Open Grant Proposal: Eastore

[lordshashank]

Open Grant Proposal: Eastore

Project Name: Eastore

Proposal Category: Storage, Retrieval, FVM

Individual or Entity Name: Shashank Trivedi

Proposer: @lordshashank

Project Link: Eastore.xyz

Pitch Deck: Eastore Proposal

Project Repo(s) https://github.com/Eastore-project

Do you agree to open source all work you do on behalf of this RFP under the MIT/Apache-2 dual-license?: yes

Project Summary

Eastore is an on-chain way of storing small files on Filecoin. Eastore is built on top of FVM which allows users to store files through smart contract transactions. Our aim is to provide users with an on-chain alternative to traditional centralized file storage protocols like Drive, Dropbox, etc.
Eastore is a chain agnostic platform i.e. users can store their files on filecoin through Eastore from any of the currently 10+ supported chains with the help of Axelar.
As Eastore makes deals directly with miners, we aim to provide direct miner retrievals through lassie, etc, and assure it through smart contract logic enabling an end-to-end flow for users directly to the Filecoin chain with no one in between.
Privacy is an important aspect in a decentralized web. Eastore aims to provide complete client-side encryption such that no one except the client can access those files.
With Eastore we just aim to provide a solution for people who are reluctant to trust centralized authorities with their data and want a privacy-centric, decentralized, and trustless solution to store and access their data.
Eastore is more than just storage. It's a solution for people who want to keep their information private and take back control of their data. By working with the Filecoin network, we're building a better, more secure internet.

Impact

Eastore aims to make Filecoin feasible for general users wanting to store files decentrally. We are creating a drive-like interface over FVM enabling users to interact with the Filecoin chain through smart contracts.
In the process of building Eastore we also aim to open source various smart contracts, starter kits, and SDKs for use to the filecoin community on various impactful projects, helping the community as a whole.
This will empower developers to build their own innovative projects on Filecoin, contributing to a stronger, more vibrant ecosystem.

• What pain points does this project seek to address?

  Eastore aims to provide a solution for users who are not willing to trust centralized storage for their daily files and want a truly trustless solution to store their data in a truly decentralized way.
  We also aim to solve developer pain points through open-sourcing our work to be used to build dApps on FVM. For example, we have open-sourced a starter kit having Eastore contracts which is a cross-chain starter kit enabling devs to build cross-chain applications over FVM through Axelar.

• What are the benefits to getting this right? What are the risks of not getting this right?

  Eastore after deployment would provide a feasible alternative to people to store their regular data on filecoin in a decentralized way, with complete privacy, and reliable retrievals. This would create a whole new domain in Filecoin for general users wanting to store files in filecoin, without relying on any centralization factor.
  The success of Eastore depends on overcoming several challenges, including the development of trustless aggregation mechanisms and efficient data preparation techniques. Failure to address these issues could hinder adoption and limit the project's overall impact on the Filecoin network. Collaboration with the Filecoin team will be crucial to ensure these challenges are addressed effectively.

• What impact will this project have in a specific vertical, market, or ecosystem? What does success look like?

  Eastore will bring a whole new perspective to the storage landscape, enabling decentralized storage through on-chain transactions. Main thing here is to make it a feasible alternative. Success for Eastore would be having a lot of people using Eastore to store their daily jpegs, pdfs, etc and having a smooth UX comparable to drive, thus retaining them for a long time.

Outcomes

Our final aim is to have a robust Eastore protocol deployed on the mainnet. Users would be able to interact with Eastore UI to store their files into filecoin through smart contract transactions. They would also have the option to store on-chain through verified contracts on Filfox or directly through Eastore Repos having all functionalities from data prep to retrievals.
Hence, deliverables include a working Eastore on the mainnet with verifiable deal-making, retrievals, encryption, etc., and a few open-sourced repos on Eastore’s core working protocol.

Success for us is not just to go to mainnet but having a feasible end-to-end decentralized flow for storing files for clients, leading to inflow of users to eastore and deals to Filecoin.
Measuring metrics here could be:-

• Volumes of files stored
• No. of smart contract transactions
• No. of miners involved
• No. of users/accounts involved, etc

Adoption, Reach, and Growth Strategies

Target Audience

Eastore's primary target audience is the vast market of everyday cloud storage users who rely on platforms like Drive and Dropbox. The global cloud storage market is estimated to be over $100 billion, with nearly one in five individuals utilizing cloud storage for their data.

Eastore aims to attract these users by offering a superior alternative:

• Decentralized: Eliminating reliance on centralized authorities.
• On-Chain: Leveraging the security and transparency of blockchain technology.
• Privacy-Centric: Ensuring user data remains confidential through encryption.
• Affordable: Providing a cost-effective solution compared to traditional cloud storage.
• Seamless Transition: Enabling a smooth user experience for those migrating from centralized platforms.

This approach appeals to individuals who prioritize data privacy and control, seeking a trustless and secure environment for their files.

In addition, Eastore targets Filecoin developers by providing open-source repositories, tools, and resources that simplify building decentralized applications (dApps) on the Filecoin Virtual Machine (FVM). This empowers developers to leverage Eastore's technology and contribute to the growth of the Filecoin ecosystem.

For onboarding new users, we first have to complete our product end-to-end enabling us to propose the Eastore having features being discussed above. After that, it all comes to awareness. We aim to make people aware of Eastore and the value it provides through marketing, etc. We expect to make a product that retains users and expands customers through word of mouth.

