Microsoft, Tencent and other tech giants join the decentralized Infura network

Microsoft, Tencent, and 16 other Web2 giants have partnered with Consensys on its mission to decentralize the Infura network — Ethereum's key access point for the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector.

The partnerships aim to add decentralization to the Infura network – key to preventing disruptions to Web3 services that use it, including wallet service MetaMask.

Speaking to Cointelegraph, Andrew Breslin, senior product manager at Consensus, said the importance of the partnership is “who they are” and that large companies that align with Infura want to “decentralize every layer of the blockchain infrastructure stack.”

Infura's Decentralized Network (DIN), which is slated for a Q4 launch, stands as a solution to Infura's centralization problem, with the network currently controlled by Consensys, meaning there remains one point of failure.

“The cost and complexity of running a service like Infura limited who we could work with to serve this traffic,” Breslin said. “Now there's this huge, thriving ecosystem of Web3 infrastructure providers that can provide Infura-friendly services.”

One of the first major features that Breslin will offer in DIN is “failure support” for the Ethereum and Polygon networks. Failover support means that traffic can be rerouted to one or more DIN partners during the delay, which ensures high uptime values ​​in the long run.

To begin with, DIN will enable more secure and censorship-resistant access to Ethereum, as decentralized applications (DApps) don't need to rely on a single service provider in one location, Breslin said.

Infura is pushing the boundaries of decentralization alongside our partners.

We're making significant progress in Decentralized Infrastructure Network (DIN) development, read our two-part series.

— infura (@infura_io) November 14, 2023

Developed by blockchain software giant Consensys, Infura provides API access to the Ethereum and IPFS networks. Currently, Infura is the access point for most DApps to access real-time on-chain data from the Ethereum blockchain.

In the year In November 2020, the issue of centralization became apparent when Infura stopped operating the MetaMask wallet due to a temporary outage. A number of centralized exchanges and Diffie projects were also affected by the slowdown.

Decentralization of blockchain data providers on the Infura network is critical for long-term censorship resistance, as currently centralized data providers can be shut down with one well-planned attack or sufficient legal action.

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Addressing the list of newly announced partners, Breslin said the current lineup is not a closed set and that Infura would like to inform other “very reliable” Internet infrastructure providers to join Infura on DIN.

“DIN's success depends on cooperation with more and more operators over time.”

A group of new companies is working with Infura in what Brelin calls DIN's “federal phase” – a temporary trial period where the network will remain central.

“Infura and these 18 partners now participate in this level of the DIN Federation, which means that we work as equal partners,” said Breslin.

In the future, Breslin said, DEN will be run as a decentralized autonomous organization or some other form of governance structure that allows each partner to have a democratically balanced say in the direction of the network.

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