Web3 still relies on centralized infrastructure to run applications and AI models, creating major challenges for users and developers.
Chris Jenkins, Operations Lead at Pocket Network, shared insights with CI about how Web3 can improve dapps and AI products, and how open data frameworks will shape the next phase of Web3 growth.
Pocket Network is described as a decentralized blockchain data platform designed to serve as the RPC (Remote Procedure Call) layer for Web3 applications.
It reportedly provides a decentralized, cost-efficient, and scalable way for developers to access blockchain data for their applications.
It acts as a relay network, allowing Web3 apps to interact with blockchain networks without having to manage and maintain their own full nodes.
Our discussion with Chris Jenkins is shared below.
Crowdfund Insider: Decentralized applications (dapps) constitute an important component of the Web3 industry. What does the industry need to do to improve dapp functionalities?
Chris Jenkins: Web3 has a lot on its plate to make dapps more efficient and scalable. To begin with, ironically, ‘decentralized’ applications depend on a centralized tech stack for their functionalities.
For example, dapps depend on centralized data hosting platforms like Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure to provide information. But centralized protocols are unreliable due to their single, concentrated failure point and rare but probable outages.
Historically, we have seen how dapp users running on a centralized tech stack can suffer downtime and censorship, affecting their credibility. In 2022, Metamask temporarily denied access to some users because the centralized tech firm Infura blocked them due to U.S. sanctions. Similarly, Solana and Polygon have faced overloading of centralized RPC during high network traffic.
Thus, the Web3 industry must first adopt a fully decentralized tech stack for dapps. For instance, using open-source protocols like InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) and Filecoin offers distributed data storage that is censorship-resistant, tamper-proof, and remains accessible without arbitrary outages.
Moreover, decentralized and independent node operators enhance accessibility and data transfer routes because data queries are distributed across the network. Since a decentralized network remains accessible even after several nodes go offline, it removes single failure points for unobstructed data availability to dapps.
Crowdfund Insider: We’ve recently seen a massive rise in AI applications within the Web3 industry. How can the industry build a better ecosystem for Web3 AI models?
Chris Jenkins: Like dapps, Web3 AI needs uninterrupted accessibility to on-chain data to perform its functions. For example, Web3 AI agents like Zerebro autonomously collect and publish real-time market data on X (formerly Twitter).
But any attack on X leads to downtime, data inaccuracies, and disconnected information flows for these autonomous AI agents. So, AI trading bots that depend on centralized RPC providers are more susceptible to such attacks. Since the bots fail to process real-time updates, it leads to financial loss and data gaps.
Moreover, since AI is resource-intensive, legacy pay-per-query models become costly when query volumes surge. Traditional infrastructure models for static or low query volumes are inadequate for AI because they handle high-frequency workloads.
Thus, the Web3 industry needs to adopt a decentralized, open tech stack for AI models to prevent downtime and make it scalable. If you look at global AI developments, you’ll see how open-source AI models are transforming the language of AI innovation.
Open-source DeepSeek R1 allegedly costs just $5.5 million compared to $100 million for closed-source, centralized GPT-4. Besides relying on centralized LLM API providers, AI companies spend roughly $1 million per day to run LLM inference. If a developer trains LLMs with decentralized computing resources on Akash, they can cut costs by 85% compared to centralized providers.
So, we need to move toward a completely open data infrastructure for Web3’s long-term growth.
Crowdfund Insider: How will an open data framework drive the industry’s next growth phase? Where do you see Web3 data in the next 5-10 years?
Chris Jenkins: Currently, open data contributes significantly to a global emerging tech economy with a market size of over $350 billion. But as I explained above, even when dapps and AI models use open data, they often rely on centralized infrastructure.
I think more people are going to choose a decentralized, open data framework in the coming years to build and deploy their applications. There are two reasons why I think open data infrastructure will spearhead the industry’s next growth phase.
First, developers and users have realized the hard way how centralized infrastructure is antithetical to autonomy and censorship resistance. Besides violating Web3’s decentralization thesis, dapps running on closed-source frameworks are expensive, prone to restrictions, and suffer from downtime.
Second, there is a huge economic incentive in building open data frameworks, as the market is set to grow massively. Let me provide you with a back-of-the-envelope calculation to demonstrate the market potential of open data infrastructure.
Right now, we have approximately 100 billion serviceable RPC requests within the Web3 market, which cost roughly $3-$6 per million requests. So the total addressable market (TAM) of Web3 RPC is $100-200 million annually. As new protocols get added every day, we can expect RPC requests to reach 1 trillion daily.
That’s why the space needs to focus on an open data tech stack and offer uninterrupted, scalable services for a growing market.
Crowdfund Insider: How does Pocket Network contribute to building an open data network?
Chris Jenkins: Pocket Network is a decentralized infrastructure protocol for open-source data.
Our Shannon upgrade expands our permissionless services from pure RPC to decentralized open data accessibility for AI training and cross-chain dapps. After the Shannon upgrade, Pocket becomes a fully decentralized open data protocol without any centralized, monopoly control.
Pocket Network is the first Open API network where Pocket functions as the primary layer for open data markets. This creates a real sharing economy for open data among app developers, where anyone can provide or access data.
We are happy to migrate from being a regular RPC provider to a decentralized, reliable, and censorship-resistant open data infrastructure. Our services benefit AI apps, blockchain data, and other public data sources without relying on centralized data providers.
Pocket Network has already served over 868 billion relays and is now equipped to handle massive query volumes. Thus, we’ll help developers deploy dapps and AI models on Pocket for real-time, high-frequency data accessibility from 60+ chains. Our distributed network of nodes will ensure high network resilience and outage resistance even if several nodes remain offline.
Moreover, our new tokenomics offer cost-effective relay services with a Pay Upfront model, which costs just $2.50 per million Relays. We are also offering a 10-40% volume rebate to boost our network activity and incentivize everyone to access Pocket Network’s services.
Crowdfund Insider: What’s your biggest advice to new projects entering the open data infrastructure space?
Chris Jenkins: I’d first say, ask yourself why you’re building a protocol and what problems you’re trying to solve. In other words, believe in the philosophy of decentralization and make Web3 truly open-source through an open data infrastructure.
At Pocket Network, we strive to help teams build such open-source frameworks. To this end, we ran the Pocket Gateway Accelerator Program (PGAT) to empower the next generation of decentralized builders. The PGAT program provides funding, technical grants, and infrastructure support to incentivize developers to integrate decentralized data into their applications.
Data is the primary ingredient of dapp interactions and AI models. So, building a decentralized, open-source data framework is the first step towards a free and fair on-chain ecosystem. The rest will follow.