After many twists and turns | Filecoin mainnet is about to launch

According to the Filecoin official blog on September 28th, Beijing time, the Space Race test network will continue to run and gradually enter the main network through protocol upgrades and state transitions in the next 3 weeks, and the Filecoin main network will be officially launched at epoch 148888! It will reach this epoch around October 15th, and then it will start a period of monitoring and problem solving to ensure the normal operation of the network after the transition (in line with expectations). A week-long Filecoin main network launch event will be held from October 19th to October 23rd.

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

1. 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 - supporting not only storage mining, but also storage and retrieval transactions.

2. Ecological development

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

3. 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 Filecoin retrieval service powered by IPFS.

4. 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.

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 takes a phased approach to launching 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:

1. 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.

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

3. Hosts & Ecosystem Partners - Use this time to connect operations and stakeholders to the network.

4.SAFT Holders - Please check CoinList and your chosen custodian's emails for instructions on how to get set up on the network before mainnet ignition and during the mainnet transition phase. If you encounter any issues, please contact [email protected] or [email protected].

5. Implementation Developers - Strengthen testing, hardening, and interoperability between different Filecoin implementations, including lotus[PL], forest[ChainSafe], fuhon[Soramitsu], and go-filecoin[Original Force Zone].

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-discussion of implementation plans at biweekly core development meetings, as well as new changes approved by 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.

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 thoroughly tested the functionality, security, and resilience of the network.

We are excited to launch the Filecoin network on the solid foundation of the Space Race. A lot of work (both human and machine!) has been invested to increase storage capacity and make the Filecoin network more secure and distributed. Early miners have invested heavily in finding vulnerabilities, accumulating operational knowledge, and laying the foundation for a large number of packaging and storage hardware to be invested in 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 (which would lose all storage capacity). We still need to do some work on improvements and state transitions after the mainnet launch, but we will build them into chain upgrades instead of a hard reset. If you are a miner and want to join the Filecoin network, the second round of Space Race: Orbital Burn is the best way for you to start now!

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 count. Are you excited for Filecoin? This week is a great 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 attend all the events the community wants to celebrate Filecoin’s success. If you’re planning a local meetup or event (where regional health regulations allow), please 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 the launch period, 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].

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 biggest challenge as a community will come later as we work to upgrade the protocol, support more demanding use cases, and add new features to the implementation.

To withstand the pressure after the mainnet launch, we must carefully plan the upgrade path, dynamically respond to problems, and form a diverse community to jointly define the spirit, culture, and future of the Filecoin network. We have a solid launch pad, and now it is up to us to decide how to move forward in the stars.

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

Please note: many ecosystems have seen scams at launch - please be vigilant! Please be extra vigilant about any purchases and sales of Filecoin at mainnet launch - testnet FIL is not mainnet FIL! No one should ask you for your private keys or wallet recovery passwords, nor should you be asked to pay for the right to receive "gift coins". During the launch process, information will only be released through the official Filecoin Twitter and blog. If in doubt, please verify through multiple channels first.