Welcome to the July 2022 edition of the Subspace Network Ecosystem Updates
TL;DR
- Gemini recap: 13k+ active nodes, 3.9+ petabytes of space pledged
- 0.5% of total token supply at mainnet launch allocated to Gemini Phase 1 participants to reward early adopters
- 266,872.4 tSSCs were farmed and distributed to 13k+ unique reward addresses during Gemini Phase 1
- Received over 1,600 applications for our Ambassador Program!
- Core contributors of the Subspace Network allocated 1% of the total token supply to the Ambassador Program
- Substrate Builders Program Milestone II complete
Engineering Updates
- Preparation and launch of the incentivized testnet Gemini 1a and soon after Gemini 1b
- Consensus voting feature for increased (by 10x) farming reward frequency
- Official AArch64 builds for Linux and macOS
- Full node support in addition to archival node for reduced usage of disk space
- Performance improvements for farming process
- GPU-accelerated plotting on AMD and Intel in addition to Nvidia via OpenCL
- Desktop app release with Gemini support and numerous improvements
- X-Net test network launch with decoupled execution turned on
- Validation of Polkadot’s GRANDPA consensus in pallet-feeds
- Early work on distributed storage network for farmers (and later for nodes) to sync from other farmers
- Initial work on Subspace light client library
- Initial fast sync support (doesn’t execute transactions during initial sync)
- Experimental support for farming on multiple disks without RAID array with improved performance
- Contributing guidelines on GitHub
Substrate Builders Milestone II Completion
The core contributors of the Subspace Network are excited to share that our engineering team completed the Substrate Builders Program: Milestone II with outstanding execution across the board, from code quality, to documentation, to fork management, and code lineage / license attribution, tests and benchmarks.
Key Deliverables from Substrate Builders Program Milestone II:
- Implement a decoupling of consensus and computation between farmer and executor nodes, as described in their technical whitepaper, based on a fork of Cumulus
- Launch Gemini Incentivized Test Network Phase 1 to begin onboarding farmers and building storage capacity
Gemini Incentivized Testnet Phase 1 Recep
On May 31, 2022, the Subspace Network launched the Gemini Incentivized Testnet and concluded phase 1 on June 27, 2022. At the end of phase 1, there were 13k+ community-run active nodes with 10k+ nodes fully synced and successfully participating in consensus. With 3.9+ petabytes pledged to the network, we were able to successfully stress-test our network at a global scale.
To stay true to the project’s vision of creating a true decentralized blockchain network, the network was permissionless from day one, allowing anyone to join. To lower the entry barrier further, the core contributors provided a few options to make farming more accessible and inclusive for everyone to join regardless of their technical savviness.
The Subspace Desktop Application for example, is perfect for beginners since it’s easy to set up and use, just like any other desktop application people commonly use.
Additionally, anyone can pledge disk space to start farming without buying or staking any token or investing in expensive hardware.
Thanks to all the community feedback, we gathered incredible insights to improve the farming experience for Gemini Phase 2. We are very thankful for the relentless perseverance our community members have demonstrated along the way.
To stay on top of what’s happening with the Subspace Network, join our amazing community in Discord and keep an eye on our forum for all future announcements.
Subspace Network Discord: http://discord.gg/subspace-network
Subspace Network Forum: https://forum.subspace.network/
Subspace Network is Permissionless and Community-First
Subspace is a permissionless network created with the vision of our community governing and taking ownership of the ecosystem in the long term. The core contributors of the Subspace Network are working tirelessly to make that a reality by building a solid foundation for our community that will allow the ecosystem to thrive.
In line with that philosophy, the largest percentage of the total token supply has been allocated to the Subspace Network farmers and broader community. Stay tuned for a future post covering the network tokenomics.
