Aptos teams up with Jump to launch the hot data protocol Shelby, can it turn the tide?

Author: Alex Liu, Foresight News

On the evening of June 24, Aptos announced the launch of a new storage protocol called Shelby in collaboration with the cryptocurrency giant Jump Crypto. This is Jump Crypto’s first major move since it returned to the crypto space with a post on June 19. Upon the news, the market reacted swiftly — APT surged by 30%, rising from 4.2 USDT to a peak of 5.13 USDT, marking its best performance in recent times.

Jump Crypto previously participated in Aptos Labs’ $150 million Series A funding round in 2022, known for its “gathering” capabilities and engineering expertise. For example, Jump is a major contributor to Solana’s highly anticipated validator client, Firedancer. As the first high-profile project since Jump’s return, Shelby has brought attention back to Aptos, as well as an “imagination space” for ecological linkage and the recreation of prosperity.

But there are also doubts. Sui was the first to launch the storage protocol Walrus; is Aptos’s move a copy of a competitor’s strategy? Let’s take a closer look at Shelby.

Shelby, “Hot Storage Protocol”

From Cold to Hot: The Change in Web3 Storage Paradigms

In the narrative of Web3 infrastructure, decentralized storage has always been an unavoidable topic. However, for a long time, this field has been dominated by “cold storage”: suitable for storing data that is accessed infrequently and needs to be preserved for a long time, such as NFT metadata, backups, etc. Typical representatives include Filecoin, Arweave, and so on, which emphasize durability and cost optimization, but may not be suitable for high-frequency and high-real-time scenarios.

Shelby has proposed a “hot storage” solution to address this pain point.

According to the official definition, Shelby is the first “cloud-grade infrastructure” in the Web3 world, featuring sub-second read times, a native incentive mechanism, and chain-agnostic compatibility. It not only allows data to be stored but also enables data to flow, be usable, and be valued, serving applications in Web3 scenarios that require high real-time performance, including video streaming, AI outputs, dynamic NFTs, and gaming assets.

Currently, Shelby uses Aptos as its preferred settlement layer, leveraging its 600 milliseconds finality, 30,000 TPS, and ultra-low gas fees to coordinate real-time data streams. Shelby will launch the developer testnet in Q4 2025.

Aptos Labs CEO Avery Ching pointed out in a personal article: “The exchange of Web3 assets can already be done in seconds, but data is still stuck in a static and difficult-to-use state. What Shelby aims to solve is this critical bottleneck.”

Backed by Jump, Shelby is not just about being ‘fast’

If Aptos is known for high concurrency and high throughput, then Jump Crypto is a seasoned veteran in high-frequency trading and real-time systems. The reason Shelby dares to claim “hot storage” fundamentally lies in the characteristics of its underlying architecture:

• High-speed synchronization supported by a dedicated fiber optic backbone network for global nodes;
• Ensure content localization through the edge caching system, achieving read speeds as fast as sub-second.
• Adopt the Clay code redundancy mechanism to reduce duplication costs while ensuring repair efficiency.
• The encryption + pay-per-read mechanism natively supports usage-based monetization logic;
• Supports smart contract-defined access control and DRM, providing one-stop processing from data distribution to copyright protection.

This design is not just about creating a faster IPFS (the most well-known decentralized storage network), but rather attempting to merge the performance standards of Web2 with the decentralized principles of Web3, creating a programmable, monetizable, and scalable data circulation network.

Top-tier project entry, community discussion is lively

The APT price surged by about 30%. In addition to the backing from Jump Crypto, it is also due to a luxurious lineup of ecological projects brought together by Shelby – Metaplex, Story Protocol, DoubleZero, etc. These are not only the most active data-intensive applications in the industry but also representatives exploring the value of Web3 data usage across various chains.

Metaplex is rooted in Solana, and DoubleZero was founded by Austin Federa, the former strategy head of Solana. The Solana ecosystem projects that Jump is deeply involved in are also participating in the Aptos ecosystem development. Does this imply that there is indeed something behind Shelby that has gained everyone’s recognition?

The community’s interpretation of Shelby is also exceptionally positive.

Some have compared it to the Walrus Protocol, pointing out that the purposes of their services are vastly different: Walrus leans towards cold storage and archiving, while Shelby is aimed at real-time use and revenue distribution; the former relies on low-frequency access and audit incentive mechanisms, while the latter translates every data read into a payment action, fundamentally incentivizing the improvement of data readability.

There are also views that Shelby’s crypto + pay-per-read mechanism provides a paradigm breakthrough for the long-standing “read incentive” problem in the field of Data Availability. Compared to projects like Celestia and Walrus, which still rely on external funding subsidies to maintain their services, Shelby directly incorporates user behavior into an economic closed loop, motivating nodes to actively maintain data availability.

A Higher Vision: More than just Aptos’s Comeback

The release of Shelby is undoubtedly an important move for Aptos in seeking ecological breakthroughs, but its broader significance may lie in the fact that it is the first attempt to deeply integrate content economy, creator economy, and on-chain infrastructure with the concept of “data as a native asset.” This not only serves Aptos itself but also radiates to the entire multichain world through its “chain-agnostic” characteristics.

Aptos Labs has repeatedly emphasized the composability and cross-chain capabilities of Shelby in its announcement: whether you are deploying dynamic NFTs on Solana or building RAG models on Ethereum Layer 2, Shelby can achieve quick access and yield linkage through standardized interfaces. In the future, it will also expand to on-chain environments such as Cosmos and Modular Stack.

Combining Aptos’s existing Global Trading Engine for value transfer, Shelby complements the capability of value generation: the former allows assets to flow freely, while the latter turns content into assets with measurable value. The two work in tandem, and Aptos is attempting to create an on-chain economic closed loop.

Written at the end: The possibilities and challenges of a turnaround

From technical design to collaborative lineup, from ecological implementation to market sentiment, Shelby is undoubtedly a high-scoring answer sheet delivered by Aptos at the infrastructure level. During the Walrus large airdrop, which ignited the wealth effect of the Sui ecosystem, Aptos was once regarded as a “bystander”; however, now, Shelby backed by Jump may be the breakthrough for it to reclaim the central narrative.

Of course, challenges remain: difficulties in performance realization, the cost of developer migration, and the cold start of the early ecosystem… all of these will be the real problems that Shelby will face next. But at least from the perspective of the market and technology, Aptos is no longer content with being a “faster and cheaper public chain”; instead, it seeks innovation and change, betting on a new paradigm of data-driven on-chain economy.

When real data starts to flow, the next wave of Web3 may also set sail from here.