James Cirrone

Decentralized storage solutions appear to be gaining credibility with the scientific community and non-Web3 clients.&nbsp;



The Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, an Australian medical organization with over 230 scientists and 23 laboratories, has selected Filecoin as its preferred method to store its massive volume of research.&nbsp;



Established in 1994, the institute was officially inaugurated by the late Princess Diana.



Nearly thirty years later, that same institute has parked roughly 137 terabytes of cardiac research data with the Distributed Storage Solutions (DSS), a top storage provider on the Filecoin network, according to a statement shared with Blockworks.



Todd Ryman, the institute’s IT director, said that the move over to Filecoin officially began in September 2022. Published public data started getting ported over in November 2022.&nbsp;



Ryman said the reason the institute ditched “on-premises storage systems” and cloud-based solutions was because <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/filecoin">Filecoin</a> offered cost savings.



The institute is no longer “charged excessive fees from cloud providers if we need to restore any of this data,” Ryman said.&nbsp;



And as previously mentioned, there is a lot of data.



A <a href="https://destor.io/victor-chang-cardiac-research-institute-case-study">case study</a> published by Filecoin DeStor explained that the institute’s SyncroPatch machine — a medical instrument that can study cardiovascular cells — can generate 20,000 data points per day. Therefore, it produces terabytes worth of data on a weekly basis.&nbsp;



Ryman told Blockworks that Filecoin’s decentralized nature and emphasis on data integrity makes it a good fit for the institute’s needs.



“The decentralized architecture enhances data redundancy and durability, reducing the risk of data loss due to hardware failures or other localized incidents. Filecoin&#8217;s use of blockchain technology ensures that data integrity is maintained, making it suitable for preserving valuable research findings,” Ryman told Blockworks.&nbsp;



According to Stefaan Vervaet, the head of network growth at Protocol Labs, the Filecoin network comprises 3,500 storage provider nodes, often referred to as validators. These nodes cryptographically verify on-chain data daily. Protocol Labs is a key contributor to Filecoin.&nbsp;



Additionally, Vervaet told Blockworks the data, including the cardiac institute’s data, isn’t stored on-chain. Rather, “the hash that represents the data is stored on-chain.”



This means data on the network isn’t identified by an IP address, its name, or its file type. The hash, Vervaet said, is essentially a user’s “unique handle” to get to the desired content, which would be stored on DSS or any of the other storage providers on Filecoin.



Sharing data with other researchers, something that’s crucially important in the field of medical science, is also something that Ryman says is possible with Filecoin.&nbsp;



“With Filecoin&#8217;s distributed storage and retrieval mechanisms, we can easily provide any researchers with access to specific datasets without the need for large-scale data transfers,” he said. “This enhances collaboration and accelerates research outcomes by facilitating seamless data sharing while maintaining the privacy and security of our datasets.”



The Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute isn’t the only respected body to use Filecoin. Other clients include the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Utah, and known Web3 players such as <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/solana">Solana</a> and <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/opensea">OpenSea</a>.



With its nearly 1700 clients, Filecoin has onboarded 1.5 EiB of data.&nbsp;



To put that in perspective, that 1.5 EiB equals 1.7 billion gigabytes. That’s roughly equivalent to the storage capacity of 13.5 million base model iPhones.



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Australian cardiac institute ditches cloud storage in favor of Filecoin

Macauley Peterson

In a period when venture funding is relatively scarce, hackathons and accelerator programs are a prime way for budding developers teams to get rolling and draw attention.



Longhash Ventures’ Web3 accelerators arm, LongHashX, a veteran at running the latter, announced Thursday the details of its next cohort building on Filecoin.



Partnering with Filecoin’s research and development company, Protocol Labs, the “FVM Genesis Cohort” focuses on the Filecoin Virtual Machine, or FVM, which invites decentralized app (dapp) developers familiar with Ethereum and the <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/evm">EVM</a>.



Filecoin’s FVM launched in March, but Protocol Labs and LongHash have jointly run three prior accelerator cohorts since 2020.



Longhash is a devotee of the multichain thesis, according to chief operating officer Stefano Bury.



