Daniel Anomfueme
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Decentralized Storage & Infrastructure: Building the Next Layer of the Web

Web3Decentralized StorageData

The internet has long been dominated by centralized services like AWS, Google Cloud, and Dropbox. While powerful, these platforms raise questions around trust, data ownership, censorship, and resilience. In response, decentralized storage and infrastructure networks have emerged as core building blocks for Web3 and beyond.

This article explores four leading players, IPFS/Filecoin, Arweave, Ceramic, and Lit Protocol and how developers can integrate them into applications. Along the way, we’ll look at code examples that bring these systems to life.

1. IPFS: The Content-Addressed Web

IPFS (InterPlanetary File System) is a peer-to-peer protocol that enables permanent, content-addressed storage. Instead of retrieving data from a location (like https://example.com/file.png), IPFS retrieves data based on its content hash (CID).

Why it matters:

  • Eliminates single points of failure.
  • Ensures file integrity via cryptographic hashes.
  • Enables efficient peer-to-peer distribution.

Install and upload a file using ipfs-http-client:

npm install ipfs-http-client

import { create } from "ipfs-http-client";

const client = create({ url: "https://ipfs.infura.io:5001/api/v0" });

async function uploadToIPFS() {
  const { cid } = await client.add("Hello Web3 World!");
  console.log("Stored on IPFS with CID:", cid.toString());
}

uploadToIPFS();

Once uploaded, you can fetch it via a public gateway:

https://ipfs.io/ipfs/<CID>

2. Filecoin: Incentivized Storage Market

While IPFS excels at distribution, it doesn’t guarantee long-term persistence. Enter Filecoin, an incentive layer where storage providers earn FIL tokens to store and prove data over time.

Why it matters:

  • Decentralized economic layer ensures persistence.
  • Proofs (Proof of Replication & Proof of Spacetime) secure storage.
  • Enables deals between clients and miners.

Storing data via Web3.Storage (built on Filecoin/IPFS):

npm install web3.storage

import { Web3Storage, File } from "web3.storage";

function getAccessToken() {
  return process.env.WEB3_STORAGE_TOKEN; // from web3.storage account
}

function makeStorageClient() {
  return new Web3Storage({ token: getAccessToken() });
}

async function storeFiles() {
  const client = makeStorageClient();
  const files = [new File(["Decentralized forever!"], "message.txt")];
  const cid = await client.put(files);
  console.log("File stored with CID:", cid);
}

storeFiles();

This CID can be retrieved from both IPFS and Filecoin retrieval miners, making it durable and censorship-resistant.

3. Arweave: Permanent Storage for the “Permaweb”

Arweave takes a different approach: instead of ongoing storage contracts, it uses a one-time payment model to store data permanently. Its unique blockweave structure ensures data is replicated indefinitely.

Why it matters:

  • “Pay once, store forever.”
  • Underpins decentralized apps like Mirror (publishing), Pianity (music NFTs).
  • A foundation for immutable web content.

Upload data with Arweave.js::

npm install arweave

import Arweave from "arweave";

const arweave = Arweave.init({
  host: "arweave.net",
  port: 443,
  protocol: "https",
});

async function uploadData() {
  const key = await arweave.wallets.generate();
  const tx = await arweave.createTransaction(
    { data: "Hello from Arweave!" },
    key
  );

  await arweave.transactions.sign(tx, key);
  const response = await arweave.transactions.post(tx);

  console.log("Transaction ID:", tx.id);
  console.log("Check at: https://arweave.net/" + tx.id);
}

uploadData();

4. Ceramic: Dynamic, Mutable Data Streams

While IPFS/Filecoin and Arweave excel at immutable storage, apps often need dynamic, mutable data. Ceramic Network solves this by providing a decentralized protocol for managing data streams that can evolve over time.

Why it matters:

  • Decentralized databases for Web3 apps.
  • Works seamlessly with decentralized identity (DIDs).
  • Powers user profiles, social graphs, and content feeds.

Using Ceramic with JavaScript:

npm install @ceramicnetwork/http-client @ceramicnetwork/stream-tile 

import CeramicClient from "@ceramicnetwork/http-client";
import { TileDocument } from "@ceramicnetwork/stream-tile";

const ceramic = new CeramicClient("https://ceramic-clay.3boxlabs.com");

async function createDoc() {
  const doc = await TileDocument.create(
    ceramic,
    { content: "My first Ceramic doc" },
    {
      controllers: [ceramic.did.id],
      family: "example-family",
    }
  );

  console.log("Ceramic StreamID:", doc.id.toString());
}

createDoc();

This gives developers a way to build user-controlled social media apps, knowledge graphs, and DAOs with persistent yet mutable data.

5. Lit Protocol: Decentralized Access Control

Lit Protocol tackles a critical piece of the puzzle: access control and encryption. It enables developers to encrypt data such that only users meeting certain conditions (e.g., wallet ownership, DAO membership) can decrypt it.

Why it matters:

  • User-centric privacy in decentralized apps.
  • Useful for gated content, private messaging, DAO documents.
  • Interoperates with IPFS, Ceramic, Arweave.

Encrypting data with Lit SDK:

npm install lit-js-sdk

import LitJsSdk from "lit-js-sdk";

const client = new LitJsSdk.LitNodeClient();
await client.connect();

const authSig = await LitJsSdk.checkAndSignAuthMessage({ chain: "ethereum" });

const { encryptedString, symmetricKey } = await LitJsSdk.encryptString(
  "Secret DAO Message"
);

const accessControlConditions = [
  {
    contractAddress: "",
    standardContractType: "",
    chain: "ethereum",
    method: "eth_getBalance",
    parameters: [":userAddress", "latest"],
    returnValueTest: { comparator: ">=", value: "1000000000000000000" }, // 1 ETH
  },
];

await client.saveEncryptionKey({
  accessControlConditions,
  symmetricKey,
  authSig,
  chain: "ethereum",
});

console.log("Encrypted and access-controlled with Lit!");

Now the encrypted file could be stored on IPFS/Filecoin/Arweave, but only accessible to users meeting the conditions.

The Bigger Picture

  • IPFS/Filecoin → Storage & distribution with economic guarantees.
  • Arweave → Immutable, permanent data layer.
  • Ceramic → Dynamic, mutable data streams.
  • Lit Protocol → Fine-grained access control and encryption.

They complement each other, just as Web2 apps often combine databases, cloud storage, and access-control services, Web3 apps blend these decentralized equivalents.

Conclusion

The future of the internet will not be built on a single monolithic blockchain or protocol, but on a composable ecosystem of decentralized infrastructure. By combining IPFS/Filecoin, Arweave, Ceramic, and Lit Protocol, developers gain the power to build applications that are trustless, censorship-resistant, user-owned, and privacy-preserving.

For developers, the key takeaway is this: decentralized infrastructure is no longer a theoretical concept, it’s production-ready. With mature SDKs, APIs, and gateways, you can start integrating these technologies today.

The Web3 data layer is here. The question is, what will you build on it?