Filecoin’s Space Race testnet will hand out 4 million FIL in rewards

Filecoin, a blockchain-based platform that allows users to rent their unused hard drive space, will see the launch of its incentivized testnet, Space Race, on August 24, according to a press release.

Space Race is a collaborative competition that will allow users and developers to stress test, or operate the network at high capacity, in order to ensure it does not falter at launch. This helps avoid any network error—or even complete closure—when the mainnet is eventually rolled out.

So far, demand is booming. Filecoin has already seen more than 240 miners from around the world start preparing to participate in the testnet, with upload speeds reaching over 1 TebiByte (1099 Gigabyte) per second, the release said.

Molly Mackinlay, project lead at the peer-to-peer file storage protocol IPFS, Filecoin’s parent body, commented, “Filecoin would be nothing without its robust and passionate community. [it] is a hugely ambitious and complex project that takes time to build.”

“We’re immensely grateful to our dedicated miners for their help diagnosing issues, proposing fixes, and stress-testing the network in exciting ways,” she added.

Hello, Web3 world: HackFS builders ready for Filecoin launch

One by one, from all over the world, the builders log on to the live, HackFS webcast. “Hi from Korea,” says Apple Kim​, whose words appear in the virtual conference’s chat sidebar. “Hei fra Oslo,” says Thor Kamphefner. “Hello from Portland, Me,” says Matthew Johnson. “​Hi guys,” says Angel Molina, from somewhere in the world. “What a time to be alive XD.” It’s July 6, yet another day in the endless doldrum of stay-at-home quarantine days—but this day, for these people at least, offers a bit of...

As part of Space Race, all miners on the Filecoin testnet can compete for a reward of up to 4 million FIL. While FIL tokens are not yet live, IOU tokens that bet on the future price of FIL are currently worth $15. If this price turns out to be accurate then the 4 million FIL tokens would be worth $60 million. The tokens will be handed out as prizes in the next three weeks, with the winners chosen from those who are lending as much storage space to the network as possible. 

The top 100 miners globally, as well as the top 50 miners from each continent, will be eligible to earn the Filecoin rewards. In addition, the 20 largest reward winners will split a prize of 100,000 FIL (estimated at $1.4 million) based on the number of block rewards they collect.

Filecoin prepares for launch, two years after $205 million ICO

Decentralized storage provider Filecoin announced in a blogpost yesterday tentative dates for the launch of its alphanet, testnet and mainnet. The alphanet will go live today, and, if all goes to plan, the testnet will go live December 11, and the mainnet will launch March 2020.  Filecoin’s protocol lets anyone rent out spare storage space on their computer to other users on the network. “Think of it like Airbnb. You had people with rooms that weren’t being used; Airbnb built a marketplace for t...

The incentivized testnet comes three years after Filecoin raised over $200 million in 30 minutes in an initial coin offering. But after multiple delays and pushbacks, the protocol is finally gearing up for launch.

Update: The estimate of the total value of FIL tokens has been updated.