Recently, I've been pondering a question: should we store data on big company's clouds, or should we jump into decentralization as early as possible?

On the surface, centralized storage does seem worry-free. Giants like AWS have very stable infrastructure and are convenient to use. But at what cost? Downtime happens frequently, data can be mysteriously deleted, and privacy cannot be guaranteed. The problem is, you have no choice — your vital data is in their hands.

Decentralized storage, although still relatively new, has some shocking cases recently. When the Sui network was interrupted, its storage system remained zero downtime; there’s a project using erasure coding technology, which can lose 66% of nodes and still keep the data alive. That’s true fault tolerance.

In the AI era, data volume is exploding. Who still wants to bet that a company won’t go down? Instead of putting all eggs in one basket, it’s better to control your own data sovereignty. Locking data ownership with on-chain proof and encryption is the long-term strategy.

From a market perspective, early developers participating in the decentralized storage ecosystem are continuously advancing feature iterations and listening to feedback. If 2026 truly becomes the year of implementation, early movers will have a clear advantage. Centralized storage is already mature but lacks flexibility, whereas decentralized storage, with its reliable and flexible infrastructure, is the future trend.