Quit waiting for Filecoin, Shift is up and running and will be moving to their main network in the near future.
You may have heard of IPFS thanks to it’s genius creator, Juan Benet, or through the much talked about Filecoin which recently held an ICO that was restricted to only Angel investors, but we are still waiting for it’s product.
(If you want to learn more about what IPFS is, check out my previous post linked here that goes more into depth!)
Luckily for us, Filecoin is not the only platform allowed to use IPFS.
Shift has been building their blockchain platform on top of the IPFS protocol for some time now.
If you go to their website you'll learn:
- Shift is a delegated proof of stake blockchain that allows for 101 nodes to get paid for maintaining the network.
- The Shift blockchain is also turing-complete, meaning it supports smart contract for fast development and use of dApps.
Here’s an easy way to understand how IPFS and platforms like Shift and Filecoin interact:
Imagine IPFS is the backend, and projects like Shift are the front end.
IPFS is the foundation on top of which Shift can build a place for decentralized, distributed storage, marketplaces, dApps, and social media… just to name a few.
Shift has a working platform that is easily accessible by the public. Even though the current transactions are happening on the Shift test network, you can check the transaction on their official website under the “Tools” tab and select the “Explorer” option.
Here’s the cool part: Shift will very soon be making the move to their main network. Meaning their platform will officially go live.
The first dApp that will be live on Shift is called Phantom, it’s a decentralized storage app.
If you’re interested in building dApps on this platform you’ll be happy to know that you can earn a passive income by the side chain fees your app creates.
For those of you who are ready to begin experiencing what IPFS can do I suggest heading over to the Shift website and getting started already!
If you learned something from this post kindly leave an up vote,
Share this one with your friends so we can all nerd out over IPFS together :)
If you’re new to this account consider giving me a follow so you can get your weekly fix of all things crypto!
Additional Reading/Sources:
Shift Website
More on IPFS
Shift Roadmap
Shift Blockchain Explorer