Development Roadmap and Funding

Current Status: Minimal version of Eastore is live on Calibnet at eastore.xyz . Users can make deals, view and verify processes on-chain, renew the deals before expiring, etc.

S.No.	Milestone	Description	Functionality Expected/Deliverables	Estimated Duration	Funding
1	File retrieval from miners	Enable direct retrievals from miners to users.for their files through lassie	Users would be able to get their file directly from Eastore UI	1 month	2000$
2	Complete UI Restructure	Reformat Eastore’s UI completely as per future vision and making user experience more smooth and exciting	An entirely new frontend for users to interact with Eastore along with new features of retrievals, renewals, miner visibility, etc	2 months	5000$
3	Client-side encryption	Files stored in Filecoin are accessible to anyone through cids. We aim to research and implement wallet-based, client-side encryption allowing only users to access the files.	Users are able to opt for encryption through their wallet signatures and decrypt them during retrieval	2 months	6000$
4	Independent data prep mechanism	To make deal in filecoin, data prep is needed to make deal param, build car file. Eastore aims to provide its own data prep mechanism along with an open-source repo for users to do it on their own and still be able to make deal through Eastore.	Users get an option on Eastore to provide deal parameters themselves or choose the default Eastore data prep feature. An open-sourced repository enabling single command data prep from files for users	1 month	5000$
5	Verifiable Aggregation Mechanisms	As we aim for a mainnet launch, one of the major blocker is aggregation of smaller files. We are working closely along the Filecoin team to enable this.	Files given by user, getting aggregated verifiably (through PODSI,etc) into a car file to make deals.	2 months	5000$
6	New Smart Contract Flow	With all above issues resolved, we would be working to implement a new smart contract flow for Eastore to go to mainnet. This include miner registrations, deal-making logic, verifiable retrievable, etc	Open-sourced smart contracts implementing verifiable deal-making and retrievals from miners through slashing and rewarding mechanisms	2 months	8000$
7	Auditing and testnet live	Smart contracts would be audited, reformed and made live on testnet, interactable through Eastore UI	Users would be able to use the new smart contract flow for storing and retrieving their files through eastore.	1 month	10000$
8	Eastore CLI and SDK	CLI and SDK implementation for new flow allowing privacy conscious users to run flow locally through CLI and builders to use Eastore workflow in their Dapps, etc.	Open-sourced CLI and SDK implementation along with detailed Readme to integrate and use them on Eastore github organization	1 month	8000$

Total Duration : 12 months
Total Funds Desired: 49000$

All the durations here are approximate timelines, we are committed to finishing the deliverables as soon as we can and bringing Eastore to mainnet.

Maintenance and Upgrade Plans

We would be maintaining and upgrading the open-sourced repositories constantly to iterate and improve Eastore functionalities. We would also be actively maintaining any starter kits, etc made to improve Filecoin and FVM developer utilities.

Team

Our core team currently consists of 2 members. We aim to expand on this with time through freelancing work, and getting like-minded people to achieve deliverables.

Team Members

1. Shashank Trivedi - shashanktrivedi1917@gmail.com - @lordshashank - Twitter - LinkedIn
2. Puspendra Mahariya - puspendramahariya@gmail.com - @silent-cipher - Linkedin

Relevant Experience

Our team is seasoned with FIlecoin and FVM. We have been working on Eastore with FVM since its launch. Eastore is a filecoin hackathon-winning project and we were called for the FVM mainnet cohort to continue the project. We built the current version of Eastore through FVM microgrants only.
In this journey we have made various contributions to Filecoin ecosystem like:

• Implemented one of the first FVM cross-chain starter kit through Eastore contracts.
• Rebooted Dataset Explorer under FVM microgrant
• Improved Filecoin Solidity Library by implementing view functionality for read-only functions.
• Implemented Raas starter kit to enable developers access RaaS features through smart contracts.
• Contributed to ref-fvm, FVM implementation in rust.
• Working on updating FVM starter kits to new Filecoin Solidity Library as are outdated.
• And a lot of discussions in filecoin slack.

With our experience in Filecoin stack, we are confident that we could achieve the vision of Eastore to provide users with truly decentralized storage service over Filecoin.

Team code repositories

• Core Eastore repositories
• DealFLow - a demo implementation of new smart contract flow we are aiming to implement.

Additional Information

How did you learn about the Open Grants Program? Recommended by @ZenGround0
Please provide the best email address for discussing the grant agreement and general next steps- eastore.web3@gmail.com

[ErinOCon]

HI @lordshashank, thank you for your proposal! This proposal has reached the final round of our review. We will be in touch if our team has any questions before proceeding with a final decision.

[ErinOCon]

Hi @lordshashank, can you share more details on the timeline for this project? We expect the ecosystem will have changed quite a bit in 16 months!

[lordshashank]

@ErinOCon , I agree the ecosystem would be quite changed in 16 months but ig we are looking for more FVM native use cases for sure and eastore would be at core of that.

Also, as evident this is a lot of work, specially mainnet, etc which would require quite a lot of work. We are confident with our vision and use cases here and are committed to deliver the goals.

Talking of timeline, as stated this is quite slack timeline, I am pretty confident we can pull many things in relatively low time, can change that as well if you want.

[ErinOCon]

Hi @lordshashank, thank you for your reply. Can you confirm what can be accomplished by your team in roughly 12 months?The scope of work that falls under this timeline may be eligible for a grant.

[lordshashank]

@ErinOCon I have made the changes to deliverables (removed few time taking things and included few other plans that we had) to what can be delivered in a year. Let me know if there are any other issues, we look forward to open grant to achieve the proposed vision for Eastore.