🚫The Problem

AI, Web3, and other data-heavy applications are fueling a surge in demand for cloud storage, a $180B market projected to reach $450B by 2030. While the current market is dominated by major centralized players, they are expensive and result in AI and Web3 companies having high cybersecurity expenses to manage single points of failure. This leaves companies open to hacking, limits users' control over the data ecosystems they contribute to, and highlights millions of businesses' dependency on just a few providers.

To mitigate risk, companies often try to adopt multi-cloud strategies using platforms like Snowflake for centralized providers, but they still face inefficiencies in cost management, misaligned resource allocation, and a lack of privacy and governance.

Decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN) are emerging as a more affordable alternative, offering superior geographic distribution, security, and privacy for certain use cases. However, their complex integrations and slow data retrieval speeds limit their use case to cold storage and high-latency computing.

While decentralized providers like Züs and Hivenet show promise, most businesses remain tied to centralized cloud providers like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud. Engineers are hesitant to adopt unfamiliar and complex DePIN technology stacks, and still rely on traditional clouds for their reliability, scalability, and enterprise-level support that many businesses rely on for critical workloads.

A hybrid approach that integrates DePIN with centralized cloud providers would give companies flexibility, allowing them to benefit from decentralized innovation while maintaining the stability of existing workflows. However, no solution currently bridges the usability of traditional cloud technology with the privacy, distribution, and innovation of DePIN providers.

⚠️ In short: Today's cloud storage market is fragmented, with each provider offering unique benefits. However, because these solutions operate in isolation, companies struggle to combine them and maximize their advantages. This inefficiency leads to higher costs, wasted time, and unnecessary complexity in managing data across multiple platforms.

Achieving widespread adoption of Web3 technologies depends on closing this gap and delivering a hybrid approach that unites both worlds effectively.