PL Updates 2/26: Countdown to ETHDenver & More!
Get ready for ETHDenver 2024, discover Rarilabs' new Freedom Tool for secure voting, SciOS's push for AI & open science in Denver, and Lit Protocol's new phase in digital security.
⭐Countdown to ETHDenver 2024!
Are you ready? ETHDenver, set for February 23 to March 7, 2024, in Denver, Colorado, is a major event in the blockchain and Ethereum innovation space. Organized with the support of the Filecoin Foundation and various community contributors, the event will host a range of activities including technical workshops, keynote speeches, and a hackathon.
Here is a list of PL events happening around ETHDenver from Feb 29 - Mar 8 in Denver, CO:
Feb 29: FIL Dev Summit
Feb 29: Edge City Denver x Protocol Labs
Feb 29: Mar 3: Filecoin Booth at ETHDenver, Booth 204 in Devtopia, sponsored by Filecoin Foundation
Mar 1: Filecoin Orbit Ecosystem Showcase & Happy Hour. Immerse yourself in the Filecoin ecosystem and connect with experts and like-minded community members. Register here.
Mar 2: PL Meetup @ ETHDenver
Mar 4 - 8: PL Colo(rado) Cowork in Breckenridge, Colorado. Learn more about the Cowork week on our attendee guide.
You can find more information about lodging options here, and those interested in speaking at the event can apply at ETHDenver's Speaker Application.
* Join our Telegram group to learn about PL gatherings and network with the community! And add your ETH Denver Filecoin events to this calendar.
⚙️ New Tool Alert: Rarilabs Introduces the Freedom Tool
Shipped: February 2024
What It Is: Rarilabs has introduced Freedom Tool, an open-source software designed for citizen-run, anonymized elections and polls. This tool addresses the critical challenge of conducting digital identity checks while safeguarding users against tracking and surveillance. It empowers anyone, anywhere, to establish voting systems independent of state control, offering a voice to those who are otherwise silenced.
Why It’s a Big Deal: With over 64 countries heading to election polls this year, many under authoritarian regimes, the need for an untraceable, secure means of expressing dissent is more urgent than ever. Freedom Tool's innovative use of zero-knowledge cryptography and blockchain technology ensures that citizens can vote without fear of retribution, making it a critical asset in the fight against oppressive governance.
The Big Picture: By leveraging cutting-edge technology to protect users' identities and votes, Freedom Tool shifts the power back to the people, allowing them to define electoral terms, candidates, and eligibility. This initiative is part of a broader vision to embed privacy into the digital identity layer, promising a future where digital interactions are secure, anonymous, and user-controlled.
Learn More: To learn more about how Freedom Tool is setting a new standard for privacy and democracy, check out the White Paper.
💻 Empowering Open Science: SciOS Workshops in Denver
Join us at the Scientific Coordination Infrastructure and Operating Systems Workshops (SciOS) from February 26th to 29th in Denver, Colorado. This collaborative event is a hub for technicians and engineers to forge solutions for a FAIR and AI-enhanced scientific ecosystem. Engage in pivotal discussions on decentralization, data networks, and more. Learn more here.
🎥 New Episode Alert: Reimagining Digital Freedoms
Don’t miss the latest Exploring... episode with Zhanna Sharipova, co-founder and CEO of Anytype, as she shares her journey from participating in protest movements in Russia to challenging the centralized control over digital spaces. This conversation offers a thought-provoking look at the potential for individuals to reclaim control over their digital presence, free from intermediary constraints.
Feedback Request: Shaping Filecoin's Scalability with IPC
The InterPlanetary Consensus (IPC) team is on a mission to revolutionize scalability within the Filecoin network. Aimed at empowering developers, IPC seeks your input to refine its approach. Share your insights on desired features, challenges, and utilities to enhance your development experience on Filecoin. Your feedback is invaluable and you can contribute to this quick 3-minute survey here.
📈 Expanding the Network
We're thrilled to welcome Glow Carbon Credits to the PL network! The team is pioneering sustainability efforts by participating in a carbon incentive program focused on supporting solar farms. These farms commit all of their revenue to the development of future solar projects, catalyzing a significant shift towards renewable energy sources. Learn more here.
📡 Network Radar
PL Architect, in collaboration with Filecoin and InterPlanetary Consensus (IPC), launched the Data Economy Hackathon. This event invites developers to harness the Protocol Labs Ecosystem, focusing on maximizing data utility, innovating for scalability with IPC, and enhancing the Filecoin network through dApps. Learn more and sign up here.
The Uniswap community voted to deploy Uniswap V3 on the Filecoin Virtual Machine (FVM), driven by a proposal from Michigan Blockchain. This aims to bolster the decentralized data economy, allowing seamless swaps of tokens, NFTs, and more within the Filecoin ecosystem. For more details, you can explore the full discussion and deployment specifics here.
Swan Chain introduced a Universal Basic Income program (zk-UBI), leveraging its Ethereum layer 2 AI computing blockchain for decentralized zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) computing. This initiative aims to support Filecoin's zk-SNARKs, offering computational tasks for rewards within Swan's ecosystem. Learn more here and check out our report on the Future of ZK Proofs if you haven’t yet!
GLIF has raised $4.5 million in a seed funding round led by Multicoin Capital, aiming to enhance Filecoin's DeFi ecosystem. Learn more here.
Check out the new ETHGlobal Guides to learn new skills, explore the ecosystem, and get acquainted with technologies like libp2p, Filecoin, and MetaMask Snaps to name a few. These guides are a perfect starting point for beginners to start their journey in Web3 or for anyone who is curious to learn more.
Join David Sneider, a co-founder of Lit Protocol, as he discusses the critical role of decentralized key management in enhancing digital security on the latest Founders episode of Building Web3.
Audit Wizard secured $2.1M in pre-seed funding led by 6th Man Ventures to enhance smart contract security for developers and auditors.
📅 PL Events
Bookmark the PL Events page to stay up to date! Here are upcoming highlights:
Jan 8 - Mar 5: Mona's 3D Object Buildathon: Unleash Your Creativity! in Denver, CO.
Feb 29 - Mar 2: ETHDenver 2024 and peripheral PL events in Denver, CO (see above).
Apr 5 - 8: FIL Hong Kong hosted by NDLabs alongside Hong Kong Web3 Festival in Hong Kong.
Apr 13 - 14: Funding the Commons in San Francisco, CA.
Network Resources:
📝 Tips?
Have a suggestion for the next PL Updates newsletter? We’d love to hear from you! Contact Sara Hamdan at sara.hamdan@protocol.ai.