at 35 GB per antnode, that's 35 Petabytes available for permanent data upload 

private or public data.

Full disclosure, I am running five Antnodes on the Linux Acer Aspire, now ancient i5 10thgen notebook.

Its the latest 0.3.6 antnode code, launched with the Linux node-launchpad provided by Autonomi.

So I am now ready to start earning ERC-20 ANT Tokens from Autonomi Network Emissions and from organic file up loaders spending their ATTOs  the micro measurement of ANT tokens (like SATOSHIs, yet 'atto' is actually  a real, 'on the books'  mathematical measurement standard )

My Node-launchpad Dashboard is a real OS terminal window program with a useful front side, back side GUI presented in ASCII form (same on Mac and Win11/10 using their default terminal access to the OS).

The Day in the Life of an Antnode:

Busy, Busy Busy Gossiping, Shuffling Chunks, Quoting and Often Winning ECR-20 ANT Token Rewards

It takes about a day any antnode to settle and earn an antnode reliability reputation score with its close group of peer connected antnodes. An Antnode's  'close group' membership is a math determined, time and available capacity group of antnodes that gossip together in what is a semi-persistent  closegroup (more on the semi-part later), where membership in the close group is defined by how close their randomly generated at antnode boot XOR addresses are to each other. Typically a Close group might have 

That close group specific to each antnode, so each of my five antnodes in my 'fleet' of antnodes running on my notebook, each have their own closegroup separate from one another. Each antnode in the group uses gossip protocol (per the p2plib) among themselves to make sure they still exist( heart beat).

TK's  Antnode 'Fleet': With latest Antnode Updated 1:00am UT (GMT) Feb 15 2025

When a file uploader using the Autonomi Network client software, which is also free, makes a request via gossip to upload a file, the client's only randomly generated XOR address is heard by any listening (subscribing to multi-cast MESSAGES within their closegroup range of XOR addresses) antnodes.

Depending on how busy the antnodes are in their close group  doing other antnode chores (relaying messages, relating or storing or reading data chunks, publishing chunk locations to other antnodes etc.,) those antnodes all within the close group,  respond in kind to:

a. first check their own available capacity, then

b. check the current close group capacity availability, then

c. check the latest overall network capacity available,  then

d. calculate a quote and then

f. unicast their own unique competitive quote to the uploader requesting the quote.

Winning the Right to Upload and Send Copies to other Peered antnodes earns ERC-20 Tokens

Then its up to the uploader to select the quote they want, either manually, or if they are inclined, programmatically, selecting the quote they want to upload their file.

Once the uploader selects the quote they like, the uploader using the Autonomi Upload client software  or the uploader issuing manual or automatic(scripted) Autonomi cli commands in their OS Terminal window,  pays the selected quote issuer, the antnode offering the quote.

The winning Autonomi Network antnode automatically then redirects their ERC-20 Token payment received from the Autonomi client equipped uploader to their Antnode's assigned wallet address(a bit more on this later). Today antnodes under your control store your ERC-20 Token payment on the Arbitrum One roll-up Layer 2 Ethereum network.

Arbitrum One charges a small Ethereum gas fee to store your ERC-20 Token when you as an Autonomi Network 'Noderunner' Operator, configure your own wallet (ie Metamask or similar) to automatically post and transfer the ERC-20 token to the Arbitrum One roll-up  Ethereum Layer two(2) side chain, which itself is secured by the Ethereum Layer one chain.

Uploader Costs: Pay once for Permanent Data Storage, Accessed forever from anywhere from any machine

"Your keys your data" and it's your choice as the uploader and owner of the data to make the data private key only accessible or public key holder accessible. Thereafter the Autonomi Network of antnodes get busy at least   maintaining in triplicate your data  as many self-encrypted chunks which get distributed to other antnodes living in their own close groups, everywhere, randomly distributed.

To keep cost low for uploaders, the smart uploader will in many cases use Zip files and be selective of what they upload as permanent and public private data.  Changes can be made to existing data, for additional one time only upload (ingress into the Autonomi Network) fee. (check the documentation by visiting the autonomi.com site to learn more)

Uploader Magic: Quantum Computer Hack Proof Self Encryption of their Private Data Uploads 

 Today Initial upload traffic is light and expected, as potential uploaders 'learn how to best upload' for their own purposes.

