Mirrored from filpgf.io — ProPGF Batch 3 (Karma program 1479, application 6a317a1d13ef2aeed7ce0d8e, status: pending). Contact details redacted; canonical application lives on filpgf.io. 1.1 Project Name Verifiable Data Marketplace 1.4 Team Lead/Point of Contact Damian Pudło, Blockchain and Compliance Expert, preferred channel: Filecoin Slack @Damian Pudło or via e-mail 1.5 Category [ "RFP 1 - Customer-facing products built on Filecoin", "RFP 3 - AI infrastructure products on Filecoin" ] 1.6 Open Source Status Partial 2.1 Project Summary **Project Description** Verifiable Data Marketplace is not another data onboarding or storage product. It is a B2B marketplace for licensing and selling verifiable datasets, with Filecoin used as the infrastructure layer for storage, integrity, and independent verification. The primary product on Filecoin Onchain Cloud today is Filecoin Warm Storage Service, which routes data to PDP storage providers. There are also PoRep-based storage workflows, including P2PP / PoRep Market, that route data to PoRep Storage Providers. These are storage products: the commercial relationship is between a client and a Storage Provider, and the unit of value is storage capacity, storage duration, retrieval performance, and proof continuity. Verifiable Data Marketplace is a different type of product. The commercial relationship is between a dataset publisher and a dataset buyer. The unit of value is not storage capacity. The unit of value is the dataset itself: its content, provenance, license terms, version history, declared rights, and the ability to independently verify the exact dataset after purchase. Storage is a necessary infrastructure component, but it is not the product being sold. The marketplace allows organizations to prepare, publish, license, sell, store, and verify large datasets with a verifiable Data Passport. The Data Passport binds a specific immutable dataset version to structured information about its origin, publisher, owner, collection method, license terms, declared distribution rights, usage permissions, and storage identifiers. A buyer will be able to verify that the files they downloaded are exactly the files described in the marketplace offer and covered by the purchased license, regardless of whether the files were retrieved from Filecoin, a Storage Provider, CDN, S3, or the publisher’s own infrastructure. Initial dataset categories will include: - AI training datasets. - AI fine-tuning datasets. - AI evaluation datasets. - Geospatial data, including satellite imagery, orthophotos, LiDAR, and map data. - Robotics, autonomous systems, and simulation datasets. - 3D models. - Scientific datasets. - Industrial sensor datasets. These categories share a common problem: the value of the data depends not only on the content itself, but also on the ability to verify its source, version, license, rights, and integrity. **Difference from Existing Data Marketplaces** The closest existing product category in the Web3 space is represented by projects such as Ocean Protocol, which enable tokenized access rights to datasets and data services. Verifiable Data Marketplace differs in one critical way: it is designed around Filecoin-native, cryptographically verifiable dataset identity and storage history. In many existing data marketplaces, provenance is primarily declarative: a publisher claims that a dataset has a certain origin, licen …[truncated] 2.2 Who does this work support? [ "Application Builders", "Application Users", "Storage Providers", "Network Infrastructure" ] 2.3 Total Funding Requested (USD) $190,000 2.4 Milestones & Budget [ { "title": "Milestone 1: Data Passport and Verifier", "description": "Estimated duration: Months 1–2\nDeliverables\nData Passport schema.\nMapping between the Data Passport and existing or emerging dataset manifest standards.\nDataset versioning model.\nDataset Package structure.\nPublisher signing flow.\nIntegration plan for existing Filecoin data preparation tooling.\nPrototype verifier for checking downloaded data against the manifest, Root CID, Piece CID / CommP, and Data Passport.\nInitial technical documentation.\nIntegration or adaptation of tooling such as Singularity, open data preparation standards, or related Filecoin data-prep workflows.", "dueDate": "2026-09-30", "fundingRequested": "$43,000", "completionCriteria": "Acceptance Criteria\nA publisher can create a signed Data Passport for a dataset.\nThe Data Passport can be linked to a dataset manifest and dataset version.\nThe system can reference or integrate with existing Filecoin-compatible preparation workflows rather than requiring a completely new data-prep stack.\nThe verifier can check file integrity, manifest consistency, passport signature, Root CID, and Piece CID / CommP where available.\nDocumentation explains the trust model and the difference between publisher declarations, verification status, and cryptographic integrity." }, { "title": "Milestone 2: Publisher Portal and Storage Pipeline", "description": "Estimated duration: Months 2–4\nDeliverables\nPublisher onboarding flow.\nOrganization profile and publisher identity model.\nData Passport creation UI.\nSource document upload\nIntegration with existing Filecoin-compatible data preparation tools where possible.\nDataset Package generation from the portal.\nIntegration with PoRep Market / P2PP as the primary storage path.