Today, Infura, the world's leading web3 API provider developed by Consensys, announces a partnership with 18 other pioneering internet infrastructure companies including Microsoft, Tencent Cloud, Grove and Covalent, to create Infura’s Decentralized Infrastructure Network (DIN). DIN will be a decentralized RPC-as-a-service offering that aims to make Web3 more accessible, reliable and efficient. The announcement was made at the Decentralized RPC Summit during DevConnect in Istanbul. DIN will provide a powerful new way for developers to connect to Ethereum and other top-tier blockchains, and is a significant milestone in Infura’s ongoing efforts to foster decentralized internet infrastructure. 

DIN will be led by Infura and welcomes Microsoft, Tencent, 0xFury, Bloq, Chainstack, Covalent, Ellipfra, Everstake, Gateway.fm, Grove, Laconic Network, Linkpool, LinkRiver, Luscent, Mantle, MatrixedLink, Pokt, and Rivet as cornerstone members building an initial, federated version of DIN that will lay the groundwork for the progressive decentralization of the network.

“We are immensely grateful to all our partners who have been part of the journey to build the Decentralized Infrastructure Network with us over the past year,” said E.G. Galano, co-founder of Infura and the project and technical lead for DIN. “Since we announced DIN, the response from the community has exceeded our expectations. Together, we have achieved remarkable progress and eagerly anticipate the continuation of this journey as we bring the power of DIN to Web3 developers and users.”

The launch of DIN with the initial cohort of 19 partners represents a significant milestone in progressive decentralization for one of the most popular web3 API services in the ecosystem. While Infura provides the core infrastructure backend for popular web3 products such as MetaMask, the Ethereum Name Service, and Layer 2 scaling solutions, DIN is part of Infura’s work to support a variety of blockchain APIs, in recognition of the inevitability of a the multi-chain world. 

“We have always believed in the greater mission of enabling decentralized infrastructure for the world. DIN customers are able to experience the power of what that means through Grove and Pocket Network,” said Michael O'Rourke, Founder of Pocket Network and CEO at Grove, a DIN partner. “In a fast changing, tumultuous world, laying the foundation for an open internet is as important as ever.”

Decentralization Means Improved Reliability and Performance

DIN’s first two features are failover protection on Polygon and Ethereum, allowing users to shift RPC traffic from one DIN partner to another, in order to maintain service in case of outage. In the coming weeks Infura users will be able to opt-in to DIN’s failover protection, meaning less centralization and more uptime for dapps and developers. 

"Think of DIN for blockchain infrastructure like your electric service providers that run your homes or powers your businesses. Without it, our modern life could not exist,” explains Eugene Yeo, Technical Director at Luscent.io. "Luscent is happy to be a founding member of DIN to make blockchains more accessible for everyone." 

Taking a decentralized approach means an increase in networks and overall uptime, leading to more available access to blockchains, especially as more partners are added. In the coming months, failover protection via DIN will be added for Arbitrum, Avalanche C-Chain, and Optimism.

DIN is a New, Collaborative Option

DIN is inspired by and supports the ethos of Ethereum and web3 that encourages collaboration alongside competition. The goal of the network is to work with existing RPC providers and to create new infrastructure that can work alongside existing RPC solutions.

“While other infrastructure providers are in an arms race to gobble up market share, Infura has gone in a wholly different direction by starting DIN. By working with partners who have already optimized parts of the stack to better serve the developer this really embodies the ethos of crypto and the phrase a rising tide raises all ships,” said Erik Ashdown, head of ecosystem for Covalent.

Moving Progressively Towards Full Decentralization

Building a new public good network that can serve as a foundational layer of an improved Internet is a major undertaking. Getting it right requires coalescing around an original vision and a set of standards that will ensure such a system can function and scale. This is why the first iteration of DIN will be federated around the original group of partners announced today. In the coming months DIN expects to welcome more members and will release a collaborative roadmap for the progressive decentralization of DIN. 

“By contributing to DIN, we're not just helping to stand up an open protocol, we're architecting a revolution for developers where permissionless innovation becomes the norm,” said Austin Roberts, Founder and CEO, Rivet.