What is Protocol Labs

Protocol Labs

Protocol Labs exists to enable a network of projects, tools, startups, research, communities (and more) that are springing up and evolving around new protocols and web3 technologies. As this ecosystem grows, these projects invest in the network itself, and the network grows along with it, which in turn benefits and incentivizes this ongoing evolution.

Protocol Labs at its core consists of an organization (also referred to internally as Starfleet) that supports open source software projects, engineering research in multiple fields related to computation, communication, and knowledge, as well as other services for a network of organizations that builds upon and expands the capabilities of the core technologies.

The Protocol Labs Network in Q1 2022 | Molly Mackinlay

In this talk by Molly Mackinlay, understand where Protocol Labs is an organization in 2022, where we are headed, the trajectory, evolving landscape, and how we are accelerating the PL network. Originally given in Feb 2022.

Protocol Labs Projects

  • IPFS One of the original core OSS projects, from which other projects in Protocol Labs have grown and nucleated, creating a network of Open Source technologies, developer tooling, DApps, and more.

  • Filecoin is the other original core organization that supports the builders and storage providers that use Protocol Labs & Filecoin technologies. Filecoin is a utility token (cryptocurrency) that supports and incentivizes the growth of our network of web3 technologies.

  • libp2p is a set of modular tools for networking and peer-to-peer communications

  • IPLD is the data model that is used for the content-addressable web

  • Multiformats is a project that makes it possible to create self-describing data, which allows protocols and projects to be interoperable and future-proof

  • Testground is a platform for testing, benchmarking, and simulating distributed and peer-to-peer systems at scale, that can scale from 2k-10k instances

  • Drand is a revolutionary public, distributed, verifiable randomness generator that can be used in protocols and cryptocurrencies that require public randomness.

  • Filecoin Virtual Machine (FVM) is a layer 1 protocol that will enable developers to create and execute smart contracts on data stored in the Filecoin network

  • Lotus is the main Filecoin network implementation, supported by Filecoin, written in Go & maintained by the PL team

In Protocol Labs, there are new projects and technologies being invented every day. Keep in mind that this may not be a comprehensive list of all important projects growing in our network

The Project Stack

Web3 Stack

PL Summit | October 2022

The Protocol Labs Summit was a great recap of the Impact that the PL Network created in 2022, and how the PL Network is structured today: as an Innovation Network that drives breakthroughs in computing to push humanity forward.

Check out this section of the Lab Summit recording up until 03:04:24 for an overview of the core offerings that make up the PL Network as a product:

  • Network
  • Starting
  • Capital
  • Talent
  • Knowledge
  • Services