Merge pull request #566 from threefoldfoundation/development

Summer roundup to the newsroom

content/newsroom/may_2025_roundup/index.md

@@ -42,6 +42,8 @@ This update brought a new Market feature which allows people to swap USDC for TF
 
 The SDK update introduced a Stellar/Solana bridge package and support for multiple SSH keys in deployments. Logged out visitors can now easily explore the apps and services available for decentralized deployment on the grid, which now includes the Open WebUI App , a new addition in this release.
 
+<br/>
+
 ### **OwnPhone: The First Device in the 3Phone Family**
 
 On May 29, 2025, YourData Network launched the [OwnPhone](https://ownphone.net/) – the first smartphone to bring the 3Phone vision to life. Powered by ThreeFold infrastructure, the OwnPhone is designed to give users full control over their data and privacy, marking a major leap forward for decentralized mobile technology.
@@ -50,6 +52,8 @@ On May 29, 2025, YourData Network launched the [OwnPhone](https://ownphone.net/)
 
 As OwnPhone is the first device in the 3Phone family 📱, features like 3Bot and 3AI will be made available as software upgrades as they are released. Until additional devices are released, anyone interested in 3Phone will be directed exclusively towards OwnPhone. If you’ve pre-ordered a 3Phone through ThreeFold, we’ll be in touch by email in the coming days to explain what this means for you. And our website and documentation will be updated soon to make this clear and easy to navigate.
 
+<br/>
+
 ### **Three DAO Votes Passed by the Community**
 
 At the end of May we had three DAO votes 🗳️ passed by the community, including the 3.17 upgrade to mainnet. We would like to thank the community for your participation. The other two proposals that were passed were:
@@ -70,6 +74,8 @@ As we near the final phase of Grid V3 and 1 billion TFT minted, a [new proposal]
 
 Due to incidents in April that impacted uptime tracking and triggered Farmerbot violations, some farmers lost rewards. A [DAO vote](https://forum.threefold.io/t/dao-minting-april/4595) was held to propose removing those periods from April’s minting calculations and passed.
 
+<br/>
+
 ### **Demo Time: Private Networking with IPv6 and WireGuard**
 
 In this hands-on session, Scott showed how to set up private, peer-to-peer IPv6 networks using WireGuard on the ThreeFold Grid. The demo highlighted WireGuard’s speed, security, and simplicity, making it an ideal solution for creating modern, decentralized VPNs.
@@ -78,6 +84,8 @@ In this hands-on session, Scott showed how to set up private, peer-to-peer IPv6
 
 Watch 📺 the full demo [here](https://youtu.be/TlJSmryxRrk?si=tSYeaS9uoQonz_YR).
 
+<br/>
+
 ### **DePIN Summit Reminder**
 
 Happening on July 2nd in Mombasa 🇰🇪 and July 4th and 5th in Zanzibar 🇹🇿, DePIN Summit 2025 will bring together global experts and builders to explore how decentralized infrastructure is shaping the future. Hosted by EV3, Share, and ThreeFold, the event will focus on real-world solutions and innovation with a special focus on the global south.
@@ -90,6 +98,8 @@ With co-founders Kristof De Spiegeleer and Florian Fournier speaking, they'll br
 
 There’s still time to secure your attendance if you’d like to join! Visit [depinsummit.xyz](https://depinsummit.xyz)
 
+<br/>
+
 ### **Looking Ahead** 
 Stay tuned tomorrow for a special update from the team! In addition, you can expect more information on the next version of the grid, 3.18, in the coming days. And we’ll have two more demos coming for you later in June as well. Stay tuned via our [news channel](https://t.me/threefoldnews) for more as it unfolds. 🔮
 