\nInitial Filecoin Pay integration where applicable.\nStorage requirements configuration.\nStorage status tracking.\nRetrieval test status display.", "dueDate": "2026-11-30", "fundingRequested": "$48,000", "completionCriteria": "Acceptance Criteria\nA publisher can register, create a dataset listing draft, define license terms, and generate or reference a Dataset Package.\nThe system can prepare or coordinate Filecoin-compatible packaging metadata through existing tooling where possible.\nThe system can expose Root CID, Piece CID / CommP, version number, and storage metadata.\nThe publisher can distinguish between public metadata, buyer-only documents, and internal supporting documents.\nThe storage pipeline supports at least one complete end-to-end test using PoRep Market / P2PP or a comparable Filecoin-backed storage workflow [ex. Filecoin OnChain Cloud]" }, { "title": "Milestone 3: Marketplace and Purchase Process", "description": "Estimated duration: Months 4–5\nDeliverables\nPublic dataset catalog.\nDataset search and filtering.\nDataset detail …[truncated] 3.1 Impact pathway **Output** → We will deliver a B2B marketplace for verifiable datasets, including a Data Passport standard, dataset manifest and versioning model, publisher portal, storage publication workflow, buyer purchase flow, licensing workflow, access control, and an open-source verifier. The marketplace will allow publishers to package and publish datasets with provenance, license terms, metadata, storage identifiers, and verification instructions. Outcome → Dataset publishers gain a practical way to monetize high-value datasets while making their provenance, version, license terms, and integrity easier for buyers to evaluate. Dataset buyers gain a way to purchase access to datasets and independently verify that the files they receive match the version, manifest, license, and identifiers presented before purchase. Storage Providers benefit because each published dataset creates demand for Filecoin-backed storage through PoRep / P2PP or Filecoin Onchain Cloud, depending on the storage path selected. **Impact** → The marketplace creates a repeatable commercial flow where dataset publication leads to paid storage demand on Filecoin. The buyer is not purchasing raw storage; the buyer is purchasing access to a dataset. However, every commercially published dataset still needs to be stored, versioned, made retrievable, and verifiable through Filecoin-backed infrastructure. This connects dataset licensing activity to Filecoin network usage. This supports Filecoin’s 2026 objectives by creating a customer-facing product that can generate paid storage demand, attract high-value datasets such as AI and geospatial data, and strengthen Filecoin’s position as infrastructure for verifiable, provenance-aware data markets. 3.2 Verification metrics **1. Number of datasets stored through Filecoin-backed workflows** Each dataset published through the marketplace will be linked to a Filecoin-backed storage workflow, either through PoRep / P2PP or Filecoin Onchain Cloud where applicable. Verification: dataset publication records will include storage identifiers such as Root CID, Piece CID / CommP where applicable, provider information, storage path, and storage status. These can be compared against public Filecoin chain data, provider records, Filecoin explorers, or Filecoin Onchain Cloud records where applicable. **2. Total data volume stored through Filecoin-backed workflows** The project will track the total size of datasets published and stored through Filecoin-backed storage. Verification: dataset size, manifest data, CAR/package metadata, Root CID, Piece CID / CommP, and storage records can be published in the pilot report and verified against storage provider records or public network/indexer data where available. **3. Number of participating Storage Providers** The project will track how many Storage Providers store marketplace-published datasets. Verification: provider IDs, storage records, and dataset-to-provider mappings can be included in public or redacted pilot reports, depending on provider consent and commercial sensitivity. **4. Number of paid storage commitments initiated by marketplace publication workflows** Each commercial dataset publication should result in a paid storage commitment funded by the dataset publisher or marketplace workflow. Verification: storage deal records, provider invoices, Filecoin Onchain Cloud records, Filecoin Pay records where used, or other externally auditable storage workflow evidence can be included in the pilot report. **5. Storage value generated through marketplace-published datasets** The project will estimate and report the paid storage value generated by pilot datasets based on dataset size, number of replicas, storage duration, selected storage path, and provider pricing. Verification: calculation inputs will be included in the pilot report, including dataset size, storage duration, number of copies, storage provider pricing or quotes, and resulting estimated annualized storage value. Marketplace-level verification metrics In addition to onchain metrics, the project will track marketplace-level metrics that show whether the product creates real demand: - Number of datasets published. - Number of dataset publishers onboarded. - Number of buyer organizations onboarded. - Number of completed commercial licensing