Consensus and A Season of Cross-Chain Collaboration 💪

Welcome to the Filecoin Foundation newsletter, where we cover big ideas and news about the Filecoin ecosystem and the decentralized web. Today’s edition focuses on our presence in the Protocol Village at Consensus 2023.

Heading to Austin for Consensus?

 Filecoin Foundation presents the Protocol Village at Consensus 2023, April 26-28. Filecoin is the storage layer for Web3, and with the release of the Filecoin Virtual Machine, it’s easier than ever to build across chains. Protocol Village is where developers get a first look at crypto’s latest trends and dive deep into the topics critical to their ecosystems.

Visit the Filecoin team in the Village for the latest updates from teams building in the Filecoin ecosystem. Our experts will take the Protocol Village stage on Friday, April 28:

1:45 PM CT: Storage Is Only the Start: The State of Filecoin

2:05 PM CT: Unlocking the Open Data Economy With Filecoin Virtual Machine

2:25 PM CT: Filecoin: Inside the World’s Largest Decentralized Storage Network

Plus, you can hear from the leaders building other layer 1 protocols. Protocol Village is where developers come together to discuss the future of the foremost crypto projects.

Arriving in Austin earlier in the week? Connect with the Filecoin community ahead of Consensus at the Filecoin Network Base, April 24-26. Join us for lightning talks on Web3 and gaming, developer workshops, and the latest updates on the Filecoin Virtual Machine. Spanning three floors packed with programming and networking opportunities, the Network Base, hosted by Filecoin Foundation, is your go-to spot for cross-chain collaboration and connection in Austin. Each day we’ll cover new ground in the Network Base:

Monday, April 24

Join us for opening day of the Filecoin Network Base. Featuring sessions on gaming in Web3 and office hours to connect with our diverse network of partners in the Filecoin ecosystem. And stick around for a happy hour reception featuring vintage deep house vibes.

Tuesday, April 25

Web3 researchers and builders will share findings and lessons learned to answer some of the most pressing questions around cryptoeconomics at CryptoEconDay.

Wednesday, April 26

It’s Filecoin Network Day, with lightning talks highlighting Filecoin Foundation partners and SPs, plus data onboarding workshops and a deep dive on how to unlock cross-chain doors with the FVM.  

Did you know? There’s still time to partner with us at the Filecoin Network Base in Austin. Reach out to [email protected] to secure your place.

From the FIL-ing Cabinet

Discover news from across the Filecoin ecosystem.

Filecoin Foundation and Protocol Labs were on the ground at FIL Hong Kong, alongside the Hong Kong Web3 Festival. FIL HK brought together developers, storage providers, clients, and ecosystem partners in one of the world’s emerging hubs for Web3 innovation. Relive the week.

The Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web-supported Sacred Stacks project, "The Art of Cyborg Community" is now available, featuring insights from seven communities exploring the needs, ethics, and challenges of decentralized tech. Check out the NFT record at Metalabel or downloadable digital IPFS copy to learn from the first Sacred Stacks cohort.

You're invited to DWeb Camp 2023. Set in the beautiful redwoods near the Mendocino coast of California, DWeb Camp is a five-day retreat for builders and dreamers to connect, learn, share, and have fun as we work toward building a better, decentralized web.

Are you ready for the storm? Filecoin Network v19 "Lightning" arrives in April and v20 "Thunder" in May. Filecoin nv19 will be a standard upgrade, introducing all accepted FIPs, except for FIP0052, which is postponed until a later network upgrade. Filecoin Network nv19 introduces a new version of systems actor, which will require SP hardware updates. Included in the upgrade, FIP0061 introduces changes to the Filecoin proofs system. These proofs are the mathematical, cryptographic elements that secure and run the network. Since the proofs system is changing, a second upgrade is needed to ensure all protocol elements are upgraded successfully. V20 will be performed with no network downtime, no changes to FIPs or actors, and no SP upgrading. It is a "ghost" upgrade.

Come BUIDL With Us

A highlight of Filecoin Foundation’s Dev Grant recipients building new tools and services on the Filecoin network. Learn more about the program.

Do you have an idea for pushing the Filecoin ecosystem forward? Visit the Open Developer Grants GitHub to learn more about the available opportunities in our four featured categories:

• Developer and Data Tooling: Projects that close important experience gaps for developers or large dataset users.

• Applications: Projects that apply Filecoin, IPFS, or related technologies in novel ways to solve meaningful, real-world problems.

• Integrations: Projects that add integration or support for Filecoin, IPFS, or related technologies into popular, or fast-growing, existing tools and developer communities in Web2 or Web3.

• Research and Protocols: Projects aimed at improving the foundations of Filecoin, IPFS, and related technologies.

Questions? Reach out to [email protected].

Calling all bug hunters! The Filecoin Bug Bounty Program is live on Immunefi for your chance to win up to $500K in bounties for identifying bugs post-FVM launch.

FF developer advocates supported the SBS Boston Hackathon judging through Filecoin Green, which concluded on April 13. The hackathon targeted the intersection of Web3 and the environment and featured an emphasis on key Filecoin implementations, such as deploying solidity smart contracts to the FVM to compute over stored data, for a share of over $43K in prizes.

Over 500 smart contracts have already been deployed on the Filecoin Virtual Machine! Visit fvm.filecoin.io to join the global community of devs building on FVM.

FVM now comes as a preloaded network in Brave Wallet on desktop. This brings near-instant access to the FVM to Brave Browser’s 50 million+ MAUs. 

Apply for a Developer Grant

The Filecoin Dev Grants program helps advance projects and aims to award additional grants to boost development in the Filecoin ecosystem. Check out our other grant recipients and learn how you can apply for Open Grants and Microgrants.

Community Governance

Updates on Filecoin Improvement Proposals (FIPs).

FIP0052, FIP0060, and FIP0061 were accepted. FIP0060 and FIP0061 will be included in the nv19 Lightning Upgrade, and FIP0052 will be added in a later upgrade.

Do you want to better understand and help design Filecoin governance? Dive into protocol updates, governance best practices, and Filecoin Improvement Proposals (FIPs) with the FF Governance team on its monthly Open Governance Call – no technical experience necessary.