The Web3 Cloud Wars Are Just Beginning
Dan Burke
3 min read
Worldwide end-user spending on public cloud services is forecast to grow 20.4%, reaching $678.8 billion in 2024, up from $563.6 billion in 2023, and $491 billion in 2022. Emergent technologies such as Generative AI, Web3, and the metaverse are driving the largest increases in cloud spending, according to Gartner.
“Cloud has become essentially indispensable” said Sid Nag, Vice President Analyst at Gartner.
However, in the evolving realm of Web3 technologies, traditional cloud providers are revealing their limitations. Their cost models and architectures, optimized for conventional Web2 applications, struggle to handle the resource-intensive, dynamic nature of Web3 and blockchain technologies. The burgeoning Web3 industry remains heavily reliant on Web2-centric cloud infrastructures. Strong hosting infrastructure is crucial for blockchains as workloads need to be responsive and perform well for distributed ledgers to reach a consensus as quickly as possible. As a result, capital that could fuel talent and innovation in the Web3 space is instead being funneled to legacy cloud providers, a tax on our industry. Every Web3 entrepreneur and investor should be aggressively seeking ways to optimize and shrink their infrastructure spend; otherwise, blockchains may remain experimental, struggling to scale into technologies of true value due to hosting costs.
Recognizing both the increasing costs and centralization risks of blockchains on large cloud providers, we introduce Nirvana Cloud: the pioneering Web3-native bare-metal cloud. Backed by leading web3 and gaming investors like Castle Island Ventures, RW3, Hash3, and Play Ventures, Nirvana Cloud reduces the industry's dependence on AWS and GCP and introduces hosting infrastructure which is required for blockchains. Bare metal clouds can help achieve low latency, high throughput, and customization capabilities, allowing blockchain companies to choose specific configurations that meet their chain’s requirements, while reducing costs.
Legacy cloud presents exponential cost risks and centralization challenges that contradict the industry's decentralized ethos. For example, 98% of ETH nodes run on three major cloud providers, with 48% alone on AWS. Solana, in its current form, relies heavily on Google Cloud database solutions. Recently, news sources claim major cloud providers have shut down services to crypto-related companies. Running workloads for high-throughput blockchains has proven costly and risky on shared cloud resources provided by AWS and GCP.
With major clients like Chainlink, Thirdweb, Goldsky, Polysign, Avalanche, Xai Foundation, Berachain and Manta, and with a team comprising veterans from BitGo, Apple, AWS, and AT&T, Nirvana Labs is scaling the layer-zero customisable infrastructure that enables Web3 entities to slash cloud costs, boost critical performance metrics like speed and availability, and reduce dependency on conventional cloud services. Organizations that switch to Nirvana for their cloud computing needs could potentially save up to 80% on cloud spend. Nirvana also offers intangible advantages: crypto and blockchains are core to our ethos, and our customer support is unmatched. Try filing a support ticket with AWS for a failing Polygon node call, and see how they respond.
I couldn’t be more excited to devote my entire energy to bringing high-performance computing to all Web3 participants. The Web3 landscape demands a tailored infrastructure — a principle deeply embedded in Nirvana Cloud’s DNA. Blockchains are here to stay, and they are growing exponentially. The time is ripe for the next great leap in cloud computing, one that mirrors the emergent and expanding blockchain space and redirects vital capital back into the industry's heart.
Contact us for free credits or a cloud consultation now.
Sources:
https://cointelegraph.com/news/hetzner-anti-crypto-policies-a-wake-up-call-for-ethereum-s-future
https://decrypt.co/113429/is-solana-decentralized-cloud-provider-hetzner-ban-raises-questions
https://www.dlnews.com/articles/defi/ethereum-decentralisation-threatened-by-reliance-on-amazon/