The Filecoin Space Race schedule is coming to an end, and the computing power rankings of each company are basically determined. The computing power of the entire network has exceeded 200PiB, which is twice the upper limit of the effective computing power reward set in the original competition. During this space race, Filecion network bugs occurred frequently, and the network version was updated almost every day. Most miners worked overtime and suffered unspeakably. When the miners thought that the 21-day long-distance race was about to come to an end, the officials announced that they would continue the space race (open the second phase of the space race) until October 5th and last for 3 weeks.

The current global computing power ranking is as shown in the figure below. Interstellar Continent has merged two nodes and currently ranks first; Pomegranate Community has 16 nodes and is closely behind; Force Zone has 5 nodes and ranks third; Space-Time Cloud & Xi’an Because the transaction success rate is less than 80%, Lingdong is currently not entitled to rewards (72%, depending on the official judgment); it has been leading the way before, and now it ranks fourth based on single-node computing power.

On the evening of the 12th, Filecoin updated an article on the official Slack and official website called "Space Race 2 Opening Announcement", which indicates that the second phase of the space race will start. Judging from the official information, the second phase of the space race The test will be very different from the first phase of the test, but the time node will continue with the first phase of the test for a period of 3 weeks.

Next, we will interpret some key points of the second phase of the space race.

1 The second phase of the space race is more like a "pre-mining" before the mainnet goes live

If the first phase of the space race is compared to the "deletion test" before the game is officially launched, then the second phase of the space race is the "non-deletion public test". In the second round of the space race, the effective computing power of the package, A certain proportion of the pledged FIL and even the mined FIL test currency will be migrated to the main network.

This is more like the "pre-mining" of the mainnet launch. It is said to be the second stage of the space race. In fact, the mainnet competition has already begun, and even the accumulation of computing power will play a vital role in the subsequent distribution of FIL.

But why doesn't the official launch the mainnet directly, but hold a second phase of the space race?

The reason is that there are still various bugs in the Filecoin network, and even the key reward distribution parameters are difficult to determine. The number of miners and the increase in computing power have also exceeded official expectations. Network congestion, and even the problem of unsustainable mining caused by the wrong design of economic model parameters will make this Filecoin project that everyone has been looking forward to for three years be very questioned.

As the leader of the blockchain storage project, if there are major bugs or stagnation after the mainnet is launched, it will even have a negative impact on the entire decentralized storage track.

Therefore, after the end of the first phase of the space race, the second phase of the space race will be launched immediately, and even the accumulation of effective computing power in the first and second phases of the space race will affect the initial value of the effective computing power after the main network goes online, so that It seems that in order to give the filecoin mainnet a space for trial and error, it has left enough for the run-up stage and warm-up stage before the filecoin mainnet.

"I can have bugs because I'm still in the testing phase; I can modify economic parameters because I'm still in the testing phase; I can have news congestion because I'm still in the testing phase."

When the Filecoin Space Race runs everything smoothly, the frequency of bug fixes has dropped, and the parameters have basically been settled, the launch of the mainnet at this time will be much more "stable" and there will be no major mistakes.

2 The second phase of the space race is very different from the first phase

The goals of the first phase of the space race are very different from those of the second phase. The main purpose of the first phase of the space race is to "stress test" the Filecoin network to see if the Filecoin network can accommodate high-intensity effective computing power increments ; and the purpose of the second stage of the space race is to "simulate the mainnet launch scenario in all directions and prepare for the mainnet launch."

So the reward rule for the first phase of the space race is "In 3 weeks, miners will compete with each other to provide as much storage as possible for the network. The top 100 miners in the world and the top 50 miners in each continent will be based on their Share Filecoin rewards in proportion to the amount of storage realized by the network.”

Judging from the rules of the first stage of the space race, the amount of coins obtained by a single T, block explosion rate, and mining efficiency are meaningless for miners to obtain rewards, because the final reward only depends on the accumulation of effective computing power, so for miners , you only need to ensure 80% order success rate and increase its storage computing power as much as possible to get as many competition rewards as possible after meeting the reward ranking.

The accumulation of effective computing power has become the core goal for all miners to obtain rewards in the first stage.

In the second phase of the space race, the core goal is not only to conduct a "stress test" on the network, but also to determine the main network economic model parameters, simulate the Filecoin circulation model, and make the transition from the space race to the main network as smooth as possible. Stablize. This is the goal of the second phase.

Therefore, the reward for the second test is likely to be based on the FIL test currency that you actually dug out to map the FIL main network currency according to a certain proportion. This simulation is more realistic, and there is no provision for unlocking rewards based on the effective computing power; in terms of punishment In the initial stage, it will be looser than the main network (storage failure will be judged only if continuous mistakes are made).

At this stage, it is not possible to focus extensively on the growth of effective computing power like in the first stage, but to pay attention to detailed mining parameters such as the amount of coins obtained by a single T, lucky value, and block burst rate.

3 Significance and value of the second phase of the space race

The reward model of the second stage of the space race has moved closer to the reward model after the mainnet is launched, and even the effective computing power obtained can be mapped to the mainnet in proportion, which means that for the investigation of miners, the second stage of the space race is of great significance In the first stage of the space race, it can reflect the input-output ratio of FIL mined after the mainnet.

It is no exaggeration to say that under the second stage of the space race, the battle for the "head mine" of Filecoin mainnet mining has already begun.

The accumulation of effective computing power in the early stage is of great significance to the proportion of effective computing power in the entire network in the future. It is not only as simple as getting more FIL per unit of effective computing power in the early stage, but also determines the income of miners in the future. The miners' FIL coins look at the proportion of the entire network accumulated by FIL's effective computing power.

The second phase of the space race is crucial for all FIL miners. However, the specific reward parameters for the second stage of the space race have not been officially disclosed. We will analyze them for readers after the official announcement of the detailed competition rules. (Contributing author: Don't Sleep Editor: Wu Shuo Blockchain)