content/newsroom/summer_2025_roundup/index.md

@@ -0,0 +1,136 @@
+---
+id: summer_2025_roundup
+title: "Unfolding ThreeFold: Summer / Winter 2025 Roundup"
+image_caption: Summer / Winter
+description: Dig into updates on technology progress, commercialization strategy, community development, and the rest of the key happenings from the summer/winter.
+date: 2025-08-25
+taxonomies:
+  people: [sam_taggart]
+  tags: [community, grid, tech]
+  news-category: [community, grid, tech]
+extra:
+    imgPath: summer_2025_roundup.png
+---
+
+We hope your summer (or winter, depending on your hemisphere) is going well. For us, this stretch has been defined by:
+
+- Progress on technology needed for commercialization
+- Developing partnerships which we believe will drive utilization, revenue generation, and network expansion
+- Community development through DePIN Summit Africa
+- INCA and fundraising
+
+Let’s dive into the highlights, but before we do:
+
+***We invite you to join us for a community call with Kristof and some of the team this Friday August 29 at 16:00 CEST to go deeper into what’s shared below including: the marketplace and commercial model, the idea of a credit currency in the marketplace and how it might positively impact the ThreeFold Token, HERO, and the decentralized Kubernetes offering. Stay tuned for the link, we are planning to use a WebRTC-based solution.***
+
+<br/>
+
+### **Developing for Utilization & Revenue Generation**
+
+We are focused on delivering concrete commercial projects which have the potential to drive utilization on a large scale. For this, we needed to deliver some more technical elements.
+
+<br/>
+
+#### TF Grid 4
+
+Bringing TF Grid 4 live with Zero OS 4 is an essential step in enabling the commercialization of our network. It’s been a huge job, but we hope to have an early non-complete version by September.
+
+<br/>
+
+#### Commercial Kubernetes Offering
+
+The team has been working on a simple but powerful platform to provision Kubernetes clusters with low friction of onboarding to the ThreeFold Grid. A marketplace view makes it easy for users to find what they need and credit card payments make it easy to get started.
+
+<br/>
+
+![Image](img/kubernetes_end_aug.jpeg#mx-auto)
+
+<br/>
+
+Kubernetes delivers standard, cloud-native deployment models, empowering developers and DevOps engineers to deploy resilient, scalable workloads using familiar tools, while maintaining sovereignty over compute, storage, and networking.
+
+The main features requested have been completed and the team is in testing mode.
+
+<br/>
+
+#### Marketplace
+
+The marketplace has seen great progress since it was announced, and internal testing has begun. The marketplace enables commercial opportunities on, and related to, the grid, including the sale of hardware, the provisioning of cloud slices, human energy services, and more.
+
+<br/>
+
+![Image](img/marketplace_end_aug.png#mx-auto)
+
+<br/>
+
+Some elements of the marketplace have evolved and we invite you to join us for the call or watch the recording to learn more and participate. We are aiming for an initial rollout (e.g. farmers can connect existing equipment) by the end of September.
+
+<br/>
+
+#### HERO
+
+The team has made huge strides on the long-discussed and long-awaited HERO (previously named Digital Twin)! HERO is your personal agent, trusted digital extension, and gateway into a truly peer-to-peer world. The HERO high-level architecture is done and most of the key building blocks have been developed.
+
+A key commercial partner will join us in Dubai at the end of September to discuss global rollout, for which an MoU has already been signed.
+
+<br/>
+
+#### Mycelium
+
+Mycelium is a core component of the current and future ThreeFold Grid. Recent work has focused on implementing a kind of Content Delivery Network (CDN) in Mycelium. Metadata about stored files is saved in a central registry. The actual content is encoded and split across multiple 0-db instances, ideally geographically dispersed. Inside Mycelium, when the file is accessed, the closest 0-db instances are used to load the required data and reconstruct the original file. This provides both data locality and redundancy of storage locations.
+
+This feature is accessible by anyone, but was developed to aid in hosting the content for the Sikana platform. Current efforts are targeted at further improving/refining this functionality.
+
+Long term, the aim is to continue to improve system scalability, which might cause us to move to a new routing system implementation.
+
+<br/>
+
+#### Quantum Safe Storage
+
+ThreeFold's flagship storage system is becoming easier to use and more robust. The new "quantumd" management utility handles the complete lifecycle of Quantum Safe Filesystem deployments, quickly turning any VM into a QSFS enabled machine. We are also evaluating open source S3 compatible solutions for use with QSFS, with promising results. S3 is an industry standard storage protocol, so this unlocks a major use case for the ThreeFold network.
+
+<br/>
+
+#### Utilization / Revenue Generation and Grid Expansion
+
+Commercialization is not just about delivering technology.
+
+We are advancing the commercialization of the network through a series of collaborations / initiatives that can expand both utilization and network size. This includes embedding nodes into new industries and physical assets, expanding reach into large communities and ecosystems, and integrating new hardware models capable of handling serious next-generation / AI workloads. We will be sharing as progress / outcomes evolve.
+
+<br/>
+
+### **Community Development at DePIN Summit Africa**
+
+Over ten powerful days in July, DePIN founders, builders, and local stakeholders from various sectors came together for DePIN Summit 2025, hosted by Escape Velocity (EV3), Share Internet, and ThreeFold.
+
+The summit consisted of two legs: first in Mombasa, Kenya and second in Zanzibar, Tanzania. ThreeFold was honored to host the Zanzibar leg of the summit and deeply proud to have showcased a diverse range of groundbreaking DePIN projects while spotlighting Africa as a powerful hub for emerging technology and innovation.
+
+<br/>
+
+![Image](img/znzcollab.jpg#mx-auto)
+
+<br/>
+
+In Zanzibar, Kristof was joined by Eng. Shukuru Awadh Suleiman, Director General of Zanzibar Communication Corporation (ZICTIA) to discuss our collaborations here on the island.
+
+Read more about the summit [here](https://www.threefold.io/blog/depin-summit-recap/).
+
+<br>
+
+### **INCA and Fundraising**
+
+We have also been working on the INCA launch, we are positioning it as a major project in the AI agent space. While we have had some success with the fundraise, we have simply not yet raised enough. We are working with a new experienced team on the right path forward and more information will follow as we raise additional funding and define the next phase of our journey.
+
+<br/>
+
+### **What’s Next**
+
+We’re entering an exciting phase, where years of development and contributions are coming together. Commercialization is no longer a distant goal – it’s the immediate horizon.
+
+We are not just building infrastructure, we are enabling a new kind of Internet where AI serves humanity, where data is private, and where everyone can participate in the digital economy.
+
+The future is ours to build, and it’s happening now.
+
+***We know this time of the year can be quite busy for many, but we invite you to join us for our next community call to go deeper into the marketplace and commercial model, the idea of a credit currency in the marketplace and how it might positively impact the ThreeFold Token, review the Kubernetes offering, and more.***
+
+***The call will take place this Friday August 29 at 16:00 CEST. Stay tuned for the call link – we are planning to use a WebRTC-based solution.***