Flow integrates Filecoin storage services to make NFTs more decentralized

Filecoin has officially become the storage collaborator for the Flow Blockchain.

Filecoin said in an Oct. 13 announcement that the move was a part of a push to ensure holders' and issuers' NFTs are "securely available everywhere."

The announcement follows from a previous move in August in Which Dapper Labs was working to integrate Filecoin’s storage services with the Flow Blockchain.

The collaboration enables Flow users to mint NFTs, leverage InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) content addressing, and store the tokens in decentralized storage hosted by Filecoin.

According to Filecoin, IPFS content addressing is a solution to location addressing which retrieves online information from specific locations on the web, such as from behind URLs. Filecoin asserts that this method has “obvious downsides” as the data relies on centralized entities who own the locations, and therefore can “control the content.”

“In content-based addressing, content is no longer retrieved from single locations on the web. Rather, content is retrieved from any participating nodes on the IPFS network that have the content you’re requesting,” Filecoin outlined.

As part of the collaboration, Filecoin has also opened “Next Step Grants” worth $5,000 for each eligible NFT project on Flow that integrates with IPFS or Filecoin’s network.

“As the Flow ecosystem grows, Filecoin’s decentralized storage solution will allow future applications that are built on Flow to have an easy way to protect NFT media assets and metadata,” the announcement read.

It's happening! @Filecoin is the official storage collaborator #onFlow

⛓️ Immutable NFT metadata, including media assets, via @IPFS content addressing
Filecoin’s provable and decentralized storage

Full announcement https://t.co/iwEd1JpEVk

— Flow Blockchain (@flow_blockchain) October 14, 2021

Dapper launched the Flow Blockchain in late 2020, and the network is home to top NFT projects, including NBA Top Shot and CryptoKitties. September was a big month for Dapper, with the firm signing multiple partnerships with top firms, along with raising $250 million in funding.

Cointelegraph reported on Sept. 14 that Google had partnered with Dapper to serve as a network operator for Flow. Google signed on to support the development of Web 3.0 products and services such as NFT projects with “scalable” and “secure infrastructure.”

Related: Blockchains vie for NFT market, but Ethereum still dominates — Report

On Sept. 30, the NFL partnered with Dapper to launch an American football equivalent of NBA Top Shot on Flow, which is slated to drop later this year.

During the announcement of the $250 million funding round, Dapper outlined that the fresh capital will be used to fund further licensed NFT projects across sports, music and entertainment, along with scaling up its NBA Top Shot platform.