Filecoin and Coda Protocol are unrelated projects in the blockchain arena. What they have in common is big backers and the status of having their respective mainnets, or live networks, not yet online.
Yet — in what’s already proven to be a busy week for cryptoeconomy headlines — both upstarts have made fresh announcements that reveal each is respectively making strides toward bringing their mainnets online.
Where these projects will eventually settle in the wider blockchain and cryptocurrency ecosystem is an open question. But their builders are making the moves needed now to set these platforms up for potential success later.
Filecoin Unveils Testnet and Mainnet Timeline
Filecoin, the decentralized storage network created by the Protocol Labs team, is being created to let users exchange unused storage space through an open marketplace. And stakeholders in the project now have a target launch date for its mainnet: spring 2020.
That’s per a new Filecoin update this week, in which the project estimated its testnet launch would come on December 11th, 2019, and its mainnet activation would happen in March 2020. The Filecoin team noted these dates could be changed later, but they offer a general roadmap forward for now.
“The most important news in this update is that we’re getting very close to launching the network,” Filecoin said.
2019 Q2/3 Update is now live. We've announced our testnet launch date, progress made, and more! https://t.co/XUFcBnuj7I
— Filecoin Ecosystem (@Filecoin) September 24, 2019
The project, which counts among its investors Y Combinator and Winklevoss Capital, is being built as an incentive layer atop the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS), itself a decentralized data storage solution built by Protocol Labs. Filecoin will be comprised of blockchain and will have a native token, filecoin, that will be used in its storage transactions.
The materializing project is known in the cryptocurrency space for having conducted one of the most lucrative token offerings in 2017, a year when initial coin offering (ICO) buzz reached feverish proportions.
Facilitated through a Simple Agreement for Future Tokens (SAFT) model, the Filecoin ICO raised $205 million USD at the time. These SAFTs can be redeemed once the network’s mainnet is activated. Recently, Coinbase noted filecoin tokens were among a host of new projects the popular cryptocurrency exchange was considering adding support for.
Coda Protocol Creators Begin Paving Way for Mainnet
This week, O(1) Labs — the development company behind the “tiny blockchain in your browser” Coda Protocol project — announced they had enlisted the help of two influential industry experts to help make the succinct blockchain a reality.
Specifically, O(1) Labs has just established its so-called Testnet Advisory Board and has added Luke Youngblood and Zaki Manian to the group’s ranks as technical advisors. The body will be responsible for generally advancing the development of the Coda Protocol.
Hired by Coinbase earlier this year, Youngblood is known in cryptocurrency circles for being a key figure behind the launch of Tezos, as the engineer built out the staking infrastructure for the network on behalf of the Tezos Foundation.
“I’m excited about the potential of Coda to enable developers to build truly decentralized apps,” Youngblood said.
For his part, Zaki Manian is Head of Research at Tendermint, the team behind the Tendermint Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus algorithm. Now, he and Youngblood will help steer Coda Protocol on its own path toward fruition.
“The Testnet Advisory Board will allow us to iterate even more quickly towards a mainnet candidate,’ noted Evan Shapiro, co-founder and chief executive officer at O(1) Labs, in welcoming the new advisors.
It’s been full steam ahead for the project so far in 2019. Back in April, O(1) Labs announced a $15 million fundraising round that saw investments from Coinbase Ventures and beyond.
“Over the next few months, we’ll be inviting users to become more deeply involved with Coda,”O(1) Labs said at the time.