In this post, we share what’s next on our roadmap and a tool you can use to follow milestone timing estimates.
As we announced in this blog post, we launched the Filecoin testnet (on schedule!) and are now in a period of significant testing, benchmarking, and optimizations. The purpose of the testnet is to evaluate Filecoin at meaningful scale and fix any bugs so we can ensure a secure, performant, and interoperable mainnet. Read more about the testnet launch and how to participate in making this network successful here.
We have updated our public roadmap document. In rough terms, this is where we are (these phases are not equally long).
What’s next
Looking ahead to mainnet launch, here are the critical path workstreams, their rough durations, and dependencies.
Testnet phase 1. There will be significant testing, benchmarking, and optimizations of Filecoin during Testnet phase 1. Because this is our first test network with meaningful scale, we may discover bugs that require reassessment of major components of Filecoin. During this period, we will fix these issues so that Filecoin protocol and implementations are secure, performant, and interoperable. Testnet phase 1 will involve high-velocity development and non-trivial code changes. Note: testnet will not be a stable network and will be restarted at least once, and possibly several times.
Testnet phase 2. After phase 1, we expect to enter Testnet phase 2 with multiple secure, performant, and interoperable Filecoin implementations. Testnet phase 2 will mark a feature freeze and be a minimum two-month period of formal testing, validation, and security audits. As a reminder, our most critical requirement for mainnet launch is that Filecoin is secure; we will not launch an insecure network. If we discover any critical security issues, we may extend this phase.
During Testnet phase 2, we will also launch a number of initiatives:
Trusted setup ceremony phase 2: During Testnet phase 2, we will begin the second phase of the trusted setup ceremony. Learn more about how to participate in the trusted setup ceremony here.
Updated hardware testing configurations for mainnet: We will publish updated mainnet hardware testing configurations during Testnet phase 2. You can read about our latest testnet hardware configuration here.
Dev tooling collaborations: We aim to launch mainnet with a richer developer toolkit for building applications on Filecoin. We’re looking for collaborators to help us build these tools and a great Filecoin developer experience. (If you’re interested, please submit a proposal to the Filecoin DevGrants program! The second wave closes January 15, 2019.)
And more!
This is just a preview of some ecosystem initiatives. We will describe these programs in greater detail on our blog; stay tuned for more!
Mainnet launch. Finally, we are budgeting a four-week window for mainnet launch and any necessary preparations. We aim to launch near the beginning of this window, but we have included a buffer in case unexpected circumstances arise.
Roadmap Tooling
We recently assembled a public Gantt chart that allows us to share our critical path workstreams and updated timing information. The tool looks like this 👇and can be accessed at this link.
The milestones we discussed in the previous section are in the Gantt chart. We will directly update this tool when we have updated timing information.
Upcoming Milestones
Rough timing for our upcoming milestones are:
Testnet phase 1: Now - January 17, 2020
Testnet phase 2: January 20 - March 20, 2020
Mainnet launch window: March 23 - April 24, 2020
As always, these dates are best estimates, and could potentially shift. We are providing this more granular view into our roadmap because our community has overwhelmingly requested more frequent, “best estimate” updates, even if they may end up changing. We are doing our best to provide accurate timing information, but please understand that this information is not static – it will change.
We hope that this tool will be useful as we move into the home stretch towards mainnet launch! As always, thank you for your continued support. Onwards!