“One of the critical components of that is decentralized storage and hence we love the Filecoin ecosystem and we love to invest in venture building — in teams that are building in that space,” Bury told Blockworks.



The global, fully remote accelerator program will start in mid-October and is accepting applications until Sept. 30. Five teams will be selected to receive $200,000 in <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/venture-capital">funding</a> in exchange for a 4% equity stake.&nbsp;



The program also includes a 12-week curriculum, mentorship and access to LongHash’s network of founders and investors.



A concurrent Builders&#8217; Fellowship Program will select 20 to 25 projects and offer technical and developer support from Protocol Labs alongside workshops and mentoring sessions with LongHashX Venture Builders.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">New focus on AI</h2>



The latest cohort is expected to focus largely on use cases related to artificial intelligence (AI), DeFi, and decentralized social.



One example with an AI hook is the burgeoning field of prompt engineering — for example, how users direct AI models such as Stable Diffusion to produce a desired output.



Sarah Thiam, Protocol Labs’ developer experience lead, told Blockworks that a “prompt marketplace” — a type of “data DAO” — is a likely product candidate for the Filecoin ecosystem.



“If you&#8217;ve used Stable Diffusion or use ChatGPT, sometimes you want a very specific outcome,” Thiam told Blockworks, “Images are tricky, so if you want something super nuanced — if you have created the perfect prompt — you could actually have that stored in a prompt marketplace.”



Filecoin recently championed a <a href="https://devfolio.co/projects/fevm-data-dao-starter-kit-kangaroo-2f3d">data DAO starter kit</a>, which Thiam explained can be used to govern a set of data, stored on <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/blockchain-storing-messages-from-mars">IPFS</a>,&nbsp;for use in AI processes.



There will also be a need for basic DeFi primitives like bridges, decentralized exchanges and liquidity pools, which Ruben Amenyogbo with Protocol Lab’s Builders Fund and FILVC described as “table stakes.” But he’s more interested in dapps that only make sense on Filecoin.



The accelerator is part of the third step in Filecoin’s “master plan,” Amenyogbo said. After building the world’s largest decentralized storage network with over 13 exabytes of capacity, the team has been focused on filling that storage space with usable data.



“What can you do with all that data that is stored there, using the novel things that only blockchain allows us to do — that is step number three,” Amenyogbo said.



Coming out of the accelerator, he’s expecting to see “a number of pioneers that are going to bring use cases that need a new name.”



“What do you call a collective that is going to store and monetize genetics data in a decentralized way — what do you even call that?” Amenyogbo said. “I don&#8217;t know, but I want to see it.”



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Filecoin accelerator program explores frontier of ‘compute on data’

Bessie Liu

The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute, or SETI, has recently partnered with Filecoin, a decentralized data storage marketplace, to store a simulated alien message from Mars.



The project, A Sign in Space, was a performance designed to simulate transmitting an extraterrestrial encoded message to Earth using the European Space Agency&#8217;s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter that is currently orbiting Mars.



This performance was designed with the intention of involving communities interested in decoding and interpreting the message, bridging different cultures and areas of expertise.&nbsp;



In a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgQq36IR-Lk">live broadcast</a>, Daniela de Paulis, the founder and artistic director of A Sign in Space, noted that the encoded message was open to interpretation.



“Imagine abstract art, as an artist you make a painting and you attribute the meaning to this painting, often not even a fixed meaning…if other people start interpreting something abstract, it may be even more diverse and we might get different types of interpretations,” de Paulis said.



The processed message has been securely stored using Filecoin, to ensure that the information in the message is preserved and available for analysis and interpretation.



Interested participants are now able to access and interpret the <a href="https://asignin.space/">message</a> for themselves.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The role of Filecoin</h2>



Unlike traditional cloud services, Filecoin addresses data through a unique hash, Stefaan Vervaet, head of network growth at Protocol Labs — the team behind Filecoin — said in a live broadcast.



