Filecoin (FIL) is an open-source, public cryptocurrency and digital payment system. Filecoin is built on the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS), which allows users to trade unused storage with FIL token. FIL tokens are the native utility token of the Filecoin network.  Filecoin is one of the key projects of Protocol Labs (PL). Protocol Labs & Filecoin were founded by Juan Benet, who is also the inventor of InterPlanetary File System (IPFS).

Protocol Labs (PL) is a fully distributed, open-source research, development and deployment laboratory and it has a team of more than 100 members who work remotely. The Protocol Labs (PL) also consists of the following 11 key team members in the leadership role:

Juan Benet - Founder and CEO

He is the Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Engineer of Protocol Labs. Previously, he founded Athena; he was the Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Loki Studios; EIR at StartX; CURIS Computer Science Research at Stanford University; Software Engineering Intern at Cooliris and Verve Wireless; Research Intern at Anticancer Inc.

Alex Terrazas - Technical Program Manager

David Dias - Research Director

Evan Miyazono - Research Team Lead

Jonathan Gross - Research Administrator

Jorge M. Soares - Research Program Manager

Karola Kirsanow - Research Program Manager

Liz Bryson - Research Administrator

Patrick Woodhead - Technical Program Manager

Silvia Bessa -Research Program Manager

Trent Davis - Research Marketing Lead