IPFS
A peer-to-peer protocol that addresses files by their content, used to host decentralized web data.
- glossary
IPFS (InterPlanetary File System) is a peer-to-peer hypermedia protocol that identifies files by their content hash — a Content Identifier (CID) — rather than by server location. If two nodes hold the same file, they produce the same CID, so the network can retrieve it from whoever is nearest. This content-addressing model is the opposite of HTTP, where a URL points to a specific server that may go offline. In web3 applications, IPFS is a standard off-chain data layer: NFT metadata, artwork, and documents are stored on IPFS so they are not permanently pinned to the expensive blockchain — instead the on-chain record holds the immutable CID. For tokenized domains, IPFS can host a decentralized website that resolves when someone has an IPFS-capable gateway or browser extension, entirely bypassing conventional DNS servers.
Related keywords
- IPFS
- content addressing
- peer-to-peer
- decentralized storage
- CID
Contributors
Namefi is a collective of engineers, designers, and operators who obsess over building tools that make managing your onchain domain names effortless.
Victor Zhou is a technology founder and standards editor focused on digital identity and trust. He founded Namefi, edits Ethereum Improvement Proposals, and previously led smart-contract architecture work at Google Labs.
His work sits at the intersection of naming, ownership, and the systems people use to establish identity online. That perspective makes him especially interested in the way names move between personal meaning, public recognition, and digital infrastructure.
For Namefi, Victor edits and writes about domains as durable digital identity: how names become ownable onchain assets, how tokenization changes custody and trust, and what naming can learn from the systems people use to establish identity online.