“It’s a global unique key that allows you to get rid of IP addresses, hostnames, its location in the planet, which means that as long as you have that hash, you can access that data from anywhere in the world,” Vervaet said.&nbsp;



Researchers will have the ability to analyze the signal that has been stored on Filecoin from anywhere in the world through its interplanetary file system (IPFS) gateway — a distributed file storage system that enables servers to store files and data from anywhere and everywhere.&nbsp;



Vervaet also notes that all data stored on the Filecoin network is immutable and verified on a daily basis through ecosystem participants.&nbsp;



“[They] are required to verify through cryptographic hashing on a daily basis that if the data is still the same as it was initially,” he said. “You can be ensured that the data is not changed…there is no single entity that can just pull the rug, push you off the platform and remove these data sets.”



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Blockchain is Being Used to Store Simulated Alien Messages from Mars

John E. Deaton

If the crypto industry hadn’t yet appreciated the scale of the danger posed by the SEC’s legal theory at the heart of its long-running lawsuit against Ripple and the XRP token, it seems to have finally hit home for many when news broke about Grayscale’s attempted SEC registration of its Filecoin Trust.&nbsp;



When you consider the Grayscale news, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-names-other-tokens-bittrex-lawsuit" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the SEC’s recent claim</a> that Algorand constitutes an unregistered security, and the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-serves-coinbase-in-latest-alleged-crypto-securities-violation" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Coinbase Wells notice</a>, the SEC’s war on crypto becomes clear.



As amicus counsel for 75,000 plus XRP holders, I’ve spent more than two years warning anyone who would listen about the outrageous arguments being made by the SEC.&nbsp;



The SEC’s central theory in the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/inside-ripple-defense-strategy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ripple case</a> is that the XRP token itself is a security. The allegations are not limited to transactions offered by Ripple or its executives. The SEC is arguing all sales of XRP, regardless of the seller or the circumstances surrounding the sale, constitute the transfer of securities. From the very first one in 2013, onward into perpetuity — including on the secondary markets between parties who have nothing to do with nor even knowledge of a company called Ripple.



The SEC based this on the allegation that the “very nature” of a digital asset is to be a security and nothing else, making XRP “the embodiment” of an investment contract with Ripple no matter who holds it, uses it or sells it.&nbsp;



Anyone familiar with the Supreme Court’s 1946 Howey decision must concede the SEC’s wildly overreaching argument stretches the so-called Howey test beyond recognition.



The Howey decision makes clear that the underlying asset itself is not the security, only the scheme by which it is packaged and sold. That 1946 case was about investments in Florida orange groves being sold with the promise of profits from the harvesting and sale of the oranges they produced. The investment scheme in the groves was the security, not the oranges.



Beginning with XRP and theoretically expanding to every digital asset, the SEC has embarked on turning the Howey test on its head. For the first time since 1946, the oranges are now the securities.&nbsp;



To illustrate the Filecoin Trust situation through that prism, the agency’s lawyers are starting to chase after the grocers who are selling the oranges in a nearby town. That is how absurd this has become.



Given how the SEC has treated secondary market sales of XRP in the Ripple case, those proverbial grocers now can’t claim innocence by proving they’d bought the oranges from a middleman and not the Howey company.&nbsp;



Under the SEC’s new legal theory on cryptocurrencies, those oranges are forever tied to the Howey investment and are thus, always illegal. That is, in effect, what just happened to Grayscale.



Just like it did in the run-up to suing Ripple over XRP, the SEC is not going to find a path for registering Filecoin as a security because there is no real way to register an asset that has practical utility on a decentralized file sharing network. Logic simply does not enter the SEC’s thinking.&nbsp;



Nor will the agency help Grayscale register Filecoin Trust as an investment company if it separately sues the Filecoin Foundation. No digital asset will ever “come into compliance,” because that isn’t the SEC’s goal. How does one even attempt to register a line of digital code existing within software?&nbsp;



Instead, the SEC will continue to exploit every chance it has to drag every crypto entity into court by arguing every possible digital asset to be a security under its embodiment theory.&nbsp;



Either through bankrupting settlements or draining hundreds of millions of dollars out of targets in long, drawn out cases, the SEC’s only goal is to get the entire crypto space under its regulatory thumb no matter who gets harmed in the process. It certainly doesn’t care about harming the retail investors they claim to be protecting.&nbsp;&nbsp;



