Filecoin mainnet is expected to be officially launched on October 15th. Learn everything you need to know in one article

On September 28, Beijing time, Filecoin officially released a blog post stating that it will gradually launch the Filecoin mainnet through protocol upgrades and state transitions. The Filecoin mainnet will be officially launched at epoch 148888, and is expected to reach this epoch around October 15. Then, a period of monitoring and problem solving will begin to ensure the normal operation of the network after the transition, and the Space Race testnet will continue to operate. Filecoin officials will also hold a week-long Filecoin mainnet launch celebration from October 19 to October 23.

The following is the full text of the blog:

Filecoin mainnet ignition and launch phase

Over the past few months, the Filecoin network has made incredible progress:

• Core protocol functions: In August, we completed the second phase of the mainnet proof-of-trust configuration, launched the drand mainnet with partners such as Cloudflare and Ethereum, published an in-depth article on Filecoin’s crypto-economy, and delivered a fully functional Filecoin implementation lotus 0.5.0 that can be used for mainnet launch - which not only supports storage mining, but also storage and retrieval transactions.

• Ecosystem Development: There are currently at least 85 organizations collaborating on the Filecoin network - creating applications, developer tools, infrastructure, and more. The Filecoin Ignition Program hackathon series and accelerators have attracted thousands of community members to participate, who learn, build, and launch their projects on the Filecoin network. Events include HackFS hackathon (hosted by EthGlobal), Spark University hackathon (hosted by En[code] Club), Apollo (hosted by Gitcoin), and Filecoin Launchpad (hosted by Tachyon) - together, they have fostered more than 230 new projects and more than 1,000 talented developers on Filecoin.

• Storage Users: As part of Space Race: Slingshot, many storage users have already landed on the Filecoin network - including users like Slate, which allows its users and applications to store and retrieve files. These users are built on the Filecoin developer API and tools like Fleek's Storage Daemon, Textile's Powergate, and Pinata's upcoming IPFS-powered Filecoin retrieval service.

• Storage Miners: In the past four weeks, more than 400 miners from 34 countries and regions across six continents uploaded 325+PiB of storage capacity to the Filecoin network. This is enough to hold 90 million 1080p movies, more than 1,400 copies of Wikipedia, or 7 times all the written works of human society since ancient times. This is indeed an extraordinary achievement. Never in the history of the Internet has a community been able to coordinate such a large storage capacity in a trustless distributed storage network.

Transition to Mainnet Ignition

Today, as we enter the mainnet ignition phase and get ready for the Filecoin mainnet launch, we are excited to share with you the stages and timeline of Filecoin's launch. Launching a blockchain is a complex and lengthy process, and like many other networks (such as Polkadot, NEAR, etc.), Filecoin uses a phased approach to launch the mainnet, adding different groups and communities to the network in phases until the mainnet launches.

Over the next few weeks, all parts of the Filecoin community — miners, users, custodians, applications, network services, and more — will join the network before the mainnet launch is complete. This pre-launch period, called Mainnet Ignition, gives network participants time to initialize, learn, set up their systems, and optimize their deployments. We are all counting down to Mainnet launch, but that doesn’t mean all the work is done. There is still a lot of work to do to ensure a great launch for the network:

• Storage Miners: Continue to add storage to the network during the Ignition Phase and prepare operations for mainnet launch as well as stress test storage and retrieval transactions.

• Users & Applications: Participate in our ongoing space race, Slingshot, to leverage Filecoin’s distributed storage capabilities to provide available, resilient data storage.

• Custodians & Ecosystem Partners: Use this time to connect operations and stakeholders to the network.

• SAFT holders: Please check CoinList and your chosen custodian’s emails for instructions on how to get set up on the network prior to mainnet ignition and during the mainnet transition phase. If you encounter any issues, please contact [email protected]@protocol.ai.

• Implementer developers: Increase testing, hardening, and interoperability between different Filecoin implementations, including lotus[PL], forest[ChainSafe], fuhon[Soramitsu], and go-filecoin[IPFSForce].

