Filecoin and Content Creators 🎨

The Upload V10

February 28, 2023

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 how Filecoin is creating the infrastructure for the next wave of content creators.

The Big File

How do decentralized technologies benefit content creators? It’s helpful to understand the flaws in today’s centralized internet model first. On other centralized platforms, a creator might take home cents for thousands of views, pennies on the dollar compared to the value of what they produce. And there is no guarantee their content will live on if the hosting company falters –– just look at Vine as an example of this.

By using decentralized technologies like Filecoin and IPFS, the next generation of social media companies will help ensure that creators are paid more fairly for their work and have more control over their content.

The Filecoin ecosystem offers many ways for creators to increase the impact of their work, allowing them to:

💾 ☁️ Access permanent storage with Lighthouse. Creators pay once to have their work stored long-term on the cloud through Lighthouse’s smart contract endowment pool. That storage is cheaper relative to traditional web2 storage because it is built on Filecoin and IPFS, with smart contracts on EVM-compatible chains like Ethereum, Polygon, and Optimism.

👨‍💻 💫 Monetize creations in the Monaverse. Creators get incredible resolution and unparalleled performance on the first metaverse world-building platform that lets creators mint and sell their online spaces — from immersive exhibits to stunning concerts — as NFTs directly on their web browser.

📟 🔢 Convey trust with Numbers. This novel blockchain uses IPFS Content IDs to make digital assets into standalone entities capable of “speaking” for themselves through accessible and transparent records.

🎺 🎼 Earn more for your music on Audius. Audius artists can keep 90% of the value of their content, with the remaining 10% going to fund network operations. It is powered by IPFS, which creates the only decentralized storage system without upfront payment or lock-ins.

Decentralization is paving the way for creators to finally get a fairer shake, and it’s made possible with IPFS and the Filecoin network.

The Event File

See what’s coming up and follow our full programming lineup here.

See you at ETH Denver! Filecoin Foundation will host the FVM Hacker Base from February 28 to March 1, running in parallel with ETH Denver. Stop by to network with Web3 friends and listen to thought-provoking panels conducted by industry experts. Plus, get an exclusive look at how the FVM will bring smart contracts and programmability to Filecoin from Protocol Labs Founder and CEO Juan Benet.

From the FIL-ing Cabinet

Discover news from across the Filecoin ecosystem.

FVM launches on March 14! The biggest network upgrade ever is bringing smart contracts & user programmability to the Filecoin mainnet. Read more about what the FVM unlocks on fvm.filecoin.io.

Filecoin Foundation and Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web released their 2022 annual reports.

  • ⚙️Filecoin Foundation supported the network through facilitating governance, funding critical development projects, growing the ecosystem, and advocating for the decentralized web, against the backdrop of an unprecedented level of data stored on the network.

  • 🚀Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web continued its support of the critical infrastructure needed to build a more open internet, exemplified through its engagements with nearly two dozen project partners.

Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web announced its collaboration to preserve humanity’s most important information with MIT Open Learning. Open Learning, an organization making MIT educational resources available to learners globally, is working on a three-year project to investigate how decentralized technologies can support Open Learning programs. The partnership was featured in the Boston Business Journal.

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.

Space Warp, the jam-packed program leading up to the launch of the Filecoin Virtual Machine in March, was Filecoin and FVM’s most successful hackathon yet! In collaboration with ETHGlobal, FVM Space Warp ran from January 20 to February 10 with overwhelming support from the developer community.

🚀⭐️🎉Congratulations to the Grand Prize winners:

FVM Spaceships (Grand Prize)

  • Eigen: EIGEN is a platform that hosts DAOs focused on training AI models

  • CollectifDAO: CollectifDAO is a non-custodial liquid staking protocol on Filecoin

  • Dora the tipset explorer: This project is a graph-like event indexer for the FEVM.

Read more about all of the category winners.

Impact Evaluator: Keep track of teams and their progress on the FVM Builders Leaderboard. Register to join the Impact Evaluator reward rounds, where the community votes on top projects to win prizes from a $75,000 prize pool over 12 weeks.

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)

Join us on March 27 at 15:00 EST for the first open Filecoin community governance call, organized by the governance team at Filecoin Foundation. Dive into protocol updates, governance best practices, and Filecoin Improvement Proposals (FIPs) –– no technical experience necessary!

FIPs 0049, 0054, 0055, and 0057 passed Last Call status.

  • FIP0054 introduces the Filecoin Ethereum Virtual Machine actor, which will allow the Filecoin protocol to run Ethereum-compatible smart contracts.

  • FIP0057 updates the Filecoin protocol gas calculation to support FEVM compatibility.

  • FIP0049 introduces a minimal design for actor events, including their schema, a new syscall, a new field in the MessageReceipt structure, and mechanics to commit these execution side effects on the chain.

  • FIP0055 introduces the Ethereum Account built-in actor to represent Ethereum Externally Owned accounts, capable of acting as message senders, and a new Delegated signature type.