Round 1 / Filecoin Station

Filecoin Network Health: The first use cases deployed to Station are all auxiliary networks and protocols for improving and growing the Filecoin Network, with the very first one being the Spark Protocol.

The Spark protocol is sampling retrievals from Filecoin Storage Providers for files stored through the FIL+ LDN program, aiming to measure, improve upon and then maintain a high retrieval success rate for the Filecoin Network. The Station network is the perfect fit for the Spark protocol as it offers a heterogeneous and geo-distributed set of nodes from which to make retrievals, ensuring that Storage Providers are not able to ascertain which clients are creating the sample traffic and which clients are creating the real traffic.

Web3 UX: The UX for new operators has been the top priority of the Station initiative. The UX for getting set up on Station is very straightforward and doesn't require technical chops. Operators often remark on how simple it is to get set up and start earning FIL. Whereas becoming a Storage Provider takes a lot of technical and financial clout and is a very serious undertaking, running a Filecoin Station node can be done by anyone with a computer, and it simply runs in the background. Once onboarded, new Station Operators have taken the first step towards learning and understanding more about the Filecoin Ecosystem.