Driving Widespread Filecoin Adoption in 2024 — Here’s How to Get Involved

Three years after the Filecoin mainnet launch, we’re at a pivotal moment in the growth of the ecosystem. Adoption is up. Data on the network is up. And network utilization is up – fueled in part by a growing interest in DePIN for the data economy. 

As decentralized storage expands, some leaders across the Filecoin ecosystem have identified strategies for the next phase of network growth. In a recent Filecoin TL;DR post, they highlight 3 keys for further expansion in 2024:

1. Growing the storage client pipeline: A healthy pipeline, they argue, helps bolster the underlying businesses that have committed to building on Filecoin. This makes Filecoin more robust, resilient, and attractive for clients seeking battle-tested decentralized storage solutions.

2. More onchain activity: People and protocols paying to use block space is a sign of user adoption and activity. Network usability, deal renewals, and smart contracts are examples of onchain operations with quantifiable metrics that demonstrate the network's health and utility. 

3. Proving Filecoin’s value-add: Filecoin can be an indispensable tool for all companies that rely on big data. Mainstay tech companies looking to capitalize on the data economy can use the network for robust, secure, and low-cost data storage. Filecoin complements emerging compute protocols, making it the go-to solution for secure and decentralized data storage and archiving. With the emergence of more AI tools, every AI marketplace could offer Filecoin as the default storage option for data verifiability and traceability. This is a great opportunity for DePIN and compute networks to build on and build with Filecoin.

Ideas to Further Develop the Filecoin Ecosystem

In a recent blog post, Filecoin Foundation, one of many teams in the Filecoin ecosystem committed to the network’s growth, lays out seven ideas for driving widespread Filecoin adoption, plus seven ideas for community engagement.

Here are some ways you can get involved: 

1. Apply for a dev grant. Filecoin Foundation awards grant funding for critical development projects to foster a more decentralized, efficient, and robust foundation for humanity’s information. 

2. Join the governance conversation. The Foundation coordinates community governance of the Filecoin protocol. Through the Filecoin Improvement Proposal (FIP) process, our goal is to build a decentralized, innovative, and transparent system to support community decision-making and collective ownership of the Filecoin technology. 

3. Become a Filecoin storage provider. Anyone with access to a powerful computer and electricity can participate in the Filecoin network. This means anyone can build a business on Filecoin. 

4. Help build Filecoin communities. You can help drive network adoption by reaching out to your communities to get more teams involved through avenues like the Filecoin Orbit Ambassador program. 

5. Store what you’ve got. There are plenty of apps out there that serve different storage needs – whether it’s speed, security, long-term data preservation, enterprise-grade capacity, or ease of use. Check them out!

Growing the Ecosystem Together

As more organizations and individuals seek to harness the power of their data in new ways, the demand for a decentralized, secure, and verifiable storage solution will only continue to rise. Filecoin's unique architecture, combining blockchain technology with cryptographic proofs and economic incentives, positions it as the ideal platform to meet this demand.

Read more about these ideas for network growth on the Filecoin Foundation blog. 

Connect with us at Consensus 

The Filecoin community is headed to Consensus 2024, May 29-31. Find Filecoin Foundation and ecosystem teams at events in Austin throughout the week.

Drop by the Filecoin Booth (1254) to connect with members of the ecosystem and discover how the Filecoin network enables decentralized AI, compute, and DePIN – sitting at the cross-section of many scarce resources in the world today. A snapshot of talks happening at the Filecoin Booth: 

• May 29 at 11 AM: Data as an Asset Class | Porter Stowell, Head of Community, FF

• May 30 at 11 AM: Empowering Web3 and AI | Felicia Deng, CMO, Fog Works 

• May 30 at 12 PM: Decentralized AI Agents | Ron Bodkin, CEO, Theoriq 

• May 30 at 3 PM: Charting the 2024 Filecoin Roadmap | Clara Tsao, Founding Officer, FF

And don’t miss Filecoin Foundation President Marta Belcher on the Consensus Town Square Stage for a session on Defining Our Rights in a Digital Age, May 29, at 12:15 PM.

On Thursday, May 30, join Filecoin Orbit Austin and Filecoin Foundation for BBQ and networking at the Filecoin Orbit Web3 Fusion BBQ. 

Plus, check out demos and talks from the Foundation team at side events throughout the week, including Founding Officer Megan Klimen at Akash Accelerate and Senior Fellow Danny O’Brien at DeAI Day Austin. See you in Austin! 

Network News

Building a robust ecosystem for Web3 with Davis Post. On the latest episode of DWeb Decoded, David Post, co-founder of Helix and W3.io, discusses the challenges of enterprise blockchain adoption and opportunities for decentralized compute.

LabWeek Field Building is assembling leaders in frontier science and tech. Protocol Labs is hosting LabWeek Field Building, a weeklong decentralized conference co-curated with Foresight Institute. The event has four tracks: Neurotechnology, BCI, WBE; Human-AI Cooperation; Biotechnology and Longevity; and Extended Reality. LabWeek Field Building takes place June 10-16 at Edge Esmeralda, a pop-up event city in Healdsburg, CA. Learn more and apply to attend or speak.

Ecosystem Spotlight

Parasail is an incentive interface focused on creating seamless DePIN experiences. Working with Filecoin Storage Providers by aggregating hardware resources and DePIN users, Parasail breaks down silos and fosters strong synergies among various DePIN networks.

Governance 

Announcing Metropolis, a temperature check and crowdsource polling tool, built in collaboration with Canvas Technologies.

Learn more about Filecoin Plus Allocators and their crucial role in the Filecoin ecosystem on Filecoin Incentive Design Labs (FIDL).