Really Autonomi Network allows anyone to self-encrypt their own data. Imagine for instance encrypting one's Last Testament and Will, that is a good use of the Autonomi Network for sure, storing ones will on Autonomi, where one's executor keeps the Will private keys in trust, and  when one passes, the executor fetches the will from the Autonomi Network, eliminating any chance of "Will Hanky panky" (will tampering, an age old rampant problem our there nicely Solved at really low cost by Autonomi Network).

That said, ANT Token buy/sell transactions on  the first Autonomi Network ERC-20 ANT Token DEX listings are starting to show signs of volume, with Uploaders using #USDC to buy #ANT either to 'hodl' as an investment or use the ANT to pay for their own uploads. 

Here is a recent look at the very early ANT activity on Uniswap via DEXScreener

Marketcap Marketcap, How great is ANT Marketcap?

Give its very early days, ok ANT has a US $ 291 M market cap.

The very first day saw an influx buy via USDC of ANT, which then precipitated a buy cycle for those ANT holders, likely some being long time holders of Maidsafe selling their ANT to push in back into USDC. All good

The last few days show a slow rise in ANT's price to about US $27 cents.

Where the price will go is anyone's guess. On discord though, of course the grizzled  few pioneer OGs are all but certain after 8 months of commercial grade testing, the previously named SAFE network is now ready for massive growth in terms of supporting node operators serving file Autonomi Network client equipped private and public data uploaders right now.

EARLY DAYS AUTONOMI DEVELOPER OPPS

The network as positioned by their CEO, Sarah Buxton (formerly the COO of  GALA Games and their spin-off CEO for Gala Music) is now focused on making it easier for developers to add value on top of the Autonomi Network. To that end, the founder David Irvine and inventor (architect and lead developer) of the entire Autonomi Network concept back in 2006, is busy, still today, beavering away (19 years later) on improving  the developer toolkit developers need to 

'one up' the current Uploader experience, which is adequate today, yet leaves many opportunities to add even more value to that whole process.

AUTONOMI NETWORK EMISSIONS: INCENTIVES TO RUN AUTONOMI NODES- PAY OUT IS NOW

Maidsafe the authors of Autonomi Network, now released "into the wild" as a DAO, Distributed Autonomous Network, have set up the Autonomi Network Foundation in Geneva Switzerland to control the network emissions of Autonomi Network  per the information on their Whitepaper hosted at Notion. The Emissions are automated via a Smart Contract hosted on the Arbitrum One Layer 2 EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine).  The logic of that Smart Contract, is visible, and will be influenced by the Autonomi Community in the up coming future.

Check out the Autonomi Network Whitepaper to learn more.

Will it pay to run Autonomi Network Nodes in a big way? 

Well, time will tell. If one is 100% philanthropic, then it's a 'no brainer', because Autonomi busts the Internet commercial Oligopoly into a thousand pieces. (Sound familiar?)

If one runs their brain in ROI mode, 24*7*365 and money and gain is the only object, then there is work to be done adding value. A word of caution here,  No developer chops,  or at least no DevOps chops, then one has  'no ticket to enter' into the ROI windfall/sweepstakes that awaits those ROI operator types that are seeking to turn the Autonomi Network  and a  distributed fleet of antnodes into ERC-20 ANT token wealth.

Clearly, for the every day person on the street, the pay once to upload permanent data and download free anytime from anywhere from any device, where the data is on the network for ever is  a VERY enticing proposition.

Many of the Autonomi OGs and even newcomers see Autonomi Network as the 'rebirth of the Internet' owned by everyone and not controlled by anyone.

I for one, having been aware of Maidsafe  and their Safe Network(now Autonomi Network) since 2014. I have been closely observing via the forum  since late 2017, first a research way. In the past 14 months, I can now see  David Irvine has steered his ship back on course as stated in their earliest of  whitepapers posted in 2010, to today, be manifest in the Successful Launch of of TGE for Autonomi Network, where right today, after the first upgrade now the FASTER antnode growth  rate being experienced is a testament to that re-alignment  (likely around late 2022) to the original vision Irvine had for the project.

My own moment of " Autonomi Network buy-in" came in two steps:

Maidsafe's new CEO Hire:  Sarah Buxton. "Bux" as she goes by, is an LSE trained, 'self promoted work on the fringe' independent consultant, who was wise enough to step out of the "GALA Kacka" after first spending time 'earning the operational ropes of crypto" as their COO and then polishing that knowledge with a brief stint as their GALA Music CEO. 

That move by Buxton,  to unwind herself from what turned out to be early multi-founder fighting, peaked my interest.

