Patrick WoodheadChecker Network = Filecoin Station + Filecoin Spark
In One Line
Introducing Checker, a network that creates reputation data for dePINs through verifiable checks.
TL;DR
The Checker Network provides verifiable quality of service checks and reputation data on DePIN nodes and networks. Just think of Google Maps Restaurant Reviews, but for Web3 nodes.
Checker is the fusion of two Filecoin projects: Filecoin Station and Filecoin Spark. The project is still very much embedded in the Filecoin ecosystem and the Protocol Labs Network, where it was incubated.
The Checker Network is structured to host Checker “subnets”. You can view Filecoin Spark is the first Checker Subnet. By structuring the Checker Network in this way, we are enabling anyone to build Checker subnets just like Filecoin Spark that can measure, verify and improve web3 networks, whilst rewarding those involved.
The Filecoin Station App and Node will simply become the Checker App and Node.
Why does web3 need the Checker Network?
Web3 has a trust problem.
No one knows which networks, nodes & smart contracts to trust. There simply isn’t enough data or suitable review mechanisms in place to convince prospective clients to use web3 services.
In theory, web3 protocols and their incentive structures should provide all the guarantees that clients need to start using web3. For example, data storage protocols should guarantee that your data is stored correctly. Compute protocols should guarantee that the correct computation was performed on your data.
So then why aren’t more people and companies using web3 networks for file storage and cloud computation? Why do even web3 companies still use web2 cloud providers rather than dogfooding and trusting their own ecosystem?
You might have heard people refer to web3 protocols as “trustless” protocols. What this means is that you don’t need to trust that they are working correctly because you can instead verify that they are working correctly by reviewing the protocol and its incentives.
This is better right? Because trust inherently implies risk, as someone can break your trust. This is web3’s argument against the much maligned “trusted third party”.
But has web3 really removed the need for trust entirely? Are we in a world where we can verify everything and we don’t need to trust anything anymore?
The team working on the Checker Network doesn’t believe so, for two main reasons.
Imagine that you are considering storing your data on a web3 storage offering like Filecoin, Storj or Arweave. Do you really trust these services can provide the service level you require when compared to say Amazon S3? Does data even exist to help you make a comparison? If it does exist, can you trust it?
Before you can let the protocol verify to you that your data is stored correctly, you have to take the leap of faith to store your data in the first place. And you need reputation data and reviews to justify this leap of faith. Potential web3 network clients need to see verifiable reputation data of web3 networks and nodes to build confidence in onboarding themselves.
Secondly, the currently available suite of robust web3 proof protocols does not cover all desired service levels metrics in a verifiable way. There simply isn’t a watertight proof of retrieval, geolocation or latency in the same way that there is a proof of work (Bitcoin) or Proof of Replication (Filecoin).
The Checker Network creates a space for builders to work on new protocols that check whether web3 networks offer features like retrievability and geolocation that meet acceptable service levels. This will open the door to many more people building trust in web3 and starting to use web3 services.
Why is Filecoin Station now called the Checker Network?
In 2024, the team behind Checker was focussed on Filecoin Station and increasing the number of people running the Filecoin Station desktop app and nodes. We found a great fit for this heterogeneous and geo-diverse network of Station nodes in checking the retrievability of data from Filecoin. This use case formalised into what we now call the Filecoin Spark protocol, where Station Operators earn FIL for spot-checking whether data can be retrieved from Filecoin Storage Providers.
By the end of 2024, 75k+ Filecoin Station accounts had been created and Filecoin Spark had led to an over 10x improvement in the retrievability of data from Filecoin, whilst also driving much more awareness around retrievability problems in web3.
What’s more, in the process of building Filecoin Station and Filecoin Spark, we have built a suite of interesting security and incentive modules that we believe can be useful in other use cases that involve checking and improving the service levels of web3 networks (see below diagram). This has led us to launch the Checker Network.
What do we mean by “checking”?
Filecoin Spark “checks” that Filecoin meets a certain service level around retrievability. For example, Filecoin Spark data might say that Filecoin Node A has a retrievability service level of 99%.
We can generalise this to say that Filecoin Spark checks that a certain web3 network meets a certain service level. And retrievability is not the only service level that Filecoin and other Web3 networks must meet to entice new clients. For web3 storage networks, other key service level metrics include uptime, latency, geolocation, bandwidth, egress, durability, availability and more. Different web3 networks beyond storage offerings also have different features that must reach a set of service levels.
Filecoin Spark will now be the first subnet of the Checker Network, which will act as an umbrella network for checker subnets like Filecoin Spark, offering security module and payment rails to each subnet.
This structure will allow more Checker subnets to be built, both by the Checker Network team but also by other teams and individuals who have ideas for Checker subnets. The Checker Network team will keep investing significant effort into Filecoin and Filecoin Spark but will also now focus on growing the Checker Network by bringing the lessons learned from Filecoin Spark to other web3 projects.
How to get Involved
The Checker Network allows everyone to join, participate and earn in Web3 by running simple checks that DePIN and Web3 networks are healthy and operating correctly. A checker node is one of the most lightweight low-maintenance web3 nodes you can run.
For DePIN and Web3 networks, you can improve your network’s value proposition and increase its demand with data from the Checker Network. Your clients want to know what level of service they will get when using your network. The Checker Network provides verifiable trustless quality of service checks for your network’s key service metrics.
For Web3 network clients, you can use the data from the Checker Network to inform which networks and nodes to use. Checker Network data is already being used to help Filecoin data clients choose which nodes to store with.
For reputation systems, web3 data offerings and dashboard builders, you can use Checker Network data to improve your offering and populate your dashboards.
Summary of Changes
- The Station Network will now be called the Checker Network.
- The Filecoin Station App will now be called the Checker App.
- The Filecoin Spark protocol will remain the Filecoin Spark protocol and will be the first “subnet” of the Checker Network.
- The FIL Spark API will remain unchanged
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