## Is decentralization of dApps the answer to the infrastructure crisis?

The November Cloudflare outage revealed the dangerous reality of the modern internet: when a centralized service fails, billions of users lose access to key services. This disaster sparked a discussion in the blockchain industry about the need to shift to decentralized solutions. Vitalik Buterin, creator of Ethereum, recently resumed the dialogue on the role of dApps not only as financial tools but as the foundation of a new, resilient digital infrastructure.

## History repeats itself: system failures as a warning sign

The past decade has brought a series of serious incidents that undermined trust in centralized hosting models:

| Provider | Period | Downtime | Extent of Damage |
|----------|--------|------------|------------------|
| Cloudflare | November 2024 | ~3 hours | 20% of websites globally |
| Amazon Web Services | December 2021 | ~7 hours | Thousands of applications |
| Google Cloud | March 2023 | ~4 hours | Major APIs and services |
| Microsoft Azure | June 2022 | ~6 hours | Corporate containers |

Each of these incidents exposed a fundamental problem: the architecture of the internet has become concentrated in the hands of a few tech giants, creating oligopolies dominated by AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure. This structure, instead of providing stability, introduces new systemic risks. When one player stumbles, millions of other entities lose stability.

## Why the blockchain ecosystem differs from the traditional internet

Decentralized applications operate on a fundamentally different principle. Instead of a central server, operations are distributed across thousands of independent nodes. This dispersion has specific consequences:

**Elimination of single points of failure:** No central point where a disaster can paralyze the entire system.

**Resistance to censorship:** No single operator who can arbitrarily shut down the service.

**Transparent governance:** Rules are public and change through community voting, not by a management team decision.

However, the blockchain industry is gradually moving away from these ideals. Many projects increasingly rely on the same cloud providers they once aimed to challenge. Developers choose AWS for node hosting, Google Cloud for data processing, and Microsoft Azure for developer tools. This lazy centralization directly contradicts blockchain’s original mission.

## Technical proposals: futures on gas fees as the future

Buterin goes beyond abstract appeals and proposes concrete solutions. One of them is futures instruments on gas fees in the Ethereum network. This mechanism would be a breakthrough for operational predictability.

Today, this is a real problem. Transaction costs on Ethereum fluctuate depending on network traffic. EIP-1559, implemented in 2021, improved the situation by introducing a fixed base fee, but did not eliminate volatility entirely. Futures instruments could allow users and developers to enter into agreements on future gas rates, ensuring full predictability.

A comparison of approaches in competing networks illustrates the scale of the problem:

- **Ethereum:** Dynamic gas rates with auction mechanisms
- **Solana:** Fixed rates supported by priority fees
- **Avalanche:** Fees adjusted to network conditions
- **Polygon:** Layer 2 with minimized volatility

Ethereum’s solution via futures would be the earliest step toward institutionalizing this issue.

## Technologies supporting mature decentralization

Implementing a more distributed infrastructure requires several technological innovations that have recently begun to mature.

**Zero-knowledge proofs (ZK-proofs)** enable verification of transactions without revealing their details. This solution enhances both privacy and scalability. Projects like StarkNet and Polygon zkEVM are already testing these mechanisms in production.

**Interoperability protocols** allow applications to operate independently across multiple blockchains simultaneously. The ERC-3668 standard on Ethereum facilitates such connections, reducing the risk of dependence on a single network.

**Distributed storage** such as IPFS replaces centralized databases, which were a bottleneck for many early dApps. Combining blockchain with IPFS creates an infrastructure that is practically impossible to shut down.

## What lies ahead for the industry: obstacles on the path to decentralization

Buterin’s appeal faces serious practical obstacles. Developers are accustomed to the convenience of AWS and traditional tools. Migrating to decentralized infrastructure requires learning, time, and investment.

Moreover, user experience in dApps still lags behind centralized competitors. Sometimes transaction speeds are slower, interfaces more complex, and security demands more attention from users.

However, recent advances in layer 2 scaling have dramatically improved throughput, sometimes reaching thousands of transactions per second. This has brought decentralized systems closer to parity with centralized solutions.

## Expert voices: what researchers say

Dr. Sarah Chen from Stanford University notes that the architecture of the internet has transformed from a distributed academic network to a corporate oligopoly. “Earlier networks were designed for redundancy, but they grew around a few centers of power,” Chen explains.

Marcus Rodriguez, a blockchain architect, emphasizes the need for changes at every component level: “Developers must design dApps with decentralization in mind, from storage to computation, not as an add-on, but as a foundation.”

## What this means for users and developers

If the industry follows Buterin’s call, the consequences will be far-reaching. Users will gain better control over their data and confidence that access to key services does not depend on the decisions of a single corporate operator. Developers will be forced to learn new practices but will also gain freedom from restrictions imposed by centralized platforms.

Accelerating this transformation requires a coordinated effort: technical innovations (futures, ZK-proofs, interoperability), community engagement, and developers’ willingness to abandon comfort for resilient, distributed systems.

The November Cloudflare crisis was a warning. The next could be worse if internet infrastructure remains concentrated around a few points of failure. Decentralized applications offer a way out — but only if the blockchain ecosystem takes decisive action to make it happen.