Filecoin Fees Spike 14% as v27 Upgrade Penalties Surge

• Filecoin network utilization rose despite declining capacity and fewer new transactions.
• Penalties dominated fees as providers adapted to stricter v27 requirements.
• Real-world datasets and enterprise-grade archival storage continued to expand.

Filecoin’s network entered a phase of deep consolidation in the third quarter of 2025, a shift defined by rising utilization, a decline in new storage deals, and a purge of operators following the v27 “Golden Week” upgrade.

The data signals a structural pivot from high-volume speculative transactions toward proven, long-term enterprise archiving workloads.

A Network in Consolidation: Capacity Drops, Utilization Rises

Data from the quarter shows network utilization increasing to 36%, up from 32% in the prior period. This occurred even as total committed capacity declined 10% to 3.0 EiB, a move following the exit of smaller operators and the retirement of legacy sector workflows under new Filecoin Improvement Protocols (FIPs).

The adjustment coincided with a 19% decline in average daily new transactions, which fell from 3.4 PiB to 2.8 PiB. Despite this, total active stored data remained stable, decreasing by only 1% to 1,110 PiB, as verified enterprise workloads continued to account for the majority of storage activity.

Related: Filecoin’s New Monthly Report Reveals the Four Metrics That Matter Most

The “Great Cull”: Penalties Spike to 99.5% of All Network Fees

Network fees increased by 14% quarter-over-quarter to $792,900, but this figure was driven almost entirely by penalties. Penalties, which accounted for 99.5% of all network fees, surged to $788,600 as operators struggled to adapt to the new, stricter requirements and higher standards of the v27 upgrade. 

Base and batch fees, meanwhile, fell to near zero as the protocol changes successfully reduced low-value, sector-related on-chain activity.

Growth in Real-World Datasets and Enterprise Integration

Filecoin concluded Q3 with 2,491 real-world datasets online, representing a 3% monthly increase. Of these, 925 datasets exceeded 1,000 TiB, reflecting increased interest from research institutions and data-intensive enterprises.

Partnerships in cultural and scientific storage expanded during the quarter as the Digital Public Library of America, Earth Species Project, Prelinger Archives, and the Rohingya Project began storing materials on the network. CROSSLUCID continued its marine-focused “Oceanic Whispers” project through a collaboration with RadicalxChange.

Ecosystem, DeFi, and Governance Developments

Token activity recorded minor changes, with FIL inflows rising to 25.43 million FIL and outflows edging down to 16.52 million FIL. In dollar terms, values declined due to a 5% drop in FIL’s price. Filecoin’s DeFi ecosystem continued to decline, with an 8.4% drop in total value locked to $27 million and a 7.1% decline in liquidity staking.

Network governance advanced through ProPGF Batch 1 allocations, the RetroPGF Round 3 launch, and continued expansion of the Fil+ Allocator program, which distributed more than 450 PiB of DataCap by September.

Related: Filecoin Fortifies Trust in AGI Development as FIL Price Shows Bullish Potential