2F;Jason Scott attempted this a few years back with the IA.bak project but it seems like that died, so I hope this time turns out better.&lt;p&gt;That said, I don&amp;#x27;t actually understand how cryptocurrency or blockchains help with distributed file storage. Are these &amp;quot;filecoins&amp;quot; actually useful for anything, like incentivizing people to make copies of files? I&amp;#x27;m by default skeptical when I hear about cryptocurrencies because the majority of ICOs seem to be get-rich-schemes riding off the Bitcoin buzzwave that then fizzle out over time.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>thebean11</author><text>&amp;gt; Are these &amp;quot;filecoins&amp;quot; actually useful for anything, like incentivizing people to make copies of files?&lt;p&gt;Yes, that&amp;#x27;s exactly what they are. They incentive making copies, then periodically proving you have the copies.</text></comment>