A review of the history of Filecoin development

2020 is a turbulent year, a year of both opportunities and challenges. As State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in his speech on "International Situation and China's Diplomacy in 2020":

"2020 is a watershed year in human history. The sudden outbreak of the epidemic triggered a global crisis, the personnel exchanges between countries were put on hold, the world economic growth was put on reverse gear, power politics and Cold War mentality resurfaced, unilateralism and protectionism were rampant, human development was facing unprecedented risks and challenges, and the international situation entered a period of turbulence and change. At the same time, the evolution of the international landscape is accelerating, a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is ready to go, and human society has a deeper understanding of health and safety, peaceful development, win-win cooperation, and a shared future."

2020 is a year of both danger and opportunity. In the turbulent year of 2020, Filecoin conducted the second phase of the Filecoin test network and the Filecoin space race, completed the security audit and the construction of the cryptocurrency economy, and successfully launched the main network. 2020 is a milestone year for Filecoin. Today, as 2021 is approaching and the bell of the new year is about to ring, let us review the development history of Filecoin.

Filecoin project established

In July 2017, Protocol Labs announced the establishment of the Filecoin project. At that time, the IPFS network had stored 5 billion files and had a relatively large influence and popularity. In essence, IPFS transformed the on-demand download of the original P2P software into long-term storage of resources. However, the IPFS network is relatively loose, and the arbitrary withdrawal of users, the uncertainty of network quality, and the uneven performance of hardware resources make it impossible for IPFS to store resources with strong demand for service quality.

Therefore, IPFS needs Filecoin's incentive mechanism to attract a group of professional storage service providers to provide more professional, secure and stable storage services; Filecoin, as the only incentive layer of IPFS, is also highly anticipated.

Filecoin Completes Fundraising of 257 Million

In August 2017, just one month after the establishment of the Filecoin project, Filecoin attracted the favor of top international venture capital firms and completed fundraising of US$257 million, setting a record for early blockchain project financing at the time. It also attracted the attention of many blockchain enthusiasts, investors, and miners around the world, ushering in the "legendary era" of Filecoin.

Filecoin code is open source and the development test network is launched

On February 14, 2019, Beijing time, Filecoin code was officially open sourced and launched on the development test network. The Filecoin Project code base is free and open source. Anyone can install the software. Filecoin officially calls on everyone to understand the Filecoin code and contribute to its development. The open source of the code is a reflection of the decentralization, global participation, and open sharing of the Filecoin network. At the same time, it also means that professional developers can participate in the test network mining based on the source code. According to statistics, thousands of nodes around the world participate in the Filecoin network testing.

Filecoin holds first miner video conference

After the Filecoin code was open sourced and the development test network was launched, Filecoin officially held its first miner video conference for the community in May 2019. The meeting mainly provided a brief overview of the Filecoin project, discussed recent research and development updates related to mining, and answered questions about mining on the Filecoin network.

Filecoin's first phase test network is launched

On December 11, 2019, Beijing time, the Filecoin testnet (Phase I testnet) was officially launched. The Phase I testnet includes the implementation of interoperability testing, proof circuit optimization, and benchmark testing.

The testnet is a live test network for an interoperable implementation of the Filecoin protocol, with the goal of evaluating Filecoin at a meaningful scale and addressing any issues that may arise before launching the mainnet.

Filecoin's second phase test network is launched

On May 15, 2020, Beijing time, Filecoin’s second phase test network was launched.

The second phase of Filecoin's testnet is a function-based version. The second phase of the testnet uses v26 parameters, supports 32G and 64G sectors, focuses on achieving interoperability between lotus and go-filecoin, and implants relevant economic parameters.

The main purpose of the Filecoin Phase 2 testnet is to find and fix bugs and troubleshoot and resolve all issues before the Filecoin mainnet goes online so that we can have a complete, smooth, and stable Filecoin network.

Filecoin Space Race Begins

On August 25, 2020, the Filecoin Space Race officially kicked off. It is a collaborative competition designed to stress-test the network, encourage miners around the world to participate, and help miners prepare to run the world's largest decentralized storage network.

The space race is divided into two phases, SR1 and SR2. SR1 lasted for three weeks and involved hundreds of miners from around the world. It stored a total of 230PiB of computing power and has fully unlocked 1.5 million FIL rewards worldwide.

Filecoin officially releases new economic model

On August 28, 2020, Beijing time, Filecoin officially released a new economic model. The full text is 32 pages long. It proposed the "island economy" for the first time and elaborated on the principles and details of the Filecoin token economic model design.

Filecoin mainnet launched

At 22:44 Beijing time on October 15, 2020, the Filecoin network block height reached 148888, and the Filecoin network officially transitioned from the Space Race network to the Filecoin main network, marking the official launch of the Filecoin main network.

The launch of the Filecoin mainnet is an important step in the long march of distributed storage networks. It is a milestone in the development of IPFS, Filecoin network and even distributed storage networks.

FIP-0004 Proposal

In October 2020, after the Filecoin mainnet was launched, the mechanism of linear release of block rewards over 180 days led to low liquidity of Filecoin. Coupled with the staking mechanism, miners were "insolvent". In order to improve the liquidity of storage miners, the FIP-0004 proposal came into being.

The proposal changes the original 180-day linear release of miners' block rewards to "25% immediate release + 75% linear release", which will help alleviate the problem of insufficient liquidity and shorten the waiting time for miners.

Filecoin Liftoff Week

"Filecoin Liftoff Week" is an event to celebrate the launch of the Filecoin mainnet. It is held over five days (October 19-23, 2020). The theme of each day is different, ranging from the background of Filecoin's creation to the development of Filecoin's economy, to Filecoin's solutions and future prospects.

Filecoin has accepted Internet Archive database files

On October 23, 2020, Molly, a core member of Filecoin, posted on Twitter that the main network is now able to migrate all very important open data on the Internet Archive database to the Filecoin network. It will include thousands of movies and audiobooks with extremely rich content.

This marks that Filecoin is gradually carrying out its historical mission, preserving precious and useful data in human history, and laying a foundation for sustainable development for the development of human information society.

Filecoin network enters the EB era

At 9:00 am Beijing time on November 21, 2020, the effective computing power of the Filecoin network exceeded 1EiB, marking that the Filecoin network has officially entered the EB era.

The Filecoin network's 1EB storage space can store 29 billion 1080p movies, the capacity of 4,500 Wikipedias, and 685,000 years of continuous video calls, which is equivalent to 19 copies of the entire Internet archive.

The Filecoin project has been in existence for more than three years. Thanks to everyone who has paid attention to and chosen IPFS & Filecoin. It is because of everyone’s joint efforts that the Filecoin network has become better and better, and that the Filecoin network is expected to go commercial, become the underlying infrastructure of the blockchain, and promote the arrival and development of web3.0.

Every step forward is a new feat. In 2021, we are willing to continue to work with you on the road to distributed storage.