The following article is a guest post and an opinion of Chris “Jinx” Jenkins, head of operations at Pocket Network
Internet pioneer Tim Berners-Lee once dreamed of an open and accessible digital information system. His vision on the internet – a virtual space where everyone had fair opportunities to contribute, to work together, share and learn together – has been shifted.
But the internet has been moved in the opposite direction from this open garden. From a few points from failure to censorship per sectors, both public and private, it is now in the middle of a fight in between political authorities obsessed by messages and profit-ranging companies, each trying to control or earn information flows.
Web3, powered by decentralized apps (DAPPs), promises Berners-Lee’s dream of a permissionless space for free, open communication and innovation. But ironically, Dapps are nowadays also highly dependent on centralized infrastructure or data sources. These single failures are affected by the security and integrity of the entire ecosystem – as shown in many of the complaints about Solana.
Systems are only as safe as their weakest points. And to fulfill the ethos of Web3, Dapps must really open and implement and implement Dapps open, decentralized and verifiable infrastructure.
Dapps suffer from concentrated vulnerabilities
Most developers build the front of Dapps on a decentralized interface, but depend on centralized data infrastructure for support for backend.
Dapps largely runs on centralized data hosting platforms and cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure. Although easily accessible, these platforms are susceptible to mistakes and censorship of one point, which leads to global malfunctions and downtime.
History is a witness to these failures. There are several examples where infrastructure-as-a-service platforms are confronted with disruptions, which interrupts blind use seamlessly.
Although Metamask, for example, functions as a decentralized wallet, the end points work on centralized technology such as Infura to gain access to Ethereum. In 2022, when Infura blocked access after American sanctions, Metamask users temporarily had no access to their wallets from specific regions.
This is not an isolated incident. Infura clients have also confronted interruptions in the past. Solana and polygon users were also confronted with malfunctions due to the overload of centralized RPCs during high network traffic.
Dapps that use centralized infrastructure to provide data are therefore susceptible to downtime, information -our faults, user locations and disconnected data flows. These incidents show the need to switch to decentralized infrastructure for transferability of data and smooth accessibility without being confronted with malfunctions.
The need for a decentralized Dapp -Ecosystem
Dapps without a decentralized stack are an oxymoron.
Instead of AWS, Google or Azure, DAPPS must use open-source solutions such as Interplanetary File System (IPFS), Filecoin or Arweave. These protocols offer a sabotage resistant, distributed storage facility with high uptime and protection against random outages.
Dapps performed on decentralized infrastructure work with independent junction operators. This helps to distribute data queries on the network, which eliminates individual failure points for not to stop availability of data.
Because individual nodes cannot block information flows, Dapp’s work smoothly, even if different nodes are offline. The network therefore always remains accessible without downtime.
Decentralized infrastructure also removes the dependence on intermediaries that randomly arrange data flows. Instead, Dapps can connect to data, service providers and users within an integrated, entangled open-source system.
Pocket network Unlocking open data accessibility so that each Dapp can get the information he needs, without trusting centralized or single entities. Pocket’s Shannon Upgrade created the first really permissionless Open API network.
Decentralized social networks such as Bluesky and the AT protocol are not dependent on centralized RPCs. They previously work with decentralized RPCs to access open data. Similarly, Defi protocols with Chainlink do not have to depend on centralized APIs to find real-time price data.
A robust, truly decentralized tech stack is crucial for DAPPs to build a digital ecosystem without a few failure points, which accompanies the way to return to Berners-Lee’s vision on a globally accessible network.
To the vision of Berners-Lee on an open internet
Tim did not imagine a society where a few megaorporations built walled gardens with asymmetrical relationships between users and companies. He wanted open communication in the digital world without powerful intermediaries that check information exchange.
This vision is tailored to the idea of Satoshi Nakamoto of a decentralized, peer-to-peer exchange system. And although Crypto now tends to a gambling circus in Casino style, that was not how Nakamoto and the Cypherpunk community represent it.
That said, web3 innovators actively build up the infrastructure that is needed to blossom the vision of Tim and Satoshi. Because an open digital world with fair accessibility is a must-have, not having a nice one.
Decentralized infrastructure protocols for open-source data quickly occur if the new limit for seamless data accessibility to train AI models and to support cross-chain Dapp use. With an open data market of $ 350 billion, it is crucial to struggle and distribute control of centralized providers under decentralized operators.
To thrive, Crypto, AI and other emerging technology must reject the OG2 operating model and embrace the OG vision of the Internet, now anchored in the web3 paradigm. On the way to a decentralized infrastructure that does not suffer from a few failure points is crucial for building a resilient and reliable internet.