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In a sense, web3 is a reimagining of web2 with fundamental improvements. Because web3 decentralizes the front end of the internet so that no centralized service controls your data, your money, your life, etc. However, there is still one major problem with web3. What about the backend?
summary
- While Web3 aims to decentralize the front end of the internet, its back end still relies on centralized cloud providers like AWS, leaving blockchain vulnerable to outages and control by traditional Web2 powers.
- To achieve true decentralization, Web3 must eliminate single points of failure by building an infrastructure where every device acts as a validator, detecting and responding to threats in real-time through peer-to-peer and AI-driven design.
- DePIN shows you the next steps. Distribute your data centers and nodes globally, combine decentralized cybersecurity and post-quantum technologies to build a more resilient, autonomous, and future-proof digital foundation.
Everyone is acting as if blockchain is magically floating in the atmosphere in a self-sovereign manner, but that’s not actually the case. These are just cryptographic objects running on the server. Do these servers magically exist on the blockchain? No, they don’t.
They live in data centers in places like Northern Virginia and Oregon, owned and maintained by a centralized provider. Ethereum (ETH) is almost closely related to Amazon Web Services, which provides cloud computing for many nodes and infrastructure.
Just this year, AWS suffered a temporary outage and services like Binance and KuCoin had to shut down their services. This is a wake-up call not only for Binance and KuCoin, but for everything web3 is involved in, and it will not be the last wake-up call. If you pull long and hard on the web3 string, you’ll find the oldest and largest name of web2 at the end of it.
Can we really reach true consensus when so much of the current internet infrastructure is tied down by centralized Web2 powers?
Eliminating single points of failure
The Internet itself was conceived as a kind of fail-safe, resilient network that would not collapse under the weight of a single point of failure or attack. However, malicious attackers have shown that failures on the part of the handful of network or cloud providers that still control the Internet can render large swaths of the Internet inoperable.
Time and time again, centralized cloud dependencies have created single points of failure across bridges, DEXs, and validators. The device cannot prove its own security, and no one knows whether the node has been hacked or colluded with it. Cryptocurrency losses due to hacking have totaled $1 billion almost every year for the past five years.
Ideally, Web3 should be permissionless, sovereign, and decentralized. To do this, we need to decentralize from top to bottom. An ideal architecture would have no single point of failure, no central database, and no intermediaries that could be the source of leaked or compromised data.
Systems, especially those running on top of the web3 stack, must be cybersecurity protected, trusted, and secure. Individual network infrastructure nodes help protect this baseline. One way to accomplish this is by using unique peer-to-peer and AI design patterns that leverage blockchain to provide greater security.
Every device becomes a trusted validator that constantly monitors every other device in the network and identifies, assesses, and responds to threats in real time. To create a fully secure and decentralized environment, we need to start expanding the boundaries of blockchain beyond the blockchain itself.
DePIN is a good start, but it’s just the beginning
While blockchain protocols use advanced cryptography and encryption principles to achieve incredible levels of data security and protection, the physical environment in which they operate is based on the centralized Web2 infrastructure. The infrastructure itself should approximate the principles and structure of Web3.
Start with a distributed physical infrastructure network. DePIN represents a bold new direction for how the world builds, maintains, and secures the physical infrastructure that supports digital and real-world services. DePIN distributes infrastructure components such as network nodes, data centers, and edge devices across multiple geographic locations to enhance security, resiliency, and efficiency. This model reduces dependence on centralized organizations, fosters community participation, and provides new financial incentives for contributors.
Integrating a decentralized cybersecurity strategy in conjunction with the use of post-quantum powered, fundamental, or sub-zero layers can also provide robust solutions to device and network security issues that support web3 and DePIN. This approach not only hardens against current cyber threats, but also “future-proofs” networks against new risks posed by quantum computing.
By adopting these strategies, web3 and DePIN can ensure a secure, autonomous, and resilient digital infrastructure for future generations. Decentralizing our digital infrastructure by freely combining all these technologies is an important step forward in achieving a more resilient and sovereign digital future that can meet the vision of Web3 and the open and decentralized principles needed to continue to support it.