That and Maidsafe jumping at the opportunity to hire Buxton 'local' in the UK,  imo was a strategic move by Irvine and the Maidsafe board and core dev team. The Buxton hire, which clearly put a couple of OGs 'noses out of joint', was the signal to me that Maidsafe and Irvine specifically  believed they had collectively,  finally figured  out how to build their 'distributed private Internet for all' promise made way back in 2014.

As usual though, having followed Autonomi on Discord, the Maidsafe developers and Irvine himself, were overly optimistic.

I simply saw that their earlier December 2023,  'Four month promise to deliver a production network'  as both over eagerness and typical of a research team transforming into the commercial space. That is with no real experience taking a research project through QA hardened commercial processes, that really the team at Maidsafe was really in a state of not really knowing the steps needed, steps that needed to be both embraced and taken to  heart to actually realize a successful production launch. That 'honest naivety', not knowing what you need to know, having had their heads in the 'research weeds' for so long was well, in many respects, to be expected by everyone else watching ,except those doing the research and making the 'innovative  break-through'.  

Buxton too, although likely wary, did jump in, full steam ahead, only to find out there were 'challenges' on all fronts.  The energy and to some extent bravery of Buxton is to be applauded, however naive at the time. I knew what was coming, and it came in the form of grumpy OGs old and young, doing what programmers and developers do best, when they don't like something new, carp in the shadows, most of the time, occasionally letting their frustration or distaste with new processes and directions slip, or shutting down entirely for a spell. All expected unavoidable shite in the world of commercial IT software development, to be sure. The challenge is to recover and pull together,  as a team and get over one self, for 'the greater good". ;)

Suffice it say, Maidsafe, led by Buxton and Irvine and senior developers I am sure, kept the friction this misalignment caused internally, kept  their public comments on progress and challenges outwardly professional in most all cases, except where in the case of  a couple of veteran Maidsafe contractors turned OGs voicing in open public forum  their concern over certain items technical and business and operational,  voiced both directly and in some cases 'veiled', and often pointed at the CEO, more around 'style' of communication issues than anything of real substance. Heck there were generation gaps that needed bridging, that sort of shite. ;) 

So in my books, 'good on Buxton' for keeping her shite together, in what must have been a very trying time and certain points along the journey to now, which really is just the beginning.

It was nice to see "Keep Cool and Carry on"  eventually prevailed. 

My own rule applied to forecasting software completeness, ready to launch has always been to take whatever developers say in terms of delivery duration and double it, then add 50%.

Turns out I was right in the case of Maidsafe Development team's early estimate of the ETA for Autonomi Network.   

4 months X 2, + 50% the last time I looked is 12 months, give or take one month. ;)

The lesson learned by Maidsafe and Irvine is that "Figuring it out"  in my own experience, does not equate to delivering production @ scale ready software. :)

Then my second "buy in" moment came when the  Autonomi Network  Community OGs and the development team at Maidsafe embraced and quickly embedded the flow control layer of QUIC protocol on top of UDP to programmatically have the antnodes be in complete rate control of chunk flow and message flow. 

This  TK "buy-in"  tech weenie moment happened though,  only after 'some summertime development blues' had set in as the Maidsafe team struggled to get the Gossip error messaging under control, most all of it (in hindsight) triggered by underlying flow control problems, not under the control of the antnodes. (F'ing TCP shite or lack of it)

Some souls, who will remain nameless, in the Autonomi Network Forum, later in 2024, pre- Halloween time or thereabouts, in continued discussion as to what the right encrypted data chunk size should be, had evolved the discussion to routing chunks and  suggested the QUIC payload size be set to 500K to get around ISP suspected limited bandwidth at peak chunk i/o time congestion, then another OG piped up and pointed out that flow control adaptation must be applied at the Antnode level to get that to work, given it worked on other network routing systems quite nicely. (that means re-working node 2 node gossip messaging)  

Anyway, Anyone interested in such 'tech deep dives" can find out who that was, by going to the  Autonomi Forum here, finding the 'culprits'  triggering the Maidsafe dev team into  '@scale' corrective action, readers can do this by searching  the forum with string 'QUIC'.  There you will see a trail of posts by OGs, the dev team and Irvine on the synergy that emerged over a few months between the OGs and the Maidsafe developers  and Irvine himself(to his credit and the team's credit,) both who turned on a dime to adopt the OGs insistence and suggestion about QUIC  flow control use, regardless of chunk size. The Maidsafe dev team moved QUICkly, no pun intended, to make QUIC flow control happen, and the  Autonomi Network Beta Network sprang to life @ scale in November 2024, triggering an early access random reward period in December of 2024. Shortly thereafter  "DAVE" an early buggy yet workable client upload app only for mobile devices in the first release, not in much better shape, surfaced under Irvine's direction and his lower level coding support. Things were seriously looking up at Maidsafe as the Autonomi Network in production form was rapidly taking shape.

