European Orbit Community Meetups: Eager Developers, Decentralized Storage Curiosity, and Vibrant Communities

The Filecoin Orbit community teamed up with Filecoin Foundation recently on a Europe roadshow tour to engage builders, strengthen the community, and drive interest in the region ahead of the Filecoin community’s activation at EthCC in Brussels – the strongest builder-focused event in Europe.

Ambassadors from the Filecoin Orbit Community Program hosted events across six cities: Barcelona, Madrid, Warsaw, Lisbon, Katowice, and Munich. Each stop included engagement with local Web3 communities and hubs, insightful talks showcasing the depth and diversity of the Filecoin ecosystem, and participation by attendees already engaged in Filecoin land as well as those taking their first steps.

(As a refresher, the Filecoin Orbit Community Program is a group of volunteer ambassadors who host Filecoin workshops and hackathons, publish educational Filecoin articles and videos, and build on Filecoin.)

Poland ❤️ Filecoin

The highlight of the roadshow came in Poland, where we found an enthusiastic developer and builder community hungry to engage with a top Web3 project. Here, we hosted two meetups with our Poland Orbit ambassador Martyna Jeute – one at the University of Silesia in Katowice and another in Warsaw.

Martyna is both a longtime Filecoin and IPFS enthusiast, and a well-known figure in the Poland Web3 community as an entrepreneur, ETHWarsaw organizer, and a computer science lecturer at the University of Silesia. For years, she has been instrumental in spreading the Web3 ethos and in bringing more people into the Filecoin community around the region.

The stop in Katowice, a mid-sized city in southern Poland, far exceeded all turnout expectations. As the RSVPs ticked well past 400 in the days leading up to the event, we knew we were going to be well over the university auditorium’s seating capacity. Overflow accommodations were set up to meet the incredible demand. It was the best-attended Filecoin Orbit event on record!

Filecoin Foundation developer advocate Robert Dowling gave a talk breaking down the Filecoin and IPFS tech stack to the crowd, which was a mix of students from the university and local builders.

For the Warsaw edition, it was an honor to team up with Martyna again and the ETHWarsaw team to showcase Filecoin at their monthly meetup — hosted at the beautiful PKO Bank Polski atrium in the historic city center. ETHWarsaw has done an incredible job building a community of developers and enthusiasts by hosting consistent monthly get-togethers and hackathons highlighting new projects.

The Warsaw crowd of technical, product, and web2 people was quite keen to hear Robert’s talk discussing the evolution of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and decentralized data services networks like Filecoin and IPFS. One of our Poland-based Filecoin storage providers (among the largest in Europe) was onsite to explain to the crowd the mechanics of how a Filecoin data storage operation works.

Madrid: Hosting at Cryptocafe with Zondax

In Madrid, we teamed up with Web3 software development platform Zondax and Cryptocafe – the city’s new Web3 hub and co-work venue, to host a meetup for the local community – a vibrant mix of locals and expats taking advantage of the city’s quality of life and tech vibe.

Ainhoa Aldave, Zondax's COO, gave a Spanish-language talk discussing the tooling her team has built (everything from wallet integrations to block explorers) for the Filecoin ecosystem over the years.

Additionally, Protocol Labs developer advocate Sarah Thiam was on hand to discuss InterPlanetary Consensus (IPC), a new architecture that will allow Filecoin (and other blockchains) to scale via the novel use of subnets.

“This gathering attracted a vibrant crowd of blockchain enthusiasts and experts, all keen to deepen their understanding of blockchain technology, with a special focus on Filecoin and the Filecoin Virtual Machine (FVM),” said the Zondax team in their event recap. Check out Zondax’s event recap for more pictures and details about the Madrid Filecoin community.

Barcelona: Alongside Industry Heavyweights at Web3FC

In Barcelona we participated in the Web3FC conference, organized by Orbit ambassador Adrien Berthou. Web3FC is the city’s largest chain agnostic event laser-focused on the city’s technical community. Robert gave a presentation on why the Filecoin and IPFS stack is a critical piece of infrastructure for anyone keen to build using decentralized tech.

Filecoin Foundation shared the stage in Barcelona with representatives from Ethereum Foundation, Starknet, Polygon, Mina Protocol, Arbitrum, Fuel, and more throughout the three-day conference.

Lisbon: Forging New Partnerships

In Portugal, we joined forces with Diogo Almeida of Lightshift Ventures, a Lisbon-based VC and longtime friend of the Filecoin world and Protocol Labs network, to host the first Filecoin event in Lisbon since our flagship FIL Lisbon conference in 2022 (watch those sessions here).

We had the pleasure of hosting at Poolside – which is an exciting new accelerator, co-work space and event hub serving the Lisbon Web3 community. The city has an incredibly eclectic community of both native Portuguese builders and expats who have set up in the city to take advantage of its favorable crypto climate.

Stef Magdalinski, Head of Technical Programs at the Filecoin Foundation, discussed the Foundation's grants programs, the many opportunities for builders to get involved in the Filecoin world, and how people can apply for grant funding. Diogo Coimbra of Lisbon-based Haven Digital Partners was also onhand to present a new solution for Filecoin storage deals that matches investors with storage providers in need of Filecoin collateral.

Munich: Student Fanfare at Technical University of Munich

The roadshow's final stop was in Munich, where Orbit Ambassador Timo Lee is involved with the Technical University of Munich (TUM) Blockchain group.

Web3Mine’s co-founder Lukas Bresser delivered a talk about a new decentralized computing project that uses Filecoin architecture. The presentation was timely and well-received given the current zeitgeist around DePIN, compute, and artificial intelligence projects.

Where to Next? FIL Brussels

As the world continues its shift toward decentralized architectures, the Filecoin Orbit Community Program plays a crucial role in educating and onboarding the next generation of Web3 builders and pioneers, paving the way for a more decentralized future.

Next, the Filecoin community is descending upon Brussels from July 8-10, alongside EthCC 2024, for an exploration into the realms of decentralized AI, DePIN, and compute. Join us at FIL Brussels for insightful talks, hands-on workshops, networking opportunities, and can’t miss announcements from trailblazing Filecoin ecosystem teams building at the forefront of the data economy. Secure your spot.

Interested in Getting Involved with Orbit?

Submit an application to become an Orbit ambassador.