Thread by @lavanetxyz

1/ Lava is building a decentralized infrastructure layer for blockchain RPC. We believe in scalable, private and uncensored access to Web3.

Already serving the @cosmos and @CeloOrg ecosystems, and onboarding new chains everyday, here’s how Lava is shifting the paradigm 🧵

2/ In recent months, hacks and censorship from faulty and centralized infrastructure have become the norm.

As @moxie pointed out, celebrations of a decentralized web are still theater. This is especially true at the RPC node level.

3/ Node services have consolidated into rate-limited public nodes and Web2 SaaS models, as a result of rising node running costs; an archive node on Cosmos stores 3.1Tb of data.

The idea that everyone will run their own node is fast turning into “a weird mountain man fantasy”.

https://twitter.com/VitalikButerin/status/873177382164848641

4/ This single point of failure is the Achilles heel of Web3.

Centralized RPC providers mean wallets can censor nations, providers can block transactions to specific dapps, and gateways can return inaccurate data, sometimes maliciously.

https://twitter.com/Mudit__Gupta/status/1542840515292532736

5/ Today. our privacy is compromised - node runners can link IP addresses to valuable financial information in read and write requests. This can potentially be sold to advertisers or other interested parties; we see this already in Web2.

https://twitter.com/Bornosor/status/1533856263603466241

6/ Data retrieved from these providers - whether it is your wallet’s balance, the price of a swap, the health factor of a loan - is unverified and reliant on trusted third parties.

Our industry is essentially patching a Web2 solution to Web3.

7/ Unlike block production, there is no built-in cryptoeconomic incentive for decentralized API access to the blockchain.

What is the use of decentralized block building, if sending transactions to and reading data from those blocks is centralized?

8/ Lava uses the right incentive framework and an app-specific blockchain to unstoppably coordinate RPC providers and applications.

We envision Lava as an open-source public good - creating a market allowing anyone to provide or consume blockchain data.

9/ Lava pairs nodes and apps in the same geo-cluster to lower latency, and improves privacy by ensuring no provider can build a full profile of a user's RPC calls.

Consensus is created around data integrity, while node operators can permissionlessly offer service to any chain.

10/ Backed by top Web3 VCs & angels, the core team ranges from cyber security experts, cryptographers, to serial entrepreneurs.

The goal is to progressively pass ownership and governance to the community once the fundamentals of the protocol have been built.

11/ This is a rallying call for all apps, node operators, and supporters of decentralized infrastructure.

We’re hiring across the board in Engineering, DevRel, Design and Product. Come join the community at Lava as we prepare for our upcoming Public testnet. 🌋

12/ Learn more below:

Website: lavanet.xyz
Litepaper: lavanet.xyz/assets/lava_li…
Blog: blog.lavanet.xyz
Hiring: lavanet.applytojob.com/apply
Discord: discord.gg/5VcqgwMmkA