An update from Messari, the crypto market intelligence platform, says that Ethereum and Solana are not decentralized blockchain platforms. This is contrary to the perception of users. According to the August 18 release, of the 65% of the Ethereum nodes hosted in data centers, 69% are using just three server providers.
The data from the platform also states that 72% of Solana nodes are nearly centrally hosted in the same hosting platforms as Ethereum. Considering that 95% of nodes supporting the network are hosted in data centers, this is another classic case of centralization.
Web 3.0 Protocols Could Be The Solution
Decentralization is the backbone of the blockchain economy since its emphasis is on trustlessness. The Messari report says that the issue is even more dire as cloud services could become points of compromise to a blockchain network.
Crypto needs to decentralize.
Three major cloud providers are responsible for 69% of the 65% of @Ethereum nodes hosted in data centers.
Of the estimated 95% of @Solana nodes hosted in data centers, 72% are hosted with the same cloud providers as @Ethereum. pic.twitter.com/oK08c3G6Of
— Messari (@MessariCrypto) August 18, 2022
In another report, Messari stated that the issue of centralization of blockchain nodes could be resolved using Web3 protocols such as Ankr and Pocket. According to the platform’s Key Insight research, these web 3 protocols could offer alternatives that decentralize increasingly centralized blockchain protocols as seen with Ethereum and Solana.
“Ankr and Pocket are node infrastructure protocols aiming to offer decentralized alternatives at reduced costs with near zero downtime. However, their off-chain relay distributor mechanisms are centrally operated, creating a single point of failure.”
Another Web 3.0 Solution
The issue of centralization of nodes of blockchain projects has become a repeated pattern as new projects fall into the same pattern of centralization and its attendant risks. This is the opinion of a Twitter user, @Dimokus_vrn, who said that another project, Akashnet, is another web 3 protocol. Most blockchain protocols claim that they are decentralized networks, but few actually pass the decentralization test when fully audited.
