Solving Full Node Centralization: Pocket Core MVP Release In recent months we have seen prominent members of the crypto-community, from cypherpunk pioneers to well-funded startups come out of the woodwork with scathing critiques against Ethereum and other blockchain platforms for their diminishing full-node capacity and rapid reliance on single service providers for full node support. This is causing “centralization” in the space that prides itself so much on the opposite. body[data-twttr-rendered="true"] {background-color: transparent;}.twitter-tweet {margin: auto !important;} Finally a media article touching on the elephant in the room: Ethereum has become highly centralized. #infura https://t.co/Yp6f5EpeMi — @TuurDemeester function notifyResize(height) {height = height ? height : document.documentElement.offsetHeight; var resized = false; if (window.donkey && donkey.resize) {donkey.resize(height); resized = true;}if (parent && parent._resizeIframe) {var obj = {iframe: window.frameElement, height: height}; parent._resizeIframe(obj); resized = true;}if (window.location && window.location.hash === "#amp=1" && window.parent && window.parent.postMessage) {window.parent.postMessage({sentinel: "amp", type: "embed-size", height: height}, "*");}if (window.webkit && window.webkit.messageHandlers && window.webkit.messageHandlers.resize) {window.webkit.messageHandlers.resize.postMessage(height); resized = true;}return resized;}twttr.events.bind('rendered', function (event) {notifyResize();}); twttr.events.bind('resize', function (event) {notifyResize();});if (parent && parent._resizeIframe) {var maxWidth = parseInt(window.frameElement.getAttribute("width")); if ( 500 < maxWidth) {window.frameElement.setAttribute("width", "500");}} According to stats posted on “ “ although Ethereum usage is growing, nodes have dropped 50% this past year. Of those remaining, most are through single-service providers and rely on AWS as their foundation. The combination of these facts have worries mounting. The Burden of Infura In response to the mounting worries, well-known Ethereum startup launched “ “ early April with the goal of raising awareness and stimulating the development of alternative solutions. With the latest release of Pocket Core MVP, Pocket Network is well positioned to be a critical piece of a two-pronged solution. Chaos Unicorn Day One, Pocket is building out a decentralized relay network for full-node infrastructure. The value of this relay network is that requests will be coordinated randomly across all node providers in an automatic way. In the event of a “Chaos Unicorn” coming in unannounced and disrupting a node (or service provider), the network redirects the requests to the next (random) valid node and the DApp keeps working without fail. The differentiation of Pocket from other relay networks is that it is compatible with blockchain, by way of easy-to-build plugins for Pocket SDKs. This further de-risks DApps because they can run across as many chains (or forks) as they wish, guaranteeing the censorship-resistance, resilience, and the agency that we all aspire for. Not to mention, this opens the door for emerging multi-chain applications built seamlessly through a single interface. The second prong of the solution is to make full-nodes easy to set-up and sustainable in the long term, through direct rewards, despite volatility. Projects such as (behind DAppnode) are building “plug and play” full-node boxes directed at everyday consumers. In addition to this “easy-to-setup” piece, Pocket will introduce an economic layer to it’s protocol that will incentivize full-node providers directly, providing them a sustainable model for years of growth. The Pocket Core MVP release is the first step toward ;P. putting the D back in DApps As a demonstration of Pockets capabilities for DApp development, we created a fully functional decentralized AR-game app for IOS, in partnership with AION Network called “Monster Chase”. The game launched with MVP and already has traction in the AION/Pocket Communities with Monsters being placed and chased all over the world. We encourage everyone to look more into this release roll-out, , and how it all ties into the Testnet release at the end of this year, by checking out . developer portal https://www.pokt.network/pocket-core-mvp/ If you would like to speak with the team for an article, interview or partnership, do not hesitate to reach out at hola@pokt.network, or on . telegram Some of the Tweetstorm https://twitter.com/lopp/status/1091311361643237376 https://twitter.com/TuurDemeester/status/1070203807764832257 https://twitter.com/ethstatus/status/1110200773298831361 https://twitter.com/iurimatias/status/1109218799348342788 https://twitter.com/theonevortex/status/1105452851898179585 https://twitter.com/notgrubles/status/1084626956862279680 https://twitter.com/BMBernstein/status/1016691503501111296 https://twitter.com/WhalePanda/status/1038059864562515968 https://twitter.com/fubuloubu/status/1083798931417583618 https://twitter.com/fubuloubu/status/1070368785734004742 https://twitter.com/oliverzok/status/1092869406571589632 Some of the Coverage https://www.coindesk.com/the-race-is-on-to-replace-ethereums-most-centralized-layer https://cryptonomist.ch/en/2018/12/05/ethereum-infura-node/ https://cryptobriefing.com/infura-developers-best-friend-centralized-trap/ https://www.btcwires.com/c-buzz/the-raging-debate-over-infura-the-most-centralized-part-of-ethereum/ https://www.theblockcrypto.com/2019/01/10/the-burden-of-infura/ https://www.reddit.com/r/ethereum/comments/83a34l/centralization_in_ethereum_infura_metamask/ https://medium.com/@itraynis/why-is-there-no-mention-that-infura-is-a-centralized-3rd-party-provider-designed-for-a-f353acbce926 https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffkauflin/2018/12/05/cryptopia-in-crisis-billionaire-joe-lubins-ethereum-experiment-is-a-mess-how-long-will-he-prop-it-up/#77328c6e2f0a https://cryptopotato.com/why-eos-dapps-are-dangerously-dependent-on-just-five-nodes/ Originally published at https://www.pokt.network on April 11, 2019.