TGE? When TGE?- Autonomi Network - Token Generation Event- Feb 11th, 2025

Autonomi Network's TGE Dates were announced then slipped, three times (per my earlier Publish0x posts), as Maidsafe's development team re-jigged code to get through Maidsafe's upgraded and commercialized QA processes to see the release of Noderunner software "node-launchpad"(for normal users)  and antctl (for cli "command line interface" wankers) used by Autonomi Network  Noderunners before and after TGE.  Even then, one component of the release, the Linux node-launchpad (which most OGs running Linux ignored) did not quite work right, so that fact stalled antnode growth, but only partly, likely less than 5%.

n.b.- Linux developers generally, it should be noted, myself included, have a terminally 'do more work than necessary" flaw encrusted in a DIY 'Do it yourself' attitude that is the root cause of lower Autonomi Network Linux  'ant' node-launchpad adoption, as "we" can always do 'it'  whatever that is construed to be in our own reality distortion fields, better, ourselves. ;) 

LINUX node-launchpad for Autonomi Network now good to go!

I can attest, since I am running the Linux node-launchpad app as a write this post in Publish0x, that the Autonomi Network Linux node-launchpad is all fixed now with 0.3.6 release of antnode software. Maidsafe added the Linux fix for antnode into the existing 0.5.4 node-launchpad Linux OS terminal application (runs on all forms of Linux), so those interested in running the Linux version, (Even under Windows11, cuz that is how Windows 11 really works)  can do so now. Just be sure, as is the case with all Noderunner implementations, as an Operator, one only launches five Antnodes at a time (Control+G) in the node-launchpad OS term app, only once one has their wallet address set and  their method of ISP connection  set, and then one checks their remaining resources to decided if one wants to add more antnodes to increase one's chances of earning more ERC-20 ANT tokens, waiting three minutes between launching 5 antnodes together, for those same nodes to settle' (stop using a lot of one's netbook or desktop resources at startup for about 3 minutes) , before running another five nodes .

Other features were also added into 0.3.6 antnode release, that in the past proved to work, but were taken out to assist in debugging earlier problems, and those 'message and chunk relay' features were also added back in to the antnode 0.3.6 release, now operating in and managed by the 0.5.4 node-launchpad terminal app for your chosen OS.

Checking in on your antnode use of resource is easy using standard OS tools, below is a screen  showing my use of Linux tools to check in: (Gnome desktop)

Linux System monitor run from the Gnome Desktop as pinned OS Terminal app

TK's 'Buy in' Moments for Autonomi Network- The Short Story Ending, QUIC.

The short story ending behind my 'second step buy in' was Maidsafe's injection of QUIC flow control of data chunks and Gossip event messaging solved many related problems (once they fixed  and helped Protocol Labs fix  a few glitches in p2plib that popped in this respect)  to have both the Maidsafe team and the Community OGs 'cross the Rubicon" together with the QUIC fix that has led to Autonomi Network making the BIG STEP into the long promised world of a truly distributed private Internet nirvana @ scale. 

That said, Autonomi network, after 5 days in operation is tracking by my estimation , to cross the 1 Million antnodes in operation mark, into the land of distributed private Internet @ scale,  only five days after their TGE "Token Generation Event".

Now having Autonomi Network reach 1 million antnodes in just five days is nothing to sneeze at sure.

These are small node operators running 5 to 100 nodes on average with a few  big 2000+  full time (Linux Wanker) node operators thrown in as well. That's a big commitment of computing resources and ISP bandwidth distributed across a lot of people, around the world.

HOW BIG Can Autonomi Network Really get? The Accessible Market Size...

In my books though, given the number of MS Windows 10/11 notebooks and desktops in operation, with the former being about 320 million systems, anyone who has now run a few antnodes can clearly see, given how easy it is to run a small fleet of antnodes that make up the Autonomi Network Autonomi could easily grow 10X in just a few months to 10 Million antnodes.

