When web3 really is not web3 | Opinion

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In one sense, web3 is a rethink and basic improvement on web2 because it is decentralizing the front-end of the internet, ensuring that centralized services are not custodians of our data, our money, our lives, and so on. However, there is still one big problem confronting web3: What about the back-end?

Summary

• Web3 aims to decentralize the internet’s front-end, but its back-end remains dependent on centralized cloud providers like AWS, leaving blockchains vulnerable to outages and control by traditional web2 powers.
• To achieve true decentralization, web3 must eliminate single points of failure by building infrastructure where every device acts as a validator, detecting and responding to threats in real time through peer-to-peer and AI-driven designs.
• DePINs mark the next step: distributing data centers and nodes globally, combining decentralized cybersecurity and post-quantum technologies to create a more resilient, autonomous, and future-proof digital foundation.

Everyone acts like blockchains are floating in the atmosphere — magical and self-sovereign — but they are not. They are just cryptographic objects running on servers. Do these servers magically live on the blockchain? No, they do not.

They live in data centers located in places like northern Virginia and Oregon, owned and maintained by…centralized providers. Ethereum (ETH) is almost inextricably linked to Amazon Web Services, which provides cloud computing for many of its nodes and its infrastructure.

Just this year, services like Binance and KuCoin had to suspend services when AWS experienced a temporary outage. It was a wakeup call not just for Binance and KuCoin, but for everything web3 touches, and it won’t be the last such wake-up call. Pull the string of web3 long and hard enough, and you’ll find the oldest and biggest names from web2 right at the end of it.

Can we really have true consensus if so much of the current infrastructure of the internet is tied up by centralized web2 powers?

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Removing single points of failure

The internet itself was conceived as a kind of fail-safe, resistant network that would not crumble under the weight of a single point of failure or attack. However, malicious actors have shown us just how much of the internet can become functionally inoperable due to a failure on the part of only a handful of network or cloud providers that still control the internet.

Time and again, centralized cloud dependencies have created single points of failure across bridges, DEXes, and validators. Devices cannot attest to their own security, and nobody knows if nodes have been hacked or are colluding. Nearly every year in the last five years has seen crypto losses totaling $1 billion due to hacking.

Ideally, web3 should be permissionless, sovereign, and decentralized. To do this, it must be decentralized from top to bottom. An ideal architecture would have no single point of failure, central database, or middleman that can potentially be a source for leaked or compromised data.

Systems must be cyber-secure, trusted, and safe to operate, especially those running on the web3 stack. Individual network infrastructure nodes can help secure this baseline. One way to do this is through a unique peer-to-peer and AI design pattern that utilizes blockchain to more thoroughly secure itself.

Every device becomes a trusted validator that constantly monitors every other device in the network, identifying, evaluating, and reacting to threats in real-time. To create a completely secure and decentralized environment, we need to start expanding the boundaries of the blockchain beyond the blockchain itself.

DePIN is a good start, but it is just a start

Blockchain protocols have attained incredible levels of data security and protection using advanced cryptography and encryption principles, yet the physical environment in which they operate is based upon centralized web2 infrastructure. We must get closer to having the infrastructure itself represent the principles and structure of Web3.

We can start with decentralized physical infrastructure networks. DePINs represent a bold new direction in how the world builds, maintains, and secures the physical infrastructure that underpins digital and real-world services. DePINs distribute infrastructure components like network nodes, data centers, and edge devices across multiple geographical locations, enhancing security, resilience, and efficiency. This model reduces reliance on centralized entities, fosters community participation, and offers new economic incentives for contributors​.

The integration of decentralized cybersecurity strategies combined with the use of a post-quantum powered, fundamental, or sub-zero layer can also offer a robust solution for the security concerns of the devices and networks that support web3 and DePINs. This approach will be able not only to fortify against current cyber threats, but also equip and “future-proof” networks against the emergent risks posed by quantum computing.

By adopting these strategies, web3 and DePINs can ensure secure, autonomous, and resilient digital infrastructure for future generations. Combining all these technologies at our disposal to decentralize our digital infrastructure is a critical step forward in realizing a more resilient and sovereign digital future, one that can meet the vision of web3 and the open and distributed principles required to continue supporting it.

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