Protocol Labs is an open-source software research and development company, founded in 2014.

It is best known for creating the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS), a peer-to-peer decentralized web protocol, and Filecoin, a decentralized file storage network.

Early work on open-source tools to simplify management, indexing, and conversion of large data sets led to the creation of the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) - a peer-to-peer protocol for distributed files and offline applications.

[1] To support the project and spur adoption, they developed a Filecoin protocol and token for decentralized file storage, to let users rent out unused disk space.

[5][6] Other projects developed by Protocol Labs include libp2p, a network stack for peer-to-peer apps and systems, which is used as the networking layer for IPFS; IPLD, a data model for interoperable protocols;[7] and the SAFT, a legal framework for token fundraising.