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>


<div class="wp-block-post-author-biography">John E. Deaton, managing partner of The Deaton Law Firm, has closely followed the evolution of cryptocurrency and founded Crypto-Law US in 2021. Deaton has appeared as amicus curiae counsel in the SEC v. Ripple and LBRY cases, representing the interests of digital asset holders around the world. John regularly appears on cable news outlets such as Fox Business as a crypto expert.
</div>


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From Ripple and XRP to Filecoin: The SEC is Simply Illogical

Sebastian Sinclair

<div id="highlights-block_62e227aa59264" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Gemini will act as the custodian of the three &#8220;long-only&#8221; funds which will pour money into ether, bitcoin and filecoin</li>
 <li>Holon&#8217;s filecoin fund is the first ASIC registered retail managed investment scheme for digital assets outside of BTC and ETH</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Digital asset venture capital firm and fund manager Holon said Thursday it has become the first unlisted retail bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH) and filecoin (FIL) funds following a partnership with the Gemini exchange.



The funds will utilize a traditional investment vehicle known locally as a retail <a href="https://asic.gov.au/regulatory-resources/managed-funds/managed-investment-schemes/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">managed investment scheme</a> and invest directly into BTC, ETH and FIL, according to a statement. Managed investment schemes involve multiple investors contributing to receive a share of interest and are typically run by a fund manager.



The country&#8217;s securities regulator, the Australian Securities and Investments Comission, oversees company and financial services as well as funds such as Holon&#8217;s in order to enforce law and protect consumers.



Australia is fast becoming a hub of regulated crypto investment schemes. Earlier this year, the country witnessed the launch of its <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/first-spot-crypto-etfs-in-australia-underwhelm-traders-amid-market-downturn/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">first spot bitcoin and ether ETFs</a> — the 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (EBTC) and the ETFS 21Shares Ethereum ETF (EETH).



While trading activity through those investment vehicles has been slow out the gate, Australia&#8217;s approach leads the way in terms of the possibility of regulated funds involving crypto. The US, by comparison, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/grayscale-sues-sec-over-rejection-of-proposed-spot-bitcoin-etf/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">still lags behind</a> in an approval of a spot ETF, though it has approved a futures-based crypto ETF.



The funds — which are to feature a $5,000 minimum (or $2,000 with a $200 per month savings plan) — will provide daily unit pricing, daily redemption and same-day cash settlement and asset purchase, per the statement.



The funds are long-only, with no gearing and no trading, Holon said.



While bitcoin and ether are well-established cryptos, novices are less likely to be familiar with Filecoin&#8217;s native token FIL. The fund manager has dubbed Filcoin as the &#8220;future of data storage,&#8221; which allows users building atop its infrastructure to disassociate themselves from a &#8220;handful of companies&#8221; entrusted with the world&#8217;s data.



Its complementary protocol IPFS has seen adoption in DeFi and Web3, but use of IPFS <a href="https://docs.filecoin.io/about-filecoin/ipfs-and-filecoin/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">does not require</a> Filecoin.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Gemini providing custody</h3>



The Holon Filecoin Fund is the first ASIC registered retail managed investment scheme for digital assets outside of BTC and ETH, Holon said.



Holon is hoping to ride the coattails of previous <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/3iq-latest-crypto-etf-fund-manager-to-join-australian-market/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">fund managers</a>&#8216; success and will leverage Gemini, via a partnership, to provide custody solutions for all three funds. Under New York&#8217;s banking laws, Gemini is recognized as a fiduciary and qualified custodian.



“Our partnership with Holon is a great example of Gemini’s commitment to increasing the accessibility of crypto across the globe,&#8221; said Alex Philips, senior principal of Business Development Asia Pacific at Gemini. &#8220;As interest in cryptocurrencies surge, we will continue to build strategic partnerships that enable investors to safely engage with the digital economy through Gemini’s institutional grade custody.&#8221;



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Australia Gets First Unlisted Crypto Fund Safeguarded by Gemini

Jacquelyn Melinek

<div id="highlights-block_620fa964ea3d9" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>On Friday, Ethereum-focused multichain network SKALE set up a $100 million grant program to fund the future of blockchain-based gaming</li>
 <li>Large funds announced this week include a $205 million ecosystem fund for The Graph and Sequoia Capital’s new crypto sub-fund for up to $600 million</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



This week was busy, yet again, for the crypto funding space as a number of multi-million-dollar investments and mega funds were shared with the public.



