Microsoft, Tencent Teams Up to Decentralize Ethereum Access

Microsoft, Tencent, and 16 other Web2 companies have joined Consensys to decentralize the Infura network, which provides Ethereum access to most of the decentralized finance (DeFi) industry.

To avoid Web3 services like MetaMask from going down, the alliances intend to decentralize the Infura network.

Consensys senior product manager Andrew Breslin said that the agreements were more about big-name corporations joining with Infura “wanting to decentralize every layer of the blockchain infrastructure stack.”

As a remedy to Infrua’s centralization problem, the Decentralized Infura Network (DIN) will launch in Q4. Consensys now controls the network, leaving a single point of failure.

“The cost and complexity of running a service like Infura were kind of limiting who we could partner with to serve this traffic,” Breslin said. “Now there’s this huge, flourishing ecosystem of Web3 infrastructure providers that can complement Infura.”

One of the DIN’s first key features is Ethereum and Polygon network “failover support,” Breslin stated. In an outage, failover support redirects traffic to one or more DIN partners, ensuring improved uptime.

Breslin claimed the DIN will make Ethereum more dependable and censorship-resistant by eliminating the requirement for DApps to rely on a single service provider. Consensys’ Infura development suite provides API access to Ethereum and IPFS networks.

Most DApps access real-time Ethereum blockchain data through Infura. After Infura went down in November 2020, the MetaMask wallet stopped working, revealing the centralization issue.

The outage also affected several centralized exchanges and DeFi programs. Long-term censorship resistance requires decentralizing blockchain data providers on the Infura network since centralized data providers can be shut down with a well-planned attack or enough legal action.

Breslin told the newly announced partners that Infura wants to invite other “highly reliable” internet infrastructure providers to join the DIN.

Breslin dubbed the DIN’s “federated phase” a limited trial period where the network stays centralized. Infura is working with the new enterprises.

“Infura and these 18 partners are now in this federated phase of DIN, so we work equally,” Breslin stated.

Breslin stated that the DIN should be controlled as a decentralized autonomous organization or another structure that gives each participant a democratically weighted say in network direction.