Filecoin launched with a simple idea: pay people to store your files, get paid to store others’. The implementation is much harder — proofs of storage, retrieval markets, and a token economy that has to balance speculation with utility. But the network now stores over an exabyte of data, with real clients like the Internet Archive and major universities. The decentralization of storage isn’t just about resilience; it’s about breaking the monopoly of a few hyperscalers who decide what data exists and at what price. This vault looks at the storage wars and why Filecoin’s approach matters more than you’d think.