Patrick Woodhead- TL;DR
- Problem
- Mission: Briefing
- Station Nodes
- Station Network
- Flight Path
- 🛰️ Launch Station DePIN Network
- ✨ Filecoin Retrieval Market
- đź“ŠÂ Network Analytics & Light nodes
- 💻 Decentralised Storage & Computing
- One Last Thing: Meridian
- Back Down to Earth
- Get In Touch
- More posts like this
TL;DR
Station lets anyone participate and earn in the Web3 economy, by allowing them to provide their unused computing resources to the Station DePIN Network.
Problem
The internet is one of the most transformational technologies ever created. Yet it has been monopolised by the cloud giants. The big tech companies own your data, your identity, your passwords.
The Web3 movement aims to let people take back control of their data, their identity and even their finances online.
This vision is very appealing to so many. Yet currently one needs to have deep pockets as well as technical know-how to benefit from the Web3 world.
Worse still, many newcomers to the Web3 space end up being exploited by those who have been around for longer, with fraudulent schemes everywhere.
Mission: Briefing
Station aims to solve this problem by making Web3 accessible, safe and profitable for everyone.
Station allows anyone with a computer and an internet connection to participate in and earn from the new internet economy.
Station Nodes
Most of us own devices like phones and laptops. Yet we forget that these devices are far more powerful than those that put Mankind on the Moon. We don't use them to anywhere near their full potential. It is like we own a race car and only use it to pick up the groceries.
Station puts your devices’ unused yet valuable resources to work, like storage space, compute power, bandwidth and even your location in the network. It does so in a completely safe and sandboxed way.
Think of AirBnB, but for your devices instead of your spare bedrooms. With Station, you can earn cryptocurrency by renting out parts of your computer.
You can then either put your rewards back into the Web3 economy via Station to earn even more, or you can convert them into real world currency.
Station Network
There are already thousands of people running Stations worldwide.
But, just like Airbnb or any other marketplace, there must also be demand for this new supply. What will your spare resources actually be used for?
The power of Station is in its diverse global network of devices. This offers an attractive and cost-effective deployment target for network builders and testers. The Station team has already identified several use cases inside the Filecoin ecosystem and is exploring other ecosystems too, as we will see in the Flight Path below.
Flight Path
Stations have already taken off all around the world. Now let’s look at where the Station Network is heading.
🛰️ Launch Station DePIN Network
Status: âś…
Station’s first objective was to launch the Station Node and the Desktop App. This opens the door for anyone with a computer to join the Station DePIN Network. For each Station Operator, the Station App is your control centre to help you navigate the Web3 Universe. Head to https://filstation.app to start running your own Station Node.
Network Growth
Date | Number of Stations |
Nov 1st 2023 | 10 |
Nov 9th 2023 | 100 |
Nov 11th 2023 | 1,000 |
Jan 1st 2024 | 10,000 |
✨ Filecoin Retrieval Market
Status: 🚧
Station’s second objective is to coordinate the already large network of Station Nodes to retrieve files from Filecoin, keeping the Filecoin Network healthy and performant.
The Station Network is the perfect fit for improving Filecoin’s retrieval success rate as requests can be made from a diverse range of geographies and devices to ensure that Filecoin Storage Providers are not able to distinguish between real and sample traffic.
The first Station module is called Spark. Spark randomly samples retrievals from Filecoin Storage Providers and reports on the success rate and performance.
đź“ŠÂ Network Analytics & Light nodes
Status: 🔜
Spark is just one example of how the Station Network can test other networks and applications to ensure they are healthy and functioning correctly. Station is uniquely positioned to test multiple networks at the same time due to its runtime Zinnia, which works like your browser does when it runs multiple tabs at the same time.
The Network Analytics market is large and fast growing, particularly in Web3 where for example light nodes are becoming a requirement for the security of many networks. Following the success of Spark, the Station team is already in conversations with several projects in this space to build more network testing & light node modules and therefore secure more rewards for Station Operators.
💻 Decentralised Storage & Computing
Status: 🔜
The final stop on the flight path is the more general Function-as-a-Service Market.
The Station Network already hosts many different types of devices, from Raspberry Pis to beefy servers. Many of the Stations already in the network are more-than-powerful enough to do heavy computational tasks like running AI models.
Apple Silicon computers are a great example of devices that can take on computationally-intensive tasks in the background while the user hardly notices.
What’s more, Station plans to have smart device management to ensure it is not degrading the performance of a computer while running Station tasks in the background. Station will be able to scale its usage based on how much the device needs for other workloads.
The explosion in the demand for AI model execution, combined with the number of devices that can run these jobs with ample storage and compute power, but are unable to be connected to the relevant networks, is evidence that Station’s flight path should head towards becoming a general Function-as-a-Service DePIN network, with a large capacity for storage and computing.
One Last Thing: Meridian
We have reached the end of the proposed mission flight path. Before we sign off, let’s introduce one other important concept:
As we build more modules beyond Spark, we are already finding the need for many shared components and patterns.
For example, the vast majority of the Spark codebase and services is easily transferrable to other modules.
We are generalising these services in what we call Meridian. Meridian is a Framework and Platform for rewarding Stations. The M, E and R of Meridian stand for Measure, Evaluate and Reward.
Meridian will allow module funders, module builders and Station operators to interact seamlessly in the Station Network marketplace. You can think of Meridian as a demand-driven top-up-able block reward framework for incentivising Stations to perform jobs.
As the Meridian platform develops, we are also considering launching a Station or Meridian Token to either govern the network or to reward Station Operators in a common currency, or both.
Back Down to Earth
The flight path will take some time to complete. From today’s viewpoint, we are focussed on
- Growing a healthy network of Station nodes and operators, while developing your control panel: the Station app.
- Launching multiple modules on the Station Network, and helping others to do the same.
- Launching the Meridian Framework, Platform (and potentially a Token).
Get In Touch
- If you want to run Station, then we would love to hear from you.
- If you have a module idea, we would love to hear it.
- If you are interested in joining the team, we would love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]
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