Notaries are selected to act as fiduciaries for the Filecoin network. Notaries are entrusted to uphold the Principles of the program - responsibly allocating DataCap to help foster legitimate use cases on Filecoin. This document aims to provide additional specificity to the role/responsibility of Notaries, define the application and selection process, and the process for making changes.
Launching November 2023
Following the proposal made here for a new Notary Election Cycle focusing on "Meta-Pathways", we will solicit applications from the Filecoin community to become trusted fiduciaries in the Filecoin Plus program. The overall process will be similar to previous Notary Election cycles, with interested parties submiting details to the Governance team for review. We will update this ReadMe section with relevant deatils, checklists, and links to supporting documentation.
Organizations designing a pathway to DataCap will need to submit ONE application PER pathway.
- Submit GitHub issue Application: LINK
- Use Google Doc for drafting and async edits of full application: LINK
- Submit all responses to Airtable Form: LINK
- Monitor GitHub issue for feedback from Fil+ Governance Team
- Q4 '23: Solicit applications
- Q4 '23: Initial review and feedback from Fil+ Governance Team
- Q1 '24: Public scoring and selections
- Q1 '24: Ratification and onboarding new notary allocators
- Q2 '24: Transition to rolling applications
- Q2 '24: Ongoing compliance checks of pathways, requests for more DataCap from Root Key Holders
- November 11 - January 20: Applications Open
- January 20, 2024: Deadline for v5 Allocator Application
Updates to follow
- FIL Istanbul and LabWeek Videos
- Application Repo (filtered for v5 applicants)
- Google Doc for drafting application
- v5 Scoring Rubric
- Tooling resources as of Jan 2024 Link
- Accepted Allocator Pathways Link
| Organization | Point of Contact Name | Election Round | Status | Location | Notary Application Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meibuy Cloud | 4th | Active | Africa | #681 | |
| 12Ships Foundation | Irene Young | 2nd, 3rd, 4th | Active | Asia minus GCR | #677 |
| Antalpha Digital Pte. Ltd. | Xin Jin | 4th | Active | Asia minus GCR | #683 |
| Bewell Technology Limited | Aaron Hu | 4th | Active | Asia minus GCR | #679 |
| BigData Exchange | CB Tan | 4th | Active | Asia minus GCR | #703 |
| Bit Engine Pte Ltd | Reeta | 4th | Active | Asia minus GCR | #692 |
| Bitrise capital | Kivi | 3rd, 4th | Active | Asia minus GCR | #716 |
| BlockchainWorld | Sounghwan Park | 3rd, 4th | Active | Asia minus GCR | #648 |
| Blockmaker | Rvo Nagaoka | 3rd, 4th | Active | Asia minus GCR | #695 |
| CoinSummer Labs | Max | 4th | Active | Asia minus GCR | #669 |
| Define Platform | Alex Kim | 3rd, 4th | Active | Asia minus GCR | #657 |
| EMO capital | Bruce | 4th | Active | Asia minus GCR | #707 |
| FBG Capital | Gary Gao | 3rd, 4th | Active | Asia minus GCR | #722 |
| Force Community | Tim Guo (柏礼） | 3rd, 4th | Active | Asia minus GCR | #668 |
| Greaterheat Pte.Ltd. | Yang Haibo | 4th | Active | Asia minus GCR | #659 |
| IPFS Japan Consortium | Masaaki Nawatani | 2nd, 3rd, 4th | Active | Asia minus GCR | #696 |
| ND LABS | Leo | 3rd, 4th | Active | Asia minus GCR | #697 |
| Pluskit | Wu Xiao | 3rd, 4th | Active | Asia minus GCR | #694 |
| Protocan | AnthonySmith | 4th | Active | Asia minus GCR | #682 |
| Starboard | Sylvan Zhang | 4th | Active | Asia minus GCR | #745 |
| YuanHe Tech ( Firefly ) | embedsky | 4th | Active | Asia minus GCR | #788 |
| Direction Technology Co., LTD | George Betts | 4th | Active | Europe | #717 |
| Fungi Project | Andress Sarria | 4th | Active | Europe | #600 |
| N/A | Bobby Choi | 4th | Active | Europe | #769 |
| METAVERSE DATA MINING PTE.LTD. | Oliver Lu | 4th | Active | Asia minus GCR | #709 |
| N/A | Carohere/Carolina | 4th | Active | Europe | #676 |
| RawTech Ventures | Dalen Johnson | 4th | Active | Europe | #661 |
| Speedium / DCENT BV. | Wijnand Schouten | 4th | Active | Europe | #678 |
| Twinquasar | Julien NOEL | 2nd, 3rd, 4th | Active | Europe | #739 |
| ZhongYiGuoLian | Patapon | 4th | Active | Europe | #638 |
| 1475 | Simon | 2nd, 3rd, 4th | Active | Greater China Region (GCR) | #770 |
| BigFrog Technology | Eunice | 4th | Active | Greater China Region (GCR) | #690 |
| BingHe Web3.0 Lab | MRJAVAZHAO | 2nd, 3rd, 4th | Active | Greater China Region (GCR) | #699 |
| ByteBase | Eric | 3rd, 4th | Active | Greater China Region (GCR) | #689 |
| CodoonHealth | Holiday | 4th | Active | Greater China Region (GCR) | #752 |
| DeFIL | Eden | 3rd, 4th | Active | Greater China Region (GCR) | #720 |
| Ewesion | Peter Shao | 4th | Active | Greater China Region (GCR) | #740 |
| Fenbushi Capital | Zhehao Chen | 3rd, 4th | Active | Greater China Region (GCR) | #647 |
