web3.storage VS chainlink

Web3.Storage and other similar projects run a network of IPFS nodes that allow users to store whatever content they like, as a kind of competitor to Dropbox or Google Drive: this could be their personal content, or again, any application content, because some apps integrate directly with this service via their API

Typically app developers would be the ones to build on Filecoin and you would choose an app like web3.storage to store your data. As a consumer you dont have to directly hold FIL but you benefit from the Filecoin ecosystem.

clone repos to your computer, dont just fork them

the fork disappears when the parent repository is taken down, clones stay on your machine

upload to IPFS. you can pin on IPFS for free with filecoin. Use filecoin nodes to pin on ipfs at https://web3.storage

As for storing data on Filecoin directly, that would require making a deal with a Filecoin Storage Provider; doing so is currently a complex task but reading the documentation should get you somewhere. You will need a small amount of the FIL token to make the deal with an SP, who will then store your data. Keep in mind that something like web3.storage or Estuary.tech may be better for your needs if you need easy access to the files later; Filecoin can (currently) be thought of as closer to archival storage, but efforts are being made to make it more generally useful too.

easiest is to use filecoin using some provider who has IPFS <-> Filecoin gateway for example web3.storage . Upload using IPFS and they will push it to filecoin.

Doing a js-ipfs backend would be straightforward and wouldn't change the app API, so it totally makes sense to do that. I tend to see it as a both/and situtation, and the current core makes no assumptions about network either way. Adding web3.storage was just a ~200 loc React hook, so I bet the js-ipfs bridge would also be that easy.

In my TodoMVC example I built up the local database which a bunch of data, enabled web3.storage replication, and then deleted my local IndexedDB. It was fun to watch the blocks fetch over the network but it's not optimzed yet (it doesn't know the second block's address til it reads it from the first's) but I can remove that bottleneck.

The last service we use is the one we know from the previous article, Web3Storage. It allows us to upload our encrypted files to the Filecoin network to access them via IPFS. The cool thing about this service: the accounts are user-owned and not app owned. While Web3Storage allows app-owned accounts, meaning the files will be managed by the app's creator, it also allows user-owned accounts that require the users to manage their uploads. It comes with a generous free tier, so the users can start uploading without paying anything.

web3.storage

Chainlink (LINK) – The Blockchain Oracle Giant

Chainlink allows smart contract developers to receive a wide variety of off-chain data, with the most commonly used features being receiving off-chain randomness and off-chain pricing data. Integrating your smart contracts with Chainlink provides a unique set of potential security vulnerabilities that attackers can exploit; here are the common vulnerabilities that smart contract developers & auditors need to look out for.

As well as feeding real-world data to smart contracts, oracles can be used to monitor other blockchains and pass information about them between networks. Chainlink has made progress in this direction, with their Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP). This enables the creation of multi-chain apps. The protocol is maintained by a decentralized network of nodes. However, this is unlikely to be as secure as the chains between which messages are being sent.

I do like the example of Etherisc as a simple showcase of what could be possible. It is a decentralised insurance platform, where right now you can purchase insurance against flight cancellations. Should the flight be cancelled a decentralised network Chainlinkreports to Ethereum the flight number and smart contract pays you out. Unlike traditional insurance (provided there has been security system of all systems involved) there is no way for the smart contract not to pay you out. With companies they can go bankrupt, argue against some technicality or have their own funds frozen due to clerical error.

We’d like to express our deep gratitude to Axelar, Chainlink Labs, Polkastarter, and Hacken for their generous support. We’re also proud to announce that our EU Incubator winners and participants, including Port3 Network, Blockless, Shorter Finance, and Dynamic Labs, will be joining us to share and sponsor bounties in our hackathon.

This is an example of my current work, though you have to go back in history a bit to see my name on the commits.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, just a smattering of some of the bigger projects doing neat things.

The graph protocol - decentralized blockchain indexing feeding a network of graphQL servers hosting the data powering dapps https://thegraph.com/en/

Chainlink - decentralized on-chain oracles for basically any piece of data from the real world - https://chain.link/

MakerDAO - creator of the first “soft pegged” stablecoin, it is a series of smart contracts that allow people to lock up crypto as collateral and mint DAI, uses a number of neat and novel mechanisms to keep peg by adjusting interest rates and incentivizing economic behavior https://makerdao.com/en/

Compound - a decentralized lending and borrowing protocol with no centralized authority handling liquidations/collateral pricing/etc. https://compound.finance/

Uniswap - a decentralized exchange for swapping assets in a trustless way, has neat features like flash loans where you can borrow a large amount of money (millions of dollars) for the length of one transaction, as long as the money is returned with a fee. This allows anyone to do things like capture arbitrage opportunities, liquidate large positions, or whatever else can be done in one transaction. https://uniswap.org/faq

A lot of these are DAOs using smart contracts to propose and vote on binding proposals on chain and adjust parameters within the protocol or paying contributors and whatnot. You can see an example here https://compound.finance/governance

Beyond that there’s other blockchains focused on specific use cases like GameFi, bridges connecting together different blockchains and moving liquidity between them in a mostly seamless way, massive research attention being paid to zero knowledge proofs (which have a lot of potential implications in the real world), and multi-sig contracts for only doing things when a quorum of key holders come together and signal their intent.

Chainlink A Oracle network for retrieving real-world data in a decentralized manner.

I have managed to complete the major part of the interoperability projects this year. I have been optimistic about Cosmos, Polkadot, and Chainlink, and I am becoming increasingly interested in the Bifrost network (layer 1). I've been reading the articles about their upcoming launch. The Bifrost network has introduced some features that other projects do not have yet. However,they are still unsure about the rewards for participating in the BIFROST BIT Testnet Reward Program as described in the article. This contributes to their goal of making the most of the Incentivized Testnet and ensuring that BIFROST is stress-tested and ready for mainnet. I still need to learn more about the Network and how it differs from the DOT and cosmos projects. I am interested in participating in the launch but still don't have any clear info and how to go about this.

Chainlink is currently ranked #23 cryptocurrency on CoinMarketCap, with a fully diluted market cap of $7.2 Billion. Chainlink was founded in 2017, and is the most powerful decentralized oracle in the crypto space. LINK has been rapidly integrating off-chain data and external price/data feeds within their smart contract platform. There are limitless use cases for this chain. Robinhood supports LINK buying, selling and deposits/withdrawals via the built in wallet.