Filecoin Introduces F3 Upgrade, Accelerating Finality by 450x

Filecoin has announced the integration of Fast Finality (F3) into its network, a transformative upgrade that reduces finality times by 450x. With F3, block finalization times drop from 7.5 hours (900 epochs) to just minutes, improving user experience and expanding opportunities for applications, exchanges, and interoperability.

How F3 Works

Filecoin currently uses Expected Consensus (EC) for transaction validation. Unlike other blockchains that rely on single blocks, Filecoin operates with “tipsets,” or groups of blocks. This approach promotes efficiency and decentralization by rewarding all valid block producers in a given round.

However, the EC protocol has a drawback: lengthy finality times. These extended periods pose challenges for applications like smart contracts and cross-chain bridges. To address this, Filecoin implemented FIP0086, which introduces F3 in two phases:

1. Easy Finality Calculator: This tool dynamically assesses chain confidence levels to optimize finality times without altering the protocol.
2. GossiPBFT Protocol: A new Byzantine fault-tolerant consensus protocol, GossiPBFT ensures rapid and resilient finality while maintaining EC’s benefits of throughput and availability.

F3 enables faster finality by combining these approaches, offering both efficiency and robustness against adversarial attacks.

Why F3 Matters

According to the Filecoin blog –

The F3 upgrade is one of the most significant advancements for Filecoin’s storage-retrieval lifecycle. It allows on-chain storage contracts from other networks to seamlessly interface with Filecoin, reducing confirmation times for storage events.

The enhanced speed and efficiency provide a more responsive environment for builders. This paves the way for applications requiring low latency, such as L2 subnets, smart contracts, and chain bridges. Additionally, F3 strengthens network resilience through its leaderless and attack-resistant GossiPBFT protocol.