| FileDrive Labs | Laura Ren | 4th | Active | Greater China Region (GCR) | #684 |
| FILWallet | Peng Kai | 3rd, 4th | Active | Greater China Region (GCR) | #644 |
| FogMeta | Leo Zhang | 4th | Active | Greater China Region (GCR) | #772 |
| Genesis | Anne | 3rd, 4th | Active | Greater China Region (GCR) | #732 |
| Guazi Dynamic | @Fatman13 | 3rd, 4th | Active | Greater China Region (GCR) | #670 |
| Interstellar Storage（ShenZhen） | Interstellar Storage（ShenZhen） | 4th | Active | Greater China Region (GCR) | #768 |
| IPFS Force | Steven Li | 4th | Active | Greater China Region (GCR) | #667 |
| IPFS.CN | Nic | 4th | Active | Greater China Region (GCR) | #734 |
| IPFSMain | Neo Ge | 2nd, 3rd, 4th | Active | Greater China Region (GCR) | #672 |
| mkccstorage | Hunter | 4th | Active | Greater China Region (GCR) | #665 |
| MS Cloud（formerly MatrixStorage） | Tracy | 4th | Active | Greater China Region (GCR) | #719 |
| N/A | Cabrina Huang | 3rd, 4th | Active | Greater China Region (GCR) | #763 |
| New Web Group | Yuan | 3rd, 4th | Active | Greater China Region (GCR) | #713 |
| NewToken - Hangzhou Niutong Information Technology Co., Ltd. | jomozz | 4th | Active | Greater China Region (GCR) | #674 |
| NonEntropy Tech. | Junyao Ren | 4th | Active | Greater China Region (GCR) | #700 |
| Pangod | Casey | 4th | Active | Greater China Region (GCR) | #775 |
| POW POWER | Jackson | 3rd, 4th | Active | Greater China Region (GCR) | #765 |
| STCould | LISA | 4th | Active | Greater China Region (GCR) | #764 |
| StorSwift | coder-lb | 4th | Active | Greater China Region (GCR) | #663 |
| SXX Future Data | Darleen | 3rd, 4th | Active | Greater China Region (GCR) | #680 |
| TAKI Chain | Smart Dong | 4th | Active | Greater China Region (GCR) | #736 |
| Tianji Studio | Bailey-li | 3rd, 4th | Active | Greater China Region (GCR) | #687 |
| Tokencan | Joy Lee | 4th | Active | Greater China Region (GCR) | #746 |
| Venus Team | Joss Hua | 4th | Active | Greater China Region (GCR) | #645 |
| ZC LABS | zhongchuang | 4th | Active | Greater China Region (GCR) | #643 |
| Acrontech Inc. | Gendin Han | 4th | Active | North America | #743 |
| Aifabot | Benny | 4th | Active | North America | #698 |
| Banyan | Claudia Richoux | 3rd, 4th | Active | North America | #742 |
| Filecoin Foundation | Danny O'Brien | 2nd, 3rd, 4th | Active | North America | #750 |
| FilSwan | Charles Cao | 2nd, 3rd, 4th | Active | North America | #778 |
| Ghost Byte Inc | Trevor K Smith | 4th | Active | North America | #760 |
| Ipollo | Mona | 3rd, 4th | Active | North America | #721 |
| Kernelogic (sole corporation / self-employed) | Fei Yan | 3rd, 4th | Active | North America | #658 |
| Koda Inc. | Emma Russell | 4th | Active | North America | #754 |
| LendMi team | Rongze92 | 3rd, 4th | Active | North America | #730 |
| N/A | Nick Merrick | 4th | Active | North America | #779 |
| Nebula Block Data | Boqian Wang | 4th | Active | North America | #777 |
| New Huo Pool | Bella Huang | 4th | Active | North America | #708 |
| NFTSTAR | Vivian | 3rd, 4th | Active | North America | #693 |
| ORIGIN Storage | llifezou | 3rd, 4th | Active | North America | #710 |
| PiKNiK | James Hoang | 3rd, 4th | Active | North America | #776 |
| Saukibit, Inc. (DBA Canza Finance) | NatoSilue | 4th | Active | North America | #744 |
| SECUREXPERTS Inc. | Darnell Washington | 4th | Active | North America | #756 |
| Tech Greedy | Xinan Xu | 3rd, 4th | Active | North America | #664 |
| Top Value Limited | Luo Bin | 4th | Active | North America | #729 |
| TopBlocks | Harry Ma | 4th | Active | North America | #675 |
| XnMatrix | Steve Tsou | 4th | Active | North America | #747 |
| Holon Global Investments PTY Ltd | mjroddy | 3rd, 4th | Active | Oceania | #748 |
| OPENGATE TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENT GROUP PTY LTD | TAO YANG | 4th | Active | Oceania | #673 |
| Tenet Data Systems | 3rd | Inactive | Asia minus GCN | ||
| 4Everland | Deon Erda | 3rd | Inactive | Europe | |
| TechHedge (Reiers) | Nicklas Reiersen | 2nd, 3rd | Inactive | Europe | |
| Coffee Cloud | 3rd | Inactive | Greater China | ||
| IPFS Metaverse Community | Nic | 3rd | Inactive | Greater China | |
| Union Labs (formally IPFSUnion) | Jackie Mo | 2nd, 3rd | Inactive | Greater China | |
| Waterdrop Lab | 3rd | Inactive | Greater China | ||
| Gate.io | Fafa | 3rd | Inactive | North America | |
| Infinite Scroll // Glif | 2nd, 3rd | Inactive | North America | ||
| Performive | Tim Williams | 2nd, 3rd | Inactive | North America | |
| Textile | Andrew Hill | 2nd, 3rd | Inactive | North America | |
| Tinfra | 3rd | Inactive | North America | ||
| MetaWave | Jazz Hsiao | 3rd | Inactive | Oceania | |
| West Labs | 3rd | Inactive | Oceania |
