New Trends in Data Storage in the Web3 Era

With the deepening 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 sector. As an important infrastructure of Web3, decentralized storage will be widely used in many fields such as social data, short videos, live streaming, and smart cars in the future.

Data, as the core asset of the Web3 era, is primarily characterized by user ownership of data. Ensuring that users securely own their data and the assets it represents, while alleviating ordinary users' concerns about asset security, will help attract more users into the Web3 world. Against this backdrop, an independent data availability layer has become an indispensable key link in Web3.

From Decentralized Storage to Data Availability Layer

Traditional centralized cloud storage methods can no longer meet the current market demands. As users' requirements for personal information security and data storage continue to rise, especially after data breach incidents at some large data operators, the drawbacks of centralized storage have become increasingly prominent. Meanwhile, the advancement of the Web3 era and the development of blockchain applications have made data more diverse, with an expanding scale, a more comprehensive dimension of personal network data, and a more prominent value, which further enhances the emphasis on data security and privacy.

Decentralized storage has emerged as one of the earliest and most attention-grabbing infrastructures in the Web3 space. Compared to traditional cloud storage, decentralized storage follows the principles of the sharing economy, utilizing a massive number of edge storage devices to provide services, with data actually stored on Provider nodes. In this model, project parties cannot control user data, significantly enhancing data security.

Decentralized storage primarily involves using distributed technology to shard files or sets of files across multiple storage spaces. It not only addresses many issues associated with Web2 centralized cloud storage but also enables the storage of unstructured edge data at a lower cost and higher efficiency, empowering emerging technologies and becoming a cornerstone for the development of Web3.

Currently, there are two main types of decentralized storage projects. One aims to produce blocks and uses storage for mining, but this model may lead to slow storage and download speeds. The other uses one or several centralized nodes for verification, but if these nodes are attacked or damaged, it may result in data loss.

In contrast, some emerging projects have adopted more advanced technological solutions. For example, the use of a hierarchical storage mechanism has addressed the issue of storage download speed, employing a method of randomly selecting verification nodes to avoid centralization while also enhancing security. Some projects have also innovatively introduced new technologies that significantly improve the security, reliability, and availability of storage.

Data Availability (DA) refers to the ability of light nodes to efficiently ensure data availability and accuracy without participating in consensus, without the need to store all data or maintain the entire network state in real-time. This is crucial for ensuring the immutability of blockchain data. An independent data availability layer effectively prevents single points of failure, maximizing data security.

In addition, Layer 2 scaling solutions like zkRollup also require the use of a data availability layer. As the execution layer, Layer 2 relies on Layer 1 as the consensus layer, and it not only needs to update the state of batched transaction results to Layer 1 but also needs to ensure the availability of the original transaction data. This allows for the recovery of the Layer 2 network state in extreme cases, preventing user assets from being locked. Storing data in a dedicated data availability layer and only recording the Merkle root of the computed data in the consensus layer is a more reasonable and long-term design trend.

Analysis of Independent Data Availability Layer

Celestia

As an independent data availability blockchain, Celestia has a series of validator nodes, block producers, and consensus mechanisms, significantly enhancing security levels. Layer 2 publishes transaction data to the Celestia main chain, where Celestia's validators sign the Merkle Root of the DA Attestation and send it to the DA Bridge Contract on the Ethereum main chain for verification and storage. This approach greatly reduces overhead.

Celestia adopts an optimistic proof mechanism, which is highly efficient when the network is operating normally. Light nodes only need to receive data and recover it according to encoding, and the entire process is very efficient under problem-free circumstances.

MEMO

MEMO is a next-generation, high-capacity, high-availability enterprise-level storage network that aggregates global edge storage devices through algorithmic features. It is based on blockchain peer-to-peer technology, achieving highly secure and reliable large-scale decentralized data storage. Smart contracts on the MEMO main chain control critical operations such as data upload, storage node matching, system operation, and penalty mechanisms.

In terms of technology, MEMO utilizes erasure coding and data recovery techniques to enhance storage security and efficiency. It not only improves storage usability but also optimizes the incentive mechanism for Providers. In addition to the roles of User and Provider, MEMO also introduces Keepers to prevent nodes from being maliciously attacked.

The MEMO system maintains economic balance through mutual checks and balances among multiple roles, capable of supporting the high-capacity and high-availability commercial storage needs of enterprises. It provides secure and reliable cloud storage services for NFTs, GameFi, DeFi, SocialFi, etc., and is compatible with Web2, representing the perfect integration of blockchain and cloud storage.