Let’s be honest. There is no other project or technology out there like ThreeFold, no one nearly as far along as we are. Our co-founders have decades of experience (and success) in the Internet and Cloud space. They and the team developed a new Internet infrastructure from the ground up, including a stateless operating system based on the Linux kernel, which is quite a significant accomplishment.

Today, we have the biggest network of decentralized storage, compute, and network on the planet. The technology is in its third generation, functional and ready for utilization, even commercially. The ThreeFold Playground provides a sandbox of limitless opportunities for open-source builders – developers can (and are) now build(ing) and monetize(ing) projects built on the grid.

Hopefully you’ve been following along lately with community calls and all of our updates to see the major progress that was made in 2022. The technology took major strides, the grid nearly doubled, the community got way more active, and there are some partnerships in the works with huge reach where we can make big impact.

Of course the token price is low and this is less than ideal to say the least, especially for farmers who are running hardware and weary of costs – although a power savings feature is coming! But the token is built on strong fundamentals and our efforts are focused on creating a balanced and sustainable token economy for the long-term.

ThreeFold Tomorrow

In the coming days we’ll be announcing a super exciting project (ThreeFold Grid Services) from the ThreeFold team with the following purpose:

To prove that the current state of the ThreeFold Grid is enough on top of which to start an end-user facing commercial business. We will release a suite of grid services with fiat gateways and we will also create content that explains in steps how to use the technical building blocks to put it all together to create your own solution / service.

Within Q1 we also aim to expose one or several partnerships with the potential to impact millions of people in emerging / developing countries.

We have ThreeFold Ventures coming as well, different businesses or arms of ThreeFold including OurPhone that create a holistic ecosystem for a more fair and equal world.

Then there’s the Internet of Internets (Regional Internet) model which will come to life this year, and Digital Twin. And more – this is not comprehensive – but you get the picture.

ThreeFold Beyond

ThreeFold is the foundation for people around the world to live in true digital sovereignty, for people who today do not have affordable access to education, communication, and financial tools to gain access. ThreeFold can impact industries from Internet to banking to education to supply chain and more. The possibilities are really limitless, let your imagine run wild. ThreeFold can change the world.

Our Future Is up to All of Us

I’ve said this before, I’ll say it again (and again) … A decentralized movement is all about decentralized action and participation. And participation comes in all shapes and sizes. Together, we all need to act and push this into the world. Everyone in this community is empowered to help the project succeed though their own initiatives. The team is of course happy to offer support through technical help and even token grants. ThreeFold will be a success if people continue to choose to believe it is important and dedicate their energy towards it.

ThreeFold can and needs to be a complete, end-to-end decentralized ecosystem empowering all its members to build and create. We have everything we need, and if we don’t, let’s solve it. Most importantly, we have each other. Let’s do this.

If you want to get involved, the forum, two-way chat, farmers chat, and library / manual are great places to get started.

• Dive into the ThreeFold Library
• Get a node from the Official ThreeFold webshop
• Build your own node
• Or join us on our two-way chat

• Currently the team is working on an easy-to-deploy weblet so that anybody can easily launch their own instance of Mastodon running on top of the ThreeFold Grid.

• Creating a plan for people to be able to deploy their own Mastodon servers for free.

• Building a website re: Mastodon + ThreeFold.

• Reached out to the Mastodon team (We have done this officially, but we can do more of it from more angles).

• Creating plenty of content on the forum (e.g. open letter to Mastodon community), posting on social media, finding and engaging with public conversations about Mastodon on Twitter (something we can all do).

• We held a Community Call around Mastodon & the Fediverse to discuss in further details what has been mentioned in this blog. Find a recording of it here!

If you support decentralization, you have found a project to contribute to in ThreeFold! Join us on our two-way chat or our forum, and let’s build a new internet together!

Disclaimer: This blog has been written by ThreeFold community member Drew Smith, and was originally a Reddit post. The team found so much value within it that we felt it was important to give it a permanent space within the ThreeFold Blogs collection, and Drew agreed to this. Besides a few grammatical corrections and minor contextual tweaks, the content has not been edited – and you can find the original post here.

Greetings fellow decentralization lovers, I am in search of people looking to contribute to what is now the largest decentralized network in the world, working towards the goal of providing a decentralized internet that breaks down barriers to information and compute resource access. Our network provides digital equality to all users while placing the control of their data back into their hands.

The project I’m discussing is Threefold.io, this is a project that currently has nearly 3000 Bare-Metal** **nodes in 64 countries allowing anyone in the world to deploy an industry standard VPS on the decentralized infrastructure with no involvement of the centralized cloud providers, This is a network meant to be used by everyone that can be expanded by anyone. You can check out a current map of the nodes online on the ThreeFold Explorer

The ThreeFold Grid consists of three synergistic layers: The Nodes, The Network, and the BlockChain.

