Filecoin testnet launched, the generated tokens have nothing to do with the mainnet tokens

At around 2 a.m. on December 12, Filecoin, a decentralized storage network that had repeatedly missed its deadlines, finally launched its public test network. This indicates that the test of the Filecoin network has officially begun.

It is worth noting that the Filecoin tokens generated during this testnet have nothing to do with the mainnet tokens. The official said that the Filecoin tokens generated in the testnet have no value, and the official Filecoin tokens will not be released before the mainnet is launched. According to the official announcement of Filecoin, the testnet phase will last until March 20, 2020, and the mainnet launch window will be from March 23 to April 24, 2020.

Test network situation: average block time is 45 seconds, and the effective computing power of the entire network exceeds 6 TiB

(Picture taken from the Filecoin test network blockchain browser, time: 8:00 am on December 12)

According to the Filecoin test network blockchain browser data, as of 8:00 a.m. on December 12, the average block time of the Filecoin test network was about 45 seconds, and the block height had reached 520.

The picture data shows that the current average gas fee of the Filecoin test network is 0.68, there are 2 blocks in the Tipset with a block height of 520, and the pledged collateral in the network is 1.4 FIL.

The top five nodes in terms of computing power are t0222, t0333, t0444, t01116 and t01081, with computing power values ​​of 1.25 TiB, 1.25 TiB, 1.25 TiB, 1.05 TiB and 1.03 TiB respectively. The miner computing power percentage chart shows that the nodes with the highest computing power percentage are t0444, t0333, t0222, t01116 and t01081.

In addition, as of press time, the total effective computing power of the network has exceeded 6 TiB (Odaily Planet Daily Note: TiB and GiB are both binary, TB and GB are both decimal, TiB and GiB have slightly larger capacity than TB and GB).

Official disclosure of mining hardware standards for the first time: 32GiB sectors, 512GiB disk storage space

Due to the popularity of the project, Filecoin mining was once praised as a god. Many investors began to stock up mining machines before the project was launched, and the trend of IPFS mining machines was also very popular. But the fact is that Filecoin officials have never disclosed the standard configuration of hardware equipment that supports Filecoin network mining.

After the test network was launched, Filecoin officially announced the standard hardware configuration of the test network for the first time.

Filecoin officials said that sector size and effective storage capacity are two key parameter indicators. The recommended standards for hardware are:

1. The sector size should reach 32GiB. At present, in order to facilitate miners to join the network more easily, the Filecoin test network temporarily supports 1GiB "test sectors", but such small sectors are unrealistic for the main network. The official said that after the test network is launched, a fork upgrade will be carried out to stop supporting 1GiB "test sectors";

2. At least 512GiB of disk storage space. Officials have confirmed that the demand for storage space may increase further after the mainnet is launched. If the storage space of the mining machine is less than 512GiB, it will not be able to obtain block rewards, and the completed storage work will not be counted in the total network computing power.

At the same time, the official also pointed out that there is no guarantee that this test configuration will still be applicable after the main network is launched. Therefore, the official recommends that if you need to purchase hardware to participate in the Filecoin test network test, the purchased hardware equipment should not exceed the number required for the test.

It should be noted that in the testnet mining, miners need to pledge to start mining. For each additional storage transaction, miners need to pledge more tokens. At present, the official has not disclosed more details about the pledge rules.

Roadmap: First go through 2 testnet stages, and the mainnet is expected to be launched in March 2020

According to the official roadmap, Filecoin needs to go through two testnet phases.

In the first phase of the testnet, Filecoin will be benchmarked and optimized. The official estimates that some bugs in the main components of Filecoin may be found in this phase. Therefore, in this phase, the official will focus on discovering and solving these problems to make Filecoin more secure, more efficient and more interoperable. The official reminder is that the first phase of the testnet will involve code changes. Filecoin is not a stable network yet and will be restarted at least once or even multiple times.

In the second phase of the testnet, the official hopes to have realized a Filecoin network that is secure, high-performance, and interoperable. The official will conduct at least two months of formal testing, verification, and security audits in the second phase. It believes that the core requirement for launching the Filecoin mainnet is security, and the official will not launch an unsafe network. If serious security issues are found, the official will extend the testnet phase.

For the mainnet launch, the Filecoin official team has prepared a four-week budget, and the mainnet launch window is from March 23 to April 24, 2020. The official said that this design is also to set up a buffer zone for the mainnet launch to prevent unexpected situations.