That Human gossip, a powerful word of mouth thing, imo will light up Autonomi Network's growth sooner, rather than later, just for uploads, never mind value add developer apps.

The only question in my own mind is "How fast  Autonomi Network growth will expand to get to 100 Million antnodes and then 1 Billion antnodes?

Will in be one, two, three years? Who knows, but the first 100 Million number is definitely attainable within any of those time frame, if Autonomi Network and Maidsafe get the word out and continue to grind Quality into the their software release processes in tandem.

The Biological answer though in terms of sizing the Accessible market, likely lies in studying stigmergy, ie- how big Termite colonies can get and how fast, without being disturbed.

Are there 10s of millions of Termites in successful undisturbed colonies? Yes.

So 100 Million antnodes is not out of the question, and imo 100 million antnodes will happen faster than one thinks,  because my first hand interaction with the  Autonomi OGs and the Maidsafe developers indeed  reveal a new sort of "Super Ant" creator/developer stereotype which never gives up, does not subscribe to 'never', has huge amounts of collective stamina and, by and large, those that stayed the course, steered by David Irvine back on to the right path, are  still very open, responsive and as such, 'tough as nails' adaptive.

(the current rate of growth after the recent update Per an Autonomi Community Member 'OG developed tool'(not likely accurate) on the weekend,  is measured ti be 2000 new antnodes added on average per hour, and this after an antnode software only update at 1:00am UT (GMT) , so  at the moment one can see Autonomi Network "Noderunner" Operators(anyone) are still in the process of updating their antnode software)

I am not gambling man and well, for me, Autonomi Network is no a gamble.

It's now clear to me Autonomi Network is the future of the private/public owned by everyone, controlled by no one Internet, now.

Personally, I have been around long before the dawn of the Internet, helped  sell and build the first Internet deployments connected to ARPA as early as 1989 with  "small c" cisco systems. I do know what 'a free open Internet' used to look like on back then in 1991, way before the crony capitalists took the Internet over and centralized it all with TBL's WWW tech for their  own shareholders starting really around 1994. By the .com crash in 1999, The free public Internet was gone.

That latter development  of central control of the Internet, which has lasted 25 years to today, is now FINALLY in peril, 

with Autonomi Network released to the wild.

Yeah, there will be growing pains, yes their will be an additional epiphany, or two, or maybe three, and a few setbacks.

Autonomi Network is the  Internet journey I wanted to be on back in 1989. 

Now  35 years later, thanks to Autonomi Network, Irvine and crew, I finally get to go on that free Internet journey  I has envisioned 35 years ago when I first started with cisco. ( It's a journey that has re-energized me and I am going to go for it, while I have still mileage on this frame, and enough positive left in me to actually enjoy it)

For Those who join in on this journey to unveil and grow the first free Internet controlled by no one and owned by everyone, now is the time to help and also be rewarded big time in many different way for doing so,

simply by running a few antnodes. Go here to do just that.

Unfortunately though, those interested in a quick ROI centralized control gain, looking to amass  alot of wealth centrally, as quickly as possible, on the Autonomi Network, will be hugely disappointed, as whether they realize it or not, they have just been assigned to living out their existence as 'Schrodinger's Cat' types, as the lid on that reality distortion box closes. (quicker than one might think.)

Happily, those looking to reduce their Hyperscaler costs and Internet bill monthly, will be seriously happy pushing their Permanent Data onto the Autonomi Network at much, much lower cost than previously thought possible. Amazing savings are sitting there waiting for your  permanent backups and snapshots too on the Autonomi Network.

VC or not to VC, that is the Question

Those VCs that realize the above, will think a lot and finally devise new ways to fund and develop new data availability services on the Autonomi Network, @ scale. 

 Now,  I am all in,  on the Autonomi Network. 

A word of advice for the Cryptosphere?

The rest of the Cryptosphere needs to pay attention to Autonomi Network.

Autonomi Network is NOT your competition, it's your  BIGGEST OPPORTUNITY.

Autonomi Network is THE NEW distributed private/public Internet owned by everyone and controlled by no one

Those next steps for the Champions of the CryptoSphere?

It's simple, 'you all' should be developing and running your projects on Autonomi Network.

Full stop.

Autonomi Network is bigger than  the Tim Berners Lee  'www' Moment,

and that was REALLY BIG. 

So get goin' Cryptosphere Champions, Bitcoin Layer 1 and Layer 2 included. ;)

Run a few nodes on the Autonomi Network and see what I am talking about.

TK over and out.