Special Gift for Early Adopters
Initially, we allocated 0.3% of the total token supply to Gemini Phase 1 farmers who successfully participated in consensus and farmed at least 0.1 tSSC. While the allocation is quite large, we know how much effort it takes to follow the network bootstrapping process. So after some thought, we decided to allocate an additional 0.2% to all farmers who farmed at least 0.1 tSSC during Gemini Phase 1 as a token of appreciation for all the small farmers who played a vital role in network testing during this phase.
The additional 0.2% will be split equally among 13,106 reward addresses listed in the spreadsheet we shared with our community in an announcement in July. In short, every farmer who successfully synced and farmed at least 0.1 tSSC during Gemini Phase 1 will receive their percentage of the initial 0.3% AND receive an additional ~0.00001526% of the total token supply.
For more details, please visit our forum for our full announcement about the Special Gift and check out the answers to the frequently asked questions for rewards: Gemini Phase 1 Reward FAQ.
Contributing to the Network
For our community members who are interested in contributing to the Subspace Network codebase, please check out the latest Contribution Guideline.
For improvement discussions or any support question you may have, please use the Subspace Network Forum. The forum is our official technical support channel where you will receive the fastest responses from the core contributors. Our Discord is also a good place to connect with and get support from other amazing community members.
It is important to note that GitHub is primarily used by developers working on new features, code improvements, and bug fixes. Prior to making any contributions, please make sure to read the guidelines for expectations and recommendations.
Ambassador Program
The Subspace Network ambassador program is one of the initiatives accelerating the process of realizing our vision of a community-led ecosystem. By the end of 2023, we plan to onboard at least a few hundred ambassadors, fueling a widely distributed community with many self-organized clusters worldwide.
Due to the program’s significance, we have allocated 1% of the total token supply to the Ambassador program, making it one of the biggest across all major blockchain projects. Ambassador candidates who pass screening and the initial trial phase will qualify for a token grant commensurate with the seniority level in the program. You can find all the details about the program here.
While every member of our community plays a vital role in the network, the selection process for the Ambassador Program is very competitive and rigorous to ensure we set a high bar from the beginning. Unfortunately, based on current circumstances, we will only be able to select around 20 new ambassadors at this time out of the 1,600 applicants. For those who applied but have not been chosen, please do not be discouraged; there will be many more opportunities to apply for the Ambassador Program in the coming months and years.
Please check out the latest announcement about the Ambassador Program in our forum to learn how to start contributing to the network and strengthening your qualifications.
Events
Jeremiah at the Stanford Center for Blockchain Research
Jeremiah gave a talk at the Stanford Center for Blockchain Research, presenting the security analysis for the Subspace Consensus
Nazar at the WASM Conference
Nazar spoke at the WASM conference about the how Subspace overcomes performance challenges inherent in current blockchain designs and ways to optimize execution in Substrate’s pallet contacts and WASM Runtime environment.
Silicon Valley Ethereum Meetup
Jeremiah presented an overview of the Subspace tech stack at the Silicon Valley Ethereum Meetup.
Weekly Office Hours
The Subspace Network core contributors hold Office Hours in our Discord server to answer any questions from the community. Office Hours is a great place to ask questions directly to the team.
Subspace Network YouTube Channel
If you didn’t know, all engineering meetings are recorded and uploaded to the Subspace Network official YouTube channel for full transparency. You can follow the progress of the core contributors of the Subspace Network each week!
We’re Hiring!
If you’re passionate about blockchain, crypto, or Web3 and interested in making an impact, please check out the open roles on our career page.
Subspace Network Forum
We would like to remind everyone that our forum is our official technical support channel. Within Discord, the team will try our best to help on a best-effort basis, but please expect it to be primarily peer-to-peer support.
We have added a Feedback category in our forum where you can share your valuable opinions with the core contributors of the Subspace Network. Whether you’re excited about Subspace or confused about what’s happening, we’d love to hear from you.
Thank you for the continued support and we look forward to seeing you in our community!
Subspace Network Ecosystem Update | July 2022 was originally published in Subspace Network on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
