Crypto Quill

Filecoin, the decentralized storage network, has announced the completion of its network upgrade to version 21, codenamed Watermelon, on December 12, 2023. The upgrade delivers several features and enhancements for storage providers’ operations and the Filecoin Virtual Machine (FVM), as well as protocol bug fixes.

Watermelon Upgrade: What’s New?

The Watermelon upgrade introduces the following changes to the Filecoin network:

• Increase Max Sector Commitment to 3.5 years: Storage providers can now commit to store data for up to 3.5 years, instead of the previous limit of 18 months. This allows them to offer longer-term deals and earn more rewards for their service.
• Synthetic PoRep: Storage providers can now use a synthetic proof-of-replication (PoRep) to prove that they have stored data without having to actually store it. This reduces the storage and bandwidth costs for storage providers, and enables them to accept more deals and increase their utilization rate.
• Allow Storage Providers to Move Partitions Between Deadlines: Storage providers can now move partitions of sectors between different deadlines within a proving period. This gives them more flexibility and control over their operations, and helps them optimize their performance and avoid penalties.
• Deterministic State Access (IPLD Reachability): The FVM now uses a deterministic algorithm to access the state tree, instead of relying on the order of messages in a block. This improves the consistency and reliability of the FVM, and enables faster and cheaper state queries.
• Improved Event Syscall API: The FVM now provides a more efficient and user-friendly way to access events generated by smart contracts. This enables developers to build more complex and interactive applications on Filecoin, such as oracles, bridges, and decentralized exchanges.
• Remove Beneficiary from the Self-Destruct Syscall: The FVM now removes the beneficiary parameter from the self-destruct syscall, which allows a smart contract to destroy itself and send its remaining balance to a specified address. This simplifies the FVM and prevents potential abuse of the beneficiary parameter.
• FVM Randomness: The FVM now uses a more secure and verifiable source of randomness, which is derived from the Filecoin chain and the DRAND network. This enhances the security and fairness of the FVM, and enables applications that rely on randomness, such as lotteries, games, and auctions.

Watermelon Upgrade: Why It Matters?

The Watermelon upgrade is a significant milestone for the Filecoin network, as it demonstrates its ability to evolve and improve over time. The upgrade also brings several benefits for the Filecoin ecosystem, such as:

• More Storage Options and Opportunities: The Watermelon upgrade enables storage providers to offer more diverse and competitive storage services, and allows clients to choose the best option for their needs. The upgrade also creates more opportunities for storage providers to earn rewards and grow their business.
• More Innovation and Development: The Watermelon upgrade enhances the FVM and makes it more powerful and versatile. The upgrade also enables developers to create more innovative and complex applications on Filecoin, and leverage its decentralized storage and verifiable computation capabilities.
• More Security and Stability: The Watermelon upgrade fixes some protocol bugs and improves the security and stability of the network. The upgrade also enhances the FVM and makes it more consistent and reliable.

Watermelon Upgrade: How to Prepare?

The Watermelon upgrade was successfully activated on the Filecoin mainnet at epoch 3469380, around 2023-12-12T13:30:00Z. The upgrade required all nodes to upgrade to the latest software version, which is available from the official Filecoin repositories. The upgrade also required storage providers to update their operations and configurations, and developers to update their applications and smart contracts..