On Friday, Ethereum-focused multichain network SKALE set up a <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/ethereum-multi-chain-network-earmarks-100m-to-fuel-blockchain-gaming/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$100 million grant program</a> to fund the future of blockchain-based gaming. This launch is the latest step for the blockchain gaming space, which has grown exponentially over the past 12 months and is drawing attention from big investors and funds.



Meanwhile, Binance Labs, the venture capital arm of Binance, completed a strategic investment in a multichain liquidity protocol, Symbiosis Finance.



The funding will be used to support the company through its Mainnet launch and add support for more Ethereum virtual machine (EVM) and non-EVM networks, as well as integration with different wallets, services and dApps.



“The idea is simple; we strive to learn from the market leaders, adopt their best practices and this is the way we can create something in demand,” Nick Avramov, co-founder and chief marketing officer at Symbiosis Finance, said in a <a href="https://www.binance.com/en/blog/ecosystem/binance-labs-makes-strategic-investment-in-symbiosis-finance-421499824684903475" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">post</a>.



Significant new funds entered the space, including a <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/investors-bolster-the-graph-with-205m-ecosystem-fund/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$205 million ecosystem fund</a> by six investors to help invest in projects building on The Graph protocol, an indexing layer for Web3 and blockchain data.



Sequoia Capital is also launching a new <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/sequoia-capital-is-raising-up-to-600m-in-new-sub-fund-to-focus-on-tokens/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$500 million to $600 million</a> sub-fund, focusing primarily on liquid tokens and digital assets, a spokesperson confirmed with Blockworks on Thursday.



On a smaller scale, an alternative investment platform, Yieldstreet, announced its <a href="https://www.yieldstreet.com/offering/EaLf3g/pantera-early-stage-token-fund-i/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">first crypto fund</a> through a partnership with Pantera Capital. The firm expects to raise about $20 million for the fund with minimum investments of $25,000, a spokesperson told Blockworks.



From Protocol Labs, the open-source decentralized storage network Filecoin and IPFS launched a $38 million fund focused on improving the internet and renewable energy throughout the US with Nelnet Renewable Energy Services.



The strategic investment will finance solar energy projects and aims to contribute more energy to the grid than is consumed by Filecoin’s network. Thus, enabling the “responsible growth” of Filecoin without taking from the domestic power grid, it said.&nbsp;



“Protocol Labs is committed to driving the next generation of the internet, Web3, toward net-zero emissions,” Head of Filecoin Green at Protocol Labs Alan Ransil said in a statement. “By investing in solar development with Nelnet, we are both building new generation capacity in this vital public infrastructure system and helping to push the renewable energy transition forward.”



Other notable capital raises this week include:&nbsp;



<ul><li>Animoca Brands and Brinc partnered to launch a <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/animoca-brands-and-brinc-to-invest-up-to-30m-in-play-to-earn-ecosystem/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$30 million</a> guild accelerator program to grow the play-to-earn ecosystem</li><li>Crypto wallet Rainbow’s <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2022/02/15/web3-mobile-wallet-startup-rainbow-raises-18m-series-a-from-alexis-ohanians-fund/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$18 million Series A</a> led by Alexis Ohanian’s venture firm, Seven Seven Six</li><li>Fluence Labs <a href="https://twitter.com/fluence_project/status/1494423913471766533?s=20&amp;t=50dLcJ5qL4491Mjga3FhuA" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$9 million</a> round led by MultiCoin Capital</li><li>DeFi lending protocol Minterest’s <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/defi-lending-protocol-minterest-closes-successful-5-52m-sale-of-mnt-token-301481699.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$5.52 million</a> token sale</li><li>An open marketplace for Solana NFTs, Hyperspace’s $4.5 million seed round led by Dragonfly Capital and Pantera Capital</li><li>Solana-powered metaverse game MixMob’s <a href="https://smartliquidity.info/2022/02/18/mixmob-raises-7-million-in-latest-seed-funding-round/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$7 million</a> raise</li></ul>



Check back next week for more funding news.



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