Filecoin Mainnet Launch Characterized By Volatile Swings In FIL Price

Decentralized storage system Filecoin has launched its long-anticipated mainnet at block 148,888.

The launch comes three years after the company’s initial coin offering which raised more than $205 million. In the first day of its launch the FIL token has been extremely volatile with swings of 100s of percents. There are also large disparities between the FIL price across exchanges. At the time of writing, Uniswap has FIL listed for $92.86, Gemini has the price pegged at $77.32 and Coinbase has it listed for $69.84. Across all platforms the coin is trading upwards of 100%.

There is also a wide gap between the spot and futures market with futures trading at $40.19, according to Crypto.com. Investors will need to wait and see where the token lands after the launch day mania dies down.

Filecoin is built on the interplanetary file system (IPFS) and will soon allow users to trade unused storage with the FIL token. The service will allow clients to encrypt their files and host pieces of it across a distributed network of computers.

The project’s launch has faced numerous setbacks since it was first announced in September, including a drawn out dispute last month between the developer of the project, Protocol Labs, and investors.

By Emily Mason