Infura must go

For a long time, Infura it was one of the most popular but also the most controversial technologies of Ethereum. It is responsible for managing over 13 billion code requests every day and also allows developers to insert the blockchain without executing a complete node. However, according to experts, it is also the reason why so many dApps have been created on the ETH network, due to the simplicity of the interaction.

So what's the problem? Well, the problem is that Infura is managed by a single provider, which is the ConsenSys development study. Not only that, but also relies on Amazon's cloud servers. As such, many believe that it is the weak point of the Ethereum network, which could lead to its failure if left unresolved.

Simply put, every dApp with any connection Infura it would stop working if Infura was never turned off. This is a major concern and although Infura's contribution to the ETH ecosystem and its importance for the network is undeniable, a centralized service can not be used as a pillar of the developer community.

This is the reason why many developers have decided to try to distance Infura from Ethereum by trying to produce decent alternatives. However, while there have been numerous attempts to achieve this, a proper method that can completely replace Infura has yet to emerge.

dApps Depend On Infura

At the moment, there are about 11,803 complete nodes on Ethereum. About 5-10% of these are based on Infura. However, Infura is constantly maintained, which makes it extremely reliable and even more than capable of handling huge amounts of traffic. In other words, the problem is not how Infura does its job. The problem lies in the fact that it is a centralized service.

The reason behind the use of a service like this is its ability to handle large amounts of data in the first place. A full active node on Ethereum must be able to handle up to 1 terabyte of data, which is clearly much more than a normal laptop can handle. Using Infura, developers can focus on software and not worry about hardware or storage.

The same applies to users who often use an instrument called Metamask to keep their coins. Metamask also depends on Infura, which means that even all dApps do it.

Another problem with Infura is privacy, as it uses Amazon storage. Also, if Amazon decided to cut the ties, most of the dApp running on Ethereum would stop working.

Reaching true decentralization

As mentioned, there are numerous attempts to reach an alternative to Infura and cut the network's dependency on it. One of these possible solutions is a new code library called LightJS, which was released by Parity Technologies. The goal is to convince developers to create lightweight customers instead of relying on Infura. Lightweight clients require less storage and less hardware dependency, while the degree of decentralization increases.

The hope is that dApps less and less future choose to connect to Infura and prefer light clients.

Other projects that are trying to reduce Infura dependency include the VIP node, the Dappnode node, the D node, and others, all of which aim to convince people to manage their entire node. Many believe that this is not already the case as there are no rewards for the execution of complete nodes. This is something that the VIP node aims to change and, hopefully, attracts the developers.

D-Node aims to create a market between node operators and developers, but also wants to decentralize their economic relationships. To achieve this, use DAO – decentralized autonomous organization.

As for Dappnode, it was created to allow developers to configure local networks and design it to simplify the deployment of dApp. Some of these projects, particularly the VIP node, also receive funding from the same Infura.

Solve the problem

ConsenSys, the company behind Infura, is also one of the largest Ethereum start-ups. He also announced that he is funding an Incubator project, which consists in cutting Metamask's dependence on Infura. Even the same Infura is trying to help by adding several cloud providers so that Amazon does not have full control of all the ETH dApps.

Everyone is trying to add more decentralization to Ethereum, even to Infura itself. It initially became popular due to the nature of the Ethereum platform, which is able to produce and run dApps instead of just using cryptocurrency to make transactions.

In addition, the hardware is of great importance for the Ethereum network, as Ethereum also stores a sum of all the calculation that takes place on the platform. This is called "state" and continues to grow as more users interact with the platform. This makes the hardware more expensive, as well as more difficult to use, which does not encourage users to participate.

These problems were noted and recognized a long time ago. While several methods have been developed to solve them, they have all their flaws that need to be addressed. Ethereum's co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, also proposed a method to solve some of these problems, which reduces to rewriting the underlying incentive so that users receive rewards for the execution of a complete node. .

This is one of the changes that were included in a new update called the Ethereum 1x, which should be implemented at some point in 2019.