• The Nodes: These are hardware that gives its grid its power, The requirements for running a 3Node are a bare metal x86_64 machine and a reliable internet connection. These nodes can be hosted in a variety of environments spanning at home deployments to rented-space DC’s. This includes DC’s themselves being able to bring capacity online so long as it’s a fully bare metal device.

  • You can find plug and play solutions for bringing a 3Node online on the [3Node marketplace](https://marketplace.3node.global/index.php?dispatch= categories.view&category_id=167), this marketplace includes node offerings from both the organizations itself as well as multiple independent businesses that have become certified 3Node Resellers.

  • If you’re familiar with the concepts of building a server/pc you can also bring your hardware online as D.I.Y 3Node this allows you to contribute any additional hardware you may have in your deployment to the support of both the grids network and compute capacity. you can find documentation on D.I.Y nodes on the Forums or in the Wiki

  Each node is booted using a fully in house developed autonomous operating system that automates both node deployment and workloads being deployed on the node after its online, called Zero-OS. This OS is a hypervisor environment that accepts commands from and is managed by the block-chain.

• The Network(s): The grid is supported by multiple internal and external networks that allow for the nodes to function as a decentralized data center. This is made of two major components.

  • Z-Net- is an internal private overlay network between VMs, Kubernetes Nodes, Containers and the grid. This network allows for minimal usage of Public ipv4 space while still allowing for global deployment solutions encompassing multiple 3Nodes.

  • Planetary Network- This is a peer to peer end to encrypted network solution based on opensource technologies (yggdrasil) that allow grid users to create, develop and overlay networks designed to protect users ability to communicate and access information. You can find the github Repo here, with 3000 endpoints all controlled by a single DAO, the potential exists to create the most reliable peer to peer mesh in existence.

  • Public IPv4- Threefold farmers have the ability to add Public Ipv4 to the grid in addition to their compute capacity, these IPs can be deployed as gateway addresses in support of the grid, or rented by end users for their workloads, at the time of this writing the threefold grid has 1114 Public Ipv4 addresses available for use. you can find documentation on adding I.P addresses to the grid here

• The BlockChain: the blockchain technologies built into the Threefold Grid represent what makes the grid truly unique and allows it to be utilized to support customer facing workloads or provide a decentralized compute resource pool. grid utilization is supported and created through two avenues

  • Individuals: can deploy any workload they need on any node on the grid, if it can run on Linux it can run on the grid, this type of use is supported by the Threefold Playground, a decentralized deployment solution that provides industry standard Linux vps deployments as multiple use case specific deployment solutions for Kubernetes, Caprover, Peertube, Funkwhale, Mattermost, Discourse, Taiga, Owncloud, Presearch, SubSquid, CasperLabs, and Node Pilot

    • Custom VM images cab be uploaded to the Threefold Hub allowing full deployment customization with any Linux os image supporting cloud-init. Documentation on creating custom images can be found On the Forums

    • Storage workloads can be deployed using Terraform with offerings of HDD, SSD and Quantum Safe File Storage

  • Solution Providers: these are developers of user facing services that utilize the grid as their hosting platform. These organizations/individuals are able to develop customized solutions that provide needed services in their market and receive rewards for the utilization that their developments bring. A great example of this is Zonaris, which is a third party organization that is quickly taking the lead in grid solution development. They have recently released an interface that allows end users to deploy Streamr nodes on the Threefold grid while paying in fiat currency. you can get started with them at Get Zonaris.

    • This allows developers to invest in only their code while having the infrastructure of a worldwide virtual data center at their disposal to scale their solutions with their business needs.

    • Solution providers are able to automate their tools being deployed on the grid using Terraform.

What this has all truly come together to form is an organization where anyone can contribute to building a more private and secure internet that is designed to allow universal access to information and compute power regardless of the end user’s nationality or beliefs. Threefold truly exists to capitalize on the ideal economies from every corner of the world, in order to provide a better digital future for all.

What Can You Do?

Much of what you see today at Threefold.io is the work of 100s of decentralized contributors working together towards a common goal. The grid is designed so that anyone can contribute whether you’re a developer, a property owner, an I.S.P, or just someone with a spare computer and a network connection. As it stands the grid is strong and well supported across the world. The biggest impact that can be made today is by developing solutions that leverage the grid and use its resources to bring affordable and accessible hosting to end users.