transactions. - Number of verified dataset downloads. - Number of verifier runs completed successfully. These marketplace-level metrics are not all onchain by default, because the buyer is purchasing dataset access and license rights rather than raw storage. However, they are important for proving the commerc …[truncated] 3.3 References David Gasquez, Michael Madoff, Amin Bensadok, Marta Piekarska- Greater, Paweł Burgchardt, Duncan Ross, 4.1 Monthly Operating Burn [ "$10-$100K (small team)" ] 4.2 What % of total team monthly burn depends on this grant? Answer: 100% As a software house, we delegate our devs to projects full time. Meaning that 100% of the grant will be covering the developer team delegated to this project. This does not represent the burn of the broader company/organization The estimated monthly cost of the dedicated project team is approximately $32,000 per month. The requested grant amount of $190,000 covers a six-month delivery period, including engineering, integrations, open-source release management, documentation, testing with Storage Providers, and community feedback cycles. This grant would fund the dedicated product and engineering team responsible for building the open-source Data Passport, verifier, dataset packaging tools, Filecoin storage pipeline, and marketplace MVP. The grant would be the primary funding source for this project during the six-month delivery period, while our organization would continue supporting related Filecoin ecosystem work separately. 4.3 If this grant is not awarded, what happens? Our heart will be broken, but we will not give up 4.4 Core Team Mateusz Motyl – Senior AI & Full-Stack Developer A blockchain and fintech expert who already intimately understands the ecosystem's needs and challenges, having successfully built an LLM dedicated specifically to the Filecoin network. Adrian Wachel – Senior Full-Stack Developer An experienced developer specializing in building robust, high-performance web applications and scalable system architectures for complex digital products. Łukasz Wal – DevOps Engineer A dedicated infrastructure specialist ensuring reliable, secure, and highly available deployments for seamless project execution. Damian Pudło – Senior Analyst & Compliance Specialist An analytical expert bringing invaluable, hands-on ecosystem knowledge and regulatory insight from his - 0.2 FTEactive, ongoing role in the Filecoin-based FIDL project. - 0.2 FTE Marek Foss – Senior Blockchain Architect A Web3 veteran with an extensive track record of designing secure, scalable, and decentralized infrastructure across multiple prominent blockchain protocols. **Team Synergy & Ecosystem Alignment (Neti):** **Team Background** Our team has been involved in the Filecoin ecosystem for approximately three years. We have worked with Filecoin infrastructure, Storage Provider workflows, decentralized storage tooling, and technical systems related to data preparation and storage operations. We understand both sides of the problem: the technical complexity of preparing and storing large datasets through Filecoin, and the product gap that prevents many organizations from using Filecoin-backed storage in commercial dataset transactions. **Why This Team?** We are well positioned to deliver this project because: We have direct experience in the Filecoin ecosystem. We understand Storage Provider workflows and storage pipeline requirements. We can build both open-source infrastructure and customer-facing product layers. We are focused on real commercial data categories such as AI, geospatial, robotics, science, and industrial data. We understand that Filecoin’s role is to provide verifiable content and storage guarantees, while legal and commercial claims require structured documentation and verification status. We can design the system so the verification layer remains open and independently usable. **GitHub:** github.com/neti-software github.com/fidlabs 4.5 Has your team received a ProPGF grant or funding from PLFIF before? [ "No" ] 5.1 Key risks & dependencies **Risk 1: Legal claims and rights verification** The marketplace can link a dataset to a passport and license, but Filecoin itself cannot verify whether a publisher’s legal claims are true. **Mitigation:** The platform will clearly distinguish between publisher-declared claims, platform-reviewed information, externally verified claims, and cryptographically verified dataset identity. The Data Passport will include verification status for each relevant field. **Risk 2: Dataset quality and buyer trust** Buyers may need confidence not only in dataset integrity, but also in quality, completeness, documentation, and commercial usefulness. **Mitigation:** The marketplace will support structured metadata, samples, schemas, statistics, previews, documentation, license terms, and buyer-facing dataset descriptions. Pilot datasets will focus on categories where provenance and versioning create clear value. **Risk 3: Storage and retrieval complexity** Large datasets can be difficult to prepare, store, retrieve, and verify across multiple systems. **Mitigation:** The project will use Filecoin-compatible preparation workflows, CAR packaging, manifest generation, CID verification, Piece CID / CommP calculation, and retrieval testing. The verifier will be open source so buyers can independently validate downloads regardless of delivery source. **Risk 4: