In this chapter, we are going to learn about the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS). The IPFS is not actually part of the blockchain technology; instead, it complements it. IPFS with blockchain is a match made in heaven. As you have learned in previous chapters, storage in a blockchain is expensive. Usually, people save links to files in a blockchain and save the actual files in normal storage, such as cloud storage. But this strategy suffers the fate of centralization. IPFS offers blockchain developers a way to avoid this.
In this chapter, you are going to learn about the following:
- The motivation behind IPFS
- Merkle DAG
- Peer-to-peer networking