Decentralized cloud infrastructure projects have received huge financing, which has attracted the attention of the industry

Recently, a project focused on decentralized cloud infrastructure received a strategic investment from a well-known investment institution, with a staggering valuation of $470 million. The investment was an early investor in a well-known IoT project and a large technology company, and this investment has undoubtedly brought great attention to the project. So, what is so unique about this project that it has been recognized for such a high valuation? Let’s take a closer look at the technical and business logic.

Pain points in the traditional cloud computing market

The current cloud computing market is mainly monopolized by a few technology giants, forming a new centralized pattern. This pattern raises the following problems:

1. The cost of services is rising, and enterprises are forced to accept increasing cloud spending.
2. Users face severe vendor lock-in, and once they choose a cloud service provider, the migration cost is extremely high.
3. Businesses lose sovereignty over their own data, which is actually stored on someone else’s server, and privacy and security are completely dependent on the platform.

The core value proposition of the project

The project aims to build a decentralized cloud infrastructure network that reconstructs traditional physical infrastructure through blockchain technology and tokenomics to help enterprises regain data sovereignty, reduce costs, and avoid vendor lock-in. This is where the core value of Decentralized Physical Infrastructure (DePIN) lies.

Innovative Technical Architecture

The technical architecture of the project splits the traditional integrated cloud service into three layers:

1. Hardware layer: Enterprise-grade hardware devices are contributed by global hardware providers to ensure stability and reliability.
2. Service layer: Service providers build various cloud products on top of hardware resources, emphasizing composability and innovation.
3. Monitoring layer: Dedicated nodes are responsible for monitoring and verifying the quality of service, which solves the problem of “evil verification” commonly faced by decentralized projects.

These three levels are coordinated through specialized protocols to form a self-regulating ecosystem.

Pragmatic Business Strategy

Unlike many blockchain projects, the project chooses to land its business and generate revenue before considering issuing tokens. It is reported that the project has more than 1,000 European and American corporate customers, with an annual revenue of more than 5 million US dollars and a growth rate of 2,000%.

The project’s business strategy focused on the enterprise storage market, which was a smart choice. Storage services can create a “data gravity” that attracts demand for computing and networking services.

Sustainable tokenomics model

The token economic model of the project is designed appropriately, including:

1. Staking mechanism: Hardware providers need to stake tokens as “margin”.
2. Payment medium: The service provider uses tokens to purchase resources.
3. Reward tools: Provide token rewards for contributors.

This design makes the tokens the “blood” of the network, rather than merely speculative tools, with their value derived directly from the actual scale of business.

Project Team Background

The project team has a strong technical and commercial background. The co-founder, who successfully brought a gaming company indirectly to NASDAQ for listing, has core team members with extensive experience in the field of gaming and cloud storage, and the CTO also holds storage-related patents.

Market outlook

The global cloud infrastructure market is huge and is expected to reach $837.97 billion by 2034. The goal of the project is to become the “AWS of Web3”, with huge business opportunities even if it only captures a small part of the market.

Conclusion

This project represents the forefront of the penetration of Web3 technology into the core IT systems of enterprises. By merging the advantages of Web2 and Web3, it opens up a more pragmatic and feasible path for blockchain technology in enterprise-level applications. As decentralized infrastructure continues to evolve, we’re likely to see more of these innovative projects emerge to drive the industry forward.