Filecoin price hits 6-month high after 26% gain – Here’s why

Filecoin (FIL) rallied amid news of an upcoming network development.
The FIL token saw its price reach highs of $7.89 on Coinbase.
According to a news release on Friday, Filecoin Virtual Machine (FVM) will launch on 1 March 2023.

Filecoin soared to its highest price level since 18 August 2022 on Friday, with a massive 26% rally on the day sending the native FIL token to highs of $7.89 on major cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase.

The gains for decentralised storage network come after a recovery that started with a 5% upside on Tuesday 14 February. Before that, a flip in market sentiment had pushed FIL/USD down nearly 13% on 9 February, with the token’s value dipping to close at $4.78.

While it’s not possible to make a Filecoin price prediction with certainty, lets see what likely catalysed today’s stellar run.

What is behind Filecoin’s price surge today?

Filecoin price has indeed seen an enormous uptick in the past two days, breaking above key resistance around $6.00.

Filecoin price reached a high of $7.89 on Coinbse. Source: TradingView

Per CoinGecko data, FIL has surged 55% in the past week and going by today’s 340% jump in 24-hour trading volume, there seems to have been some serious buying firepower behind the price surge.

The main trigger for today’s rally appears to have been news that the Filecoin Virtual Machine will go live on 1 March.

The #FVM is almost here and will shake up the industry like never before. ☄️

Get ready for everything FVM unlocks with smart contracts and provable storage. And join us for the biggest community event of the year on March 1st. ⤵️ https://t.co/zviY8FZwCx pic.twitter.com/MCYC5CGoA6

— Filecoin (@Filecoin) February 13, 2023

Benefits of FVM to the Filecoin network

According to the Filecoin developer team, the launch of the FVM will usher in a new era for the Filecoin blockchain.

Specifically, the layer-1 network will see a refined system featuring smart contracts and programmability. The FVM also comes with further scalability and much lower fees for users looking to interact with decentralised applications (dApps.)

Key use cases set to drive further traffic of the Filecoin blockchain and put it on the path to greater adoption are its perpetual storage, streamlined access to decentralised finance (DeFi) and DataDAOs. The Filecoin Virtual Machine is interoperable with the Ethereum Virtual Machine.