The decentralized file hosting protocol finally announces the date of launch. It was supposed to launch by the end of 2019 but got delayed due to some reasons, including the Coronavirus pandemic.
Filecoin is a data storage platform just like Dropbox, but it is fully decentralized. Filecoin’s mainnet will go live on October 15 at block 148,888. Filecoin raised $205 million from an initial coin offering (ICO) three years back, but the final launch date is announced in Q3 of 2020. According to Filecoin:
“The culmination of all our hard work is right around the corner. The Filecoin mainnet will officially begin at epoch 148888! We expect this epoch to land around Oct 15, which will begin a period of monitoring and problem solving to ensure the network is nominal (working as expected) after the transition.”
Encrypted Data Storage Platform
Unlike traditional data storage platforms, where data stores in warehouses, equipped with thousands of computers, Filecoin will store your data on the computers of other people. But the data will remain 100% secure due to encryption, and nobody can control it such as a third party. Normally, centralized bodies can monitor your data, but Filecoin removes the third party from the whole system after encrypting information. Filecoin explains its journey of the past three years in the words:
“From cutting-edge cryptography research, to complex protocol design & development discussions, to the many sleepless nights during Space Race debugging the live network – we’ve built something amazing together over the past 3 years. Launching a blockchain is like launching a software rocket, and it’s taken a whole interplanetary community to reach this point.”
Protocol Labs launched and initiated the project Filecoin in 2014. The aim of Protocol Labs was to provide an online secure data storage solution. The company also created IPFS to replace HTTP which was more protected. Its ICO happed in 2017, but it is delayed for some reason.
The company has also announced to hold online meetups, online conferences, and events to celebrate the launch.
