What you should know about the launch of Filecoin mainnet

Filecoin is a decentralized storage network with built-in economic incentives to ensure that files are stored reliably over time.

The storage proof consensus protocol used by Filecoin not only ensures the security of the storage network, but can also be used for FIL token transfers. It also supports virtual machines for running cryptographic contracts and market mechanisms.

The Filecoin mainnet will be officially launched on October 15, 2020. Like other blockchains, Filecoin also has a native currency called Filecoin (FIL for short). Miners can earn FIL by providing data storage and retrieval.

About Filecoin Mainnet Launch

Filecoin uses a phased approach to launch the mainnet, adding participants in the ecosystem to the network at different stages, and finally officially launching the mainnet. Filecoin participants include: miners, storage users, custodians, applications, network services, etc.

In order to safely launch the mainnet, Filecoin launched the Space Race Rewards event, which aims to stress test the network, encourage participants from all over the world to participate, and help the Filecoin network and operators prepare for future usage, traffic, and performance on the mainnet. The Space Race is divided into two rounds.

Space Race Round 1

Time: 8.26-9.15 (ended)

Total rewards: 4.86 million FIL

Incentive target: Storage miners

There are three goals in the first round:

Stress testing and version iteration

Economic model testing (including staking, punishment, and release)

Provide FIL collateral for mainnet staking

The three-week space competition has ended, with a total of 356 miners participating, providing 230PiB of effective computing power for the entire network.

Space Race 2

The second round will be based on different fields of competition.

Field 1: Orbital Burn

Time: September 15th-October 5th

Incentive target: miners

Aims to incentivize miners to provide as much storage computing power as possible to the network, and to continue testing and improving the network's storage capacity.

Area 2: Slingshot

Portal: https://slingshot.filecoin.io/

Time: September 24-October 15

Incentive objects: storage users and developers

The aim is to encourage storage users and developers to store real and valid data in the test network and increase the value of the network. The ultimate goal is to carry 10PiB of valid data and unlock a 500,000 FIL prize pool.

In the space race over the past month, more than 500 miners contributed more than 500PiB of effective computing power, 399 storage users and applications performed more than 282,391 storages in the Slingshot competition, and various ecosystem participants jointly conducted comprehensive tests on the network's functionality, security, and resilience.

Mainnet launch

It has been confirmed that Filecoin will launch the mainnet when the Space Race network block height reaches 148,888. Based on the current average block speed of the Filecoin network (30s/block), the mainnet is expected to be launched around 23:00 on October 15.