Marketplace Cold Start** A marketplace requires both dataset publishers and dataset buyers. Without credible initial supply and buyer interest, the product may not generate meaningful activity. **Mitigation:** The grant scope includes production pilots with real datasets and at least one commercial licensing transaction. We will focus on dataset categories where provenance, versioning, licensing clarity, and independent verification create immediate value, especially AI and geospatial data. We also plan to explore pilot collaboration with ecosystem teams that are already close to dataset onboarding and customer demand, including the LDO Pod working on public datasets and FilecoinOne as a potential channel for making Filecoin more attractive to brands and organizations with valuable data assets. The goal of the pilot phase is to validate the marketplace with real publishers, real datasets, Filecoin-backed storage, and at least one paid licensing transaction rather than a purely internal demo. **Risk 5: Payment and compliance complexity** B2B data licensing may involve fiat payments, stablecoins, invoices, tax requirements, access restrictions, and jurisdiction-specific rules. **Mitigation:** The first version will support a limited payment and licensing flow suitable for pilots. The architecture will allow additional payment methods and compliance workflows over time. The verification layer will remain separate from payment complexity. **Risk 6: Confidential or sensitive data** Some data …[truncated] Anything else you want to share that we didn't ask? **Additional Context** Verifiable Data Marketplace turns Filecoin’s core strengths into a practical product for commercial dataset transactions. The project is especially relevant for AI datasets, geospatial data, robotics, simulation, scientific data, 3D models, and industrial sensor data. In these categories, buyers need to know what they are buying, where the data came from, which version they received, what license applies, and whether the downloaded files match the published dataset. The marketplace does not force buyers to trust a single download source. Instead, it gives them open-source tools to verify the identity and integrity of the dataset independently. This makes Filecoin useful not only as a storage backend, but as the verification layer for high-value data commerce. **Summary** The project will deliver a B2B marketplace for verifiable datasets, powered by Filecoin-backed storage and open-source verification tools. It will allow organizations to publish and sell datasets with a cryptographically linked Data Passport, while giving buyers a way to verify that the files they receive match the exact version, manifest, license, and storage identifiers attached to the offer. The product creates a missing commercial layer for Filecoin: dataset preparation, provenance documentation, licensing, storage integration, marketplace publication, buyer access, and independent verification. By focusing first on AI and geospatial datasets, the project targets categories with strong demand for provenance, versioning, licensing clarity, and durable storage. **Future Development** Future development may include an enterprise mode for confidential datasets, paid retrieval workflows, expanded compliance metadata, and additional verification partners. These areas are outside the core Batch 3 scope and will be prioritized only after the initial marketplace, Data Passport, verifier, storage pipeline, and production pilots are validated with real publishers and buyers. Contributing to Core Infrastructure? The project contributes reusable open-source infrastructure for verifiable data distribution on Filecoin. The open-source components will include: Data Passport schema. Dataset manifest schema. Dataset versioning model. Dataset Package structure. CLI for creating Dataset Packages. Tools for preparing CAR files. Root CID and Piece CID / CommP calculation. Public verifier for buyers and auditors. Reference implementation for linking dataset content, license, passport, manifest, and storage identifiers. Documentation for publishers, buyers, auditors, and developers. These components can be used beyond the marketplace itself by AI teams, dataset publishers, research institutions, geospatial data providers, robotics companies, Storage Providers, auditors, compliance teams, and Filecoin ecosystem participants. Objective 1 Direct Objective 2 Indirect Objective 3 Direct Open Source Context **Partial Open Source** The project will be partially open source. The open-source parts will include: - Data Passport standard. - Dataset manifest and versioning schemas. - Dataset packaging CLI. - Verifier CLI and reference implementation. - Documentation for publishers and buyers. - Reference integrations with Filecoin storage workflows. - Examples of verifiable Dataset Packages. The marketplace application, account management, payment orchestration, publisher dashboard, commercial transaction workflows, and some hosted product features may be operated as a product layer. The verification layer will remain independently usable. Buyers will not need to trust the hosted marketplace to verify the dataset. They will be able to use open-source tooling to confirm that downloaded files match the dataset version, manifest, passport, license, Root CID, and storage identifiers attached to the marketplace offer.