The Data Storage Revolution in the Web3 Era: From Centralization to Decentralization

With the in-depth development of the data economy, everyone inevitably participates in various data storage activities. The arrival of the Web3 era is driving a comprehensive upgrade and transformation in the technology field, where Decentralization storage, as a key infrastructure, will support more application scenarios in the future. From social data to short videos, live streaming, and smart cars, the underlying data storage networks are likely to adopt a Decentralization model.

In the Web3 era, data is the core asset, and user ownership of data has become a key feature. Ensuring that users securely own their data and the assets it represents, while eliminating concerns about asset security, will help attract more users to the Web3 ecosystem. In this process, an independent data availability layer will play an indispensable role.

From Traditional Storage to Decentralization Storage

Traditional centralized cloud storage methods have become increasingly insufficient to meet current market demands. As users' requirements for personal information security and data storage continue to rise, especially after data breach incidents involving some large data operators, the drawbacks of centralized storage have become more pronounced. Meanwhile, the advancement of the Web3 era and the development of blockchain applications have made data more diverse, with scales continually increasing, and the dimensions of personal network data becoming more comprehensive and valuable, further enhancing the emphasis on data security and privacy.

Decentralization storage has emerged as one of the earliest and most关注的 infrastructures in the Web3 field. Compared to traditional cloud storage services, decentralized storage follows the principles of the sharing economy, utilizing a vast number of edge storage devices to provide services, with data actually stored on the provider nodes. In this model, the storage project parties cannot control this data, and users can fully control their own data, significantly increasing the security of the data.

The Importance of the Data Availability Layer

Data availability (DA) essentially allows light nodes to efficiently ensure the availability and accuracy of data without participating in consensus, and without the need to store all data or maintain the entire network state in real-time. An independent data availability layer effectively avoids single points of failure, maximizing data security.

In addition, Layer 2 scaling solutions such as zkRollup also require support from a data availability layer. Layer 2 serves as the execution layer leveraging Layer 1 as the consensus layer. In addition to updating batch transaction results to Layer 1, it also needs to ensure the availability of the original transaction data. This way, even in extreme cases where no prover is willing to generate proofs, the Layer 2 network state can be restored, preventing user assets from being locked.

Storing data in a dedicated data availability layer and only recording the Merkle root of the data computations on the consensus layer is a more rational and long-term design trend.

Representative Projects of Independent Data Availability Layers

Celestia

Celestia provides an independent DA blockchain, equipped with a series of validator nodes, block producers, and consensus mechanisms to enhance security levels. Layer 2 publishes transaction data to the Celestia main chain, where validators sign the Merkle Root of the DA Attestation and send it to the DA Bridge Contract on the Ethereum main chain for storage validation. This method significantly reduces overhead.

Celestia adopts an optimistic proof mechanism, which is extremely efficient when the network is running smoothly. Light nodes only need to receive data and restore it according to the encoding, and the entire process is very efficient under normal circumstances.

MEMO

MEMO is a new generation of high-capacity, high-availability enterprise storage network that aggregates global edge storage devices using algorithmic features. It is based on blockchain peer-to-peer technology, achieving high security and high reliability for large-scale decentralized data storage.

The main chain of MEMO contains smart contracts that constrain all nodes, controlling key operations such as data upload, storage node matching, system operation, and punishment mechanisms. Technically, MEMO enhances storage security and efficiency by utilizing erasure coding and data recovery techniques.

In addition to optimizing storage usability, MEMO has also improved the incentive mechanism for providers. The system introduces a guardian role to prevent nodes from being maliciously attacked, maintaining economic balance through mutual constraints among multiple roles. MEMO supports high-capacity, highly available enterprise-level commercial storage, providing secure and reliable cloud storage services for NFT, GameFi, DeFi, SocialFi, etc., while being compatible with Web2, achieving a perfect integration of blockchain and cloud storage.