| Region | Number of notaries |
|---|---|
| Africa | 1 |
| Asia minus GCR | 21 |
| Europe | 9 |
| Greater China | 33 |
| North America | 22 |
| Oceania | 2 |
The base responsibilities of the Notaries are as follows:
- Allocate DataCap to clients in order to subsidize reliable and useful storage on the network.
- Verify that clients receive a DataCap commensurate with the level of trust that is warranted based on information provided.
- Ensure that in the allocation of the DataCap no party is given excessive trust in any form that might jeopardize the network.
- Follow operational guidelines, keep record of decision flow, and respond to any requests for audits of their allocation decisions.
Note: Notaries are given autonomy in their decision making process and encouraged to allocate DataCap based on their best judgement. However, Notaries should expect to answer any questions about previous allocation decisions before receiving future DataCap to distribute. Guidelines for reasonable allocation strategies are supplied in this repository (both a recommended scoring mechanism for prospective Clients, as well as a sample set of questions to ask of Clients). While not mandatory to use, these documents represent the expected baseline for well-behaved Notaries.
As stated above, Notaries are given a high degree of autonomy in their decision making power. In order to build trust in the stability of this mechanism, below outlined are some basic criteria by which all Notaries are expected to adhere. In the future these restrictions may be reduced or removed, upon approval by the community (going through the standard PR process).
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Upfront Disclosures: Prior to being confirmed as a Notary, Notaries are expected to disclose all relevant addresses which they control, have a financial stake in, or are strongly connected to by other means. For the disclosure, the Notary should state the relevant addresses and the nature of the relationship.
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Promoting Client Best Practices: Notaries agree to educate approved clients about the best practices for using their DataCap (e.g. how to request additonal services from miners, storing data redundantly across many miners, etc). Some reference information can be found here.
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Commitment to effeciently serving the Network: Notaries agree to serve as fiduciaries of the Network, striving to work towards bringing useful data onto Filecoin and improving the experience for clients to do so. Notaries should generally be able to respond to Client applications and updates within 3 days, and should be comfortable communicating with Clients and Notaries if an application needs to be redirected.
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No Self Dealing: To prevent conflicts of interest, Notaries should not allocate DataCap to Clients over which they control the private keys, or to a Client who intends to specifically spend the allocated DataCap with an address affiliated with the Notary. When in doubt, Notaries should bias towards transparency (i.e. public disclosure) or to getting a different Notary to handle the individual request.
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Operating in Good Faith: Notaries hold a position of trust in the network, and as such it is expected that they operate keeping the Principles of this mechanism in mind. While each form of abuse cannot be exhaustively defined, Notaries are expected to bias towards caution and act in a way that promotes transparency. Notaries should expect to potentially recieve requests or questions for allocation decisions (within reason) - and should make decisions with this in mind.
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Community Governance Participation: It is expected that Notaries regularly attend the scheduled Governance calls. As these calls are a forum to shape this process, it is important to ensure Notaries are present to provide their context, learnings, and input.
Support (1) or more the following, which can be linked to in a separate doc:
- Professional Services (Hosting Reseller, Long-term Backups, Data Warehousing)
- Developer Tools (Package Managers, Automatic Notaries, Web2 to Web3 integrations)
- Decentralized Applications
- User Content (Personal Storage)
- Public or Open Data (Scientific datasets, research data, government or historic
- Media & Entertainment (Videos, photos, NFTs)
Notaries that have consistent and substantive issues raised against them and have been found to be legitimately abusing their power will be made ineligible for DataCap allocations. The process for raising and resolving disputes can be found here.