There are many discussions happening on the Threefold Forum about partnerships with other projects and how we can better support both the crypto landscape and the general internet user base. Even by just joining discussions on the Threefold Forum and providing your input and ideas you can help to make sure that the internet of tomorrow is built for and by the users of tomorrow. but there are lots of ways to contribute:

• You can purchase the TFT token following this guide.
• You can learn about farming here.
• You can learn more about the Threefold Cloud and Deploying here.

Written by Drew Smith

🔗Technology as a tool for humanity

Technology… In today’s world, technology holds a central role. Younger generations in developed countries grow up amidst technological wonders of all sorts, truly immersed in an evolving digital landscape. Any information is a click away, offering immense intellectual capital unlike ever before – and on the other hand, great distraction, misinformation, and potential for division.

Technology is a word dating back to the early 17th century, formed from the Greek tekhnologia meaning ‘systematic treatment,’ itself formed from tekhnē meaning ‘art, craft.’ Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word technology may also mean the product of such an endeavor, as it is mostly used today.

As technologies enter our world they either add on incrementally to already existing technologies (i.e., tablets) or shake everything up (i.e., television). Technology can be found in most industries and at different levels, ranging from vehicles to home appliances, passing through healthcare, education, and even entertainment. Sometimes technology replaces human labor by replicating it, other times it facilitates processes and makes labor less intensive. Some technology even surpasses human precision.

While technology has had an important role in the creation of today’s societies, it might have an even greater role for our future. Two opposite pictures could be painted: a utopia or a dystopia. The utopia of a world full of values-driven, well-constructed technologies promises an increased quality of life for all, with digital tools which, for instance, could provide or enable equal educational opportunities for all, mobility everywhere, a universal basic income and the promise of never having to work again (e.g. in the sense of wage labor).

On the other hand, a dystopia could be the result of reckless technological advancement. Questions are raised, like, will most jobs be dominated by artificial intelligence (AI) in 20 years? Will privacy become a myth, with personal data being controlled by a handful? Will consumerism rule societies and reinforce social struggles?

One technology that has been slowly taking the dystopian route is the Internet. While major Internet and Cloud infrastructure advancements were made since the beginning of the millennium through hyper-scale data centers, the current Internet infrastructure model has many flaws:

• It is centralized: The GAFAM (Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft) own 80% of the global compute, storage and network infrastructures. Also the global infrastructure is concentrated in the U.S in large majority, as well as Europe and China.

• It is inefficient: Most of the data centers are located in the U.S, forcing the rest of the world to connect via Internet sea cables and having their data flowing outside of their borders and back.

• It is not scalable: Emerging technologies require the global Internet infrastructure to triple in size in the next 4 years. It took 20+ years to build the current Internet infrastructure. So, we need to build 3 times more in 5 times less time.

• It is not affordable: It costs billions of dollars and enormous amounts of energy and time to build, manage and productize hyper-scale data centers. Only the richest countries in the world build data centers and the rest of the world become their clients.

• It is not private: Anyone can access Google Chrome or Facebook for free. But as outlined by movies such as the Social Dilemma or The Great Hack, if it is free, you are the product. The web’s Ad model is threatening our privacy and the net neutrality of the global internet.

• It is not secure: The current IT stack depends on human error and it has been considered as the major cause of cybersecurity breaches with more than 95% of the cases. Human errors allow attackers to access encrypted channels and sensitive information

• It is not sustainable: Data centers are extremely power hungry, consuming over 2 trillion gigabytes of storage and consuming around 205 TWh - More than the State of New York. According to statistics, the Internet consumes between 10-20% of global energy resources.

• It cannot support future demand: To meet projected demand for 2022, more than 4,000 new data centers, costing an estimated $5 trillion, will be needed to build and consume an additional 400 GW/h. This is roughly equivalent to Japan’s energy consumption and would place an impossible strain on the global electricity grid. The rising demand for Internet storage is already causing hardware shortages and price hikes.

At ThreeFold, we want to encourage the creation of a utopian future driven by thoughtful technology. Our founders took part in the way the Internet was created, full of beautiful promises, and have seen first-hand how those promises have been corrupted throughout its evolution. By building a new Internet infrastructure from scratch, ThreeFold goes back to those original promises while having learnt from the development mistakes.

Kristof, our CEO, wrote in a blog:

“The Internet allows the expansion of our village life to become a global community. It allows us to act as a global tribe with all information at our fingertips, it offers the possibility to get equal access to all planet resources. It has the promise for global free communication, instant availability of information, unlimited opportunities for growth and education. But what happened to our Beautiful Internet?”

“The Internet allowed us to become more efficient in depriving mother earth from her resources. It allowed us to become more addicted to immediate gratification, examples are social media networks and the adult entertainment industry. Beautiful new possibilities like digital currencies became a gambling game and a source of wealth for the smartest hackers. The communication capabilities of the Internet allowed the few to manipulate the many.”

