When it comes to the evolution of Web3 infrastructure, data storage and data availability are becoming increasingly important. Strangely, many public blockchains focus on stacking high TPS and low Gas fees but ignore the long-term security and verifiability of underlying data. This issue has recently led me to focus on projects that seriously work on the data layer.

Take data protocols, for example—they are not simply about crude "decentralized storage." The projects that truly put effort into this are thinking about—how to find a balance between scalability, security, and cost efficiency. Efficient data sharding combined with redundancy mechanisms can protect data integrity while significantly reducing storage costs. This is a necessity for Rollup scaling, on-chain gaming, NFT ecosystems, AI data processing, and Web3 social applications.

From an ecosystem perspective, the positioning of these protocols is quite clear—they do not compete directly with public chains but serve as underlying modules to empower more applications and networks. Such "infrastructure-type" projects are often underestimated in the early stages, but once the ecosystem adopts them, the speed of value realization can be astonishing. The related tokens' functions in the network are not limited to transaction mediums; they are often tied to node incentives, network security, and resource allocation, which means their long-term value is more driven by actual usage rather than short-term speculation.

As the market gradually cools down, I am increasingly inclined to focus on researching these foundational infrastructure projects that genuinely address Web3's pain points. These are the things worth spending time on.