Decentralized Databases: The Missing Piece of Web3

Key Insights

• Databases serve a crucial role in efficiently handling vast quantities of mutable data and controlling access to it. Although they are a fundamental part of the Web2 application stack, databases have largely been overlooked in Web3.
• Despite efforts by Web3 developers to leverage smart contracts and decentralized file storage networks for storing structured and dynamic data, these options have proven to be inefficient and impractical, leading developers to rely on centralized solutions instead.
• Decentralized databases enable data composability and ownership, along with Web3-native collaboration methods, while ensuring data verifiability.
• Numerous decentralized database projects have recently surfaced, each adopting a different approach, embracing distinct trade-offs, and focusing on specific market niches.

Traditional applications generate vast amounts of constantly mutating data. To manage this data effectively, applications use databases to structure and manage the information, making it easier to store, retrieve, and update as needed.

Like their traditional counterparts, decentralized applications also churn out copious volumes of ever-changing data. However, until recently, the absence of a viable decentralized solution for storing structured and dynamic data has impeded the development of next-generation Web3 applications, particularly consumer-facing ones.