The following article is a guest post and 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 for the web — a virtual space where everyone had equitable opportunities to contribute, collaborate, share, and learn together — has shifted.
But the internet has moved in the opposite direction from this open garden. From single points of failure to censorship by sectors both public and private, it is now in the middle of a fight between messaging-obsessed political bodies and profit-hungry corporations, each seeking to control or monetize information flows.
Systems are only as secure as their weakest points. And to fulfill Web3’s ethos, DApps must adopt and implement genuinely open, decentralized, and verifiable infrastructure.
Most developers build the front end of DApps on a decentralized interface, but depend on centralized data infrastructure for backend support.
DApps largely run on centralized data hosting platforms and cloud providers like Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure. Although easily accessible, these platforms are susceptible to single-point failures and censorship, leading to global outages and downtime.
History is a witness to these failures. There are multiple examples where Infrastructure-as-a-Service platforms have faced disruptions, interrupting seamless DApp usage.
DApps using centralized infrastructure to supply data are thus susceptible to downtime, information inaccuracies, usage gaps, and disconnected data flows. These incidents demonstrate the need to shift to decentralized infrastructure for data transferability and smooth accessibility without facing outages.
DApps without a decentralized stack are an oxymoron.
Instead of AWS, Google, or Azure, DApps must use open-source solutions like InterPlanetary File System (IPFS), Filecoin, or Arweave. These protocols provide a tamper-proof, distributed storage facility with high uptime and protection against random outages.
DApps running on decentralized infrastructure work with independent node operators. This helps distribute data queries across the network, eliminating single points of failure for unstoppable data availability.
Since individual nodes cannot block information flows, DApps run smoothly even when several nodes are offline. So the network always remains accessible without any downtime.
Decentralized infrastructure further removes the dependency on intermediaries who arbitrarily control data flows. Instead, DApps can connect with data, service providers, and users within an integrated, enmeshed open-source system.
Decentralized social networks like BlueSky and the AT Protocol don’t depend on centralized RPCs. Rather, they work with decentralized RPCs to access open data. Similarly, DeFi protocols using Chainlink don’t need to depend on centralized APIs to source real-time on-chain price data.
A robust, genuinely decentralized tech stack is critical for DApps to build a digital ecosystem without single points of failure, paving the way to return to Berners-Lee’s vision of a globally accessible network.
Tim didn’t envision a society where a few megacorporations build walled gardens with asymmetrical relationships between users and companies. He wanted open communication in the digital world without any powerful intermediaries controlling information exchange.
This vision is aligned with Satoshi Nakamoto’s idea of a decentralized, peer-to-peer exchange system. And although crypto now leans toward a casino-style gambling circus, that was not how Nakamoto and the cypherpunk community imagined it to be.
That said, Web3 innovators are actively building the infrastructure necessary to bring Tim and Satoshi’s vision to fruition. Because an open digital world with equitable accessibility is a must-have, not a nice-to-have.
Decentralized infrastructure protocols for open-source data are rapidly emerging as the new frontier for seamless data accessibility to train AI models and support cross-chain DApp usage. With a $350 billion open data market, it’s critical to wrest control away from centralized providers and distribute it among decentralized operators.
To thrive, crypto, AI, and other emerging tech must reject Web2’s business model and embrace the internet’s OG vision, now enshrined in the Web3 paradigm. Moving toward a decentralized infrastructure that doesn’t suffer from single points of failure is crucial to building a resilient and reliable internet.