By putting people, planet and authenticity at the core of the development of our technology, we want to gift societes a remade internet. Features of this technology include sovereignty & decentralization, security & privacy, unlimited scalability, green & self healing properties, cost effectiveness, and reliability. The human is put at the center of our Internet model.

Technology should not be a tool to extort humanity, but one at the service of humanity.

We have always believed that technology can help some of humanity’s greatest challenges – for example by providing the foundation for an interconnected world that can enable abundance to spread. ThreeFold has focused on developing a more reliable Internet that can meet the demands and challenges of the future. A more sustainable Internet that uses less energy and is offsetting its carbon emissions by supporting tree planting and other impact initiatives. And an Internet that empowers us with digital sovereignty while providing high levels of privacy and security. One that is inclusive by being more affordable and accessible.

Our mission is planet first and people first. 

The planet and people are at the heart of our movement

Without our planet, humanity has no home. Without our planet, we can’t survive. The fate of humanity depends on the planet’s health. We need a healthy planet for humanity to thrive. And our planet needs regenerative solutions at a large scale that combat climate change and the collapse of biodiversity. That includes the Internet and everything that lives on top.

ThreeFold aims to deliver on our promise of providing better solutions for our planet and people through our technology. With this approach, we’re taking action and making productive choices for our planet and humanity. Our journey is shaped by the determination to drive the regeneration of our planet and to enable a better life for people.

“Today billions of people don’t have access to the internet because of their station of birth. On one hand, it is unfair to them, and on the other, the world is losing billions of inventors and talents. Our internet can scale to anywhere electricity and network exist to provide access to the internet, education, and financial inclusion to everyone.” – Kristof de Spiegeleer

Our approach is also based on community and connection. We’re determined to build better, sustainable, and inclusive systems for the planet and people – from realizing the Internet of Internets on a global scale to reimagining business, governance, finance, education, and more in order to provide better alternatives for people, enterprises, and governments. And we are in dialogue and partnership with global leaders who share a similar vision.

Here are three examples of the impact we’re creating together:

• Together with Take Action Global, we’re offsetting the ThreeFold Grid’s emissions three times by planting and protecting trees

• Together with IETSA, we’re making the decentralized Internet more accessible in underserved South African communities while also providing education in blockchain and Web 3.0 technologies

• Together with Solidaridad, we’re working on the Fair Data initiative to enable a fair data economy

Driving change towards the future we want to live in

We strongly believe in the ThreeFold Law which states that any good you do will return to you threefold in this lifetime. By making our technology actionable, we energize a collective approach towards a single mission – empowering humanity while regenerating our planet.

We’re aware that this mission is a big one. We’re aware of how aspirational it is. We’re aware that we are not perfect. And we realize that changing the world for the better requires patience and community. We’re in it for the long run and we’re in it together.

“It’s an honor every day to wake up and be a part of a global movement of people who are trying to build a better Internet for humanity that can uplift and empower.” – Adnan Fatayerji

ThreeFold is more than a company or a project. ThreeFold is a global movement consisting of like-minded individuals and partners who share these values and vision. A movement united in our shared beliefs in open source, peer-to-peer, equality, and inclusion. By coming together to build a better Internet, we can create the foundation for a better world. We’re incredibly proud of the ThreeFold community and ecosystem. This beautiful community consists of open-minded, passionate, and determined people from all around the world, just like you. We’re dreamers, creators, builders, and change-makers.

We are part of the solution

There are many great projects and organizations out there that also follow the planet-first people-first philosophy. Like Ecosia – the search engine that plants trees and thereby positively impacts ecosystems, communities, and our planet. Like ShareTheMeal – the world’s first app against global hunger that enables you to ‘share the meal’ with a child in need with one simple tap on your phone. Like Patagonia – a designer of outdoor clothing and sports gear that turned into an environmental activist. And like so many others.

Together, we can achieve the extraordinary. The ThreeFold movement is building our own future through the Internet of Internets – an Internet that will be made up of hundreds, thousands, and ultimately millions, of interconnected local Internets that enables us all to directly connect and exchange without limitations or intermediaries. No matter what you do to support planet-first people-first movements, thank you. In doing so, you’re making a difference. You’re contributing to making the world a better place.

With ThreeFold, anyone anywhere can make a difference. For a better life, for a better future.

If not us, who? If not now, when?

If you’re new to ThreeFold and don’t know you to contribute best, here are a few ways to take action:

• Join this growing movement
• Buy or build a 3Node and be the Internet
• Buy TFT