The mainnet ignition phase is also a good time to consolidate the Filecoin community's participation in network improvements and decision-making. Storage miners, community leaders, developers, users, and ecosystem partners can all participate in enhancing the network through the open Filecoin Improvement Process, and upgrade through cross-implementation discussions at core development meetings held every two weeks, and approve new changes through consensus among miners. Filecoin is fully functional, but we hope that the community can continue to develop and improve the Filecoin network by continuously updating the software after the mainnet is launched.

Mainnet launch transition phase

Over the past month, the entire Filecoin ecosystem has been completely focused on Space Race - our multi-track testnet bounty competition. This is a critical stage for the Filecoin project to adjust and upgrade the network in preparation for the mainnet launch - the entire ecosystem accumulates valuable knowledge and operational experience through large-scale real-time stress testing. Throughout Space Race, more than 500 miners landed more than 325PiB of storage in Orbital Burn, 265 user applications performed more than 40,000 storage and retrieval transactions in Slingshot, and together conducted a comprehensive test of the network's functionality, security, and resilience.

We are excited to launch the Filecoin network on the solid foundation of Space Race. A lot of work (both human and machine!) has been put into increasing storage capacity to make the Filecoin network more secure and distributed. Early miners have invested heavily in finding bugs, building operational knowledge, and laying the foundation for a massive investment in packaging and storage hardware for the network. The Space Race testnet will continue to run and gradually enter the mainnet through protocol upgrades and state transitions over the next 3 weeks, rather than setting up from scratch (and losing all storage capacity). We still have some work to do on improvements and state transitions after the mainnet launches, but we will build it into chain upgrades rather than a hard reset. If you are a miner and want to join the Filecoin network, Space Race 2: Orbital Burn is the best way for you to get started now!

Countdown to Mainnet Launch

The culmination of all our efforts is coming. The Filecoin mainnet will officially launch at epoch 148888! We expect to reach this epoch around October 15th, and then we will begin a period of monitoring and problem-solving to ensure the network is functioning as expected after the transition. A few days later, we will hold the Filecoin Mainnet Launch: a week-long Filecoin launch event from October 19th to October 23rd.

From cutting-edge cryptography research to complex protocol design and development discussions to the many sleepless nights debugging live networks during the Space Race - we have built amazing things together over the past 3 years. Launching a blockchain is like launching a software rocket, and it takes the entire interstellar community working together to get there. Thank you for being a part of this epic journey!

We know that the Filecoin mainnet launch is a highly anticipated milestone, so we want to give the community some time to make it meaningful. Are you excited for Filecoin? This week is the perfect time to hold online conferences, meetups, and events to celebrate the launch and explore the future of the Filecoin network together. We can't wait to participate in all the activities the community wants to hold to celebrate the success of Filecoin.

If you're planning a local meetup or event (where regional health regulations allow), get in touch!

Planning to launch a new product, application, or service around Filecoin? The mainnet launch period is a great time to highlight the great projects joining the network!

Consider launching at a conference or meetup during launch, or hosting your own launch event! If we can help promote your event or share your story, please reach out to us at [email protected].

Looking to the future after launch

Like any rocket launch, liftoff is just the beginning. The greatest momentum pressure on a rocket is after it leaves the ground, not before. Similarly, our greatest challenge as a community will be as we work to upgrade the protocol, support more demanding use cases, and add new features to the implementation. To withstand the pressures after the mainnet launch, we must carefully plan our upgrade path, respond dynamically to issues, and form a diverse community that together defines the spirit, culture, and future of the Filecoin network. We have a sturdy launching pad, and now it’s up to us to decide how to move forward into the stars.

Building this rocket with you all has been a major feat - let's get it ready for launch now!

NOTE: Many ecosystems have seen scams at launch - be vigilant! Be extra vigilant about buying and selling Filecoin at mainnet launch - testnet FIL is not mainnet FIL! No one should ask you for your private keys or wallet recovery password, or pay for the right to receive "gifted coins". During the launch process, information will only be released through the official Filecoin Twitter and blog. If in doubt, verify through multiple channels first.