Filecoin is a token with fundamental value. Filecoin is like Bitcoin, but miners amass hard drives instead of hashing computers.
Just because you call something a blockchain or an ICO, that doesn't mean you aren't subject to normal laws.
Filecoin is a decentralized storage market - think of it like Airbnb for cloud storage - where anybody with extra hard drive space can sell it on the network.
The purpose of the Filecoin currency is to create a fungible token that can be spent to hire the miner network to store files. The first and foremost use of the currency is precisely this: locking it up as a reward to miners who successfully store data on the network.
