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EthStorage Mainnet Alpha Launch: Petabyte-Scale Decentralized Storage on Ethereum

EthStorage

• 6 min read
EthStorage Mainnet Alpha Launch: Petabyte-Scale Decentralized Storage on Ethereum

EthStorage Mainnet Alpha is now live on Ethereum, marking a significant milestone for on-chain verifiable data. This launch is the culmination of nearly three years of research, development, and testing since 2022. Entering the Alpha phase, the network begins as a cautious trial run — prioritizing stability and security before fully opening. With this step, Ethereum can now scale to petabyte-level storage at a fraction of the cost, for the first time unlocking data-intensive Web3 applications that were previously impossible.

What Is EthStorage and Why Was It Built?

EthStorage is a modular, decentralized storage layer-2 for Ethereum. It provides programmable key–value storage on top of Ethereum’s BLOB-based data availability (EIP-4844). Data is posted in BLOB transactions and then permanently replicated by a network of incentivized storage providers. Anyone can later retrieve it via the network or through smart contracts, making the data trustlessly available to dApps.

We created EthStorage to solve a core pain point: on-chain storage is prohibitively expensive, while off-chain storage is unreliable. NFTs often broke when their images were hosted on centralized servers, dApps lost data without guarantees, and Ethereum nodes struggled with historical growth. EIP-4844 introduced cheap blob posting for rollups, but that data disappears after ~18 days. Without a new solution, both L1 and L2 risked losing valuable history or relying on centralized archives.

EthStorage makes long-term, user-owned data on Ethereum practical. It integrates natively with Ethereum — using ETH for fees, EVM contracts, and familiar developer tools such as Solidity/Foundry. Storage providers are rewarded over time for keeping data alive, while developers get a seamless “Lego piece” that can be plugged into any dApp or rollup. This model also aligns with Ethereum’s roadmap: L1 provides short-term data availability, while EthStorage extends it for long-term, ensuring scalability without sacrificing permanence.

Technical Innovations

EthStorage’s architecture combines Ethereum’s BLOBs with a verifiable storage layer, making the system simple to use, cryptographically secure, and Ethereum-native.

  • Storage-focused layer 2. EthStorage treats L1 as a short-term broadcast network. Storage providers capture blobs and commit to holding them for a long term, with Ethereum contracts verifying proofs of availability.
  • Proof-of-storage. Providers are regularly challenged randomly to prove that they still hold data. Using zk-SNARKs, they submit succinct proofs tied to their Ethereum address, preventing replica fraud — where a single copy is reused to fake multiple replicas. Proofs are verified on-chain efficiently, ensuring data stays available and providers stay incentivized.
  • BLOB P2P network. EthStorage includes a dedicated peer-to-peer layer to sync expired BLOBs among storage providers. When new nodes join, they can efficiently fetch historical BLOB data from peers, ensuring continuity of storage beyond Ethereum’s native ~18-day retention window.
  • Ethereum-native integration. Developers can use ETH and standard EVM tools to store or retrieve data via smart contracts, making EthStorage a plug-and-play Lego piece for dApps, rollups, and other on-chain systems.

Milestones on the Road to Mainnet

The journey to mainnet has been shaped by years of R&D and a series of key milestones:

  • Ethereum Foundation ESP Grant (Feb 2023). EthStorage received an Ecosystem Support Program (ESP) grant for our work on “Proof of Storage on L2 Dynamic Datasets.” This research laid the cryptographic foundation for EthStorage’s proof-of-storage design.
  • EDCON Super Demo — 1st Place (May 2023). EthStorage won first place at EDCON’s Super Demo, one of Ethereum’s largest community events. This recognition validated our vision and introduced EthStorage to the broader Ethereum community.
  • Funding Round (2023). EthStorage raised a funding round, valuing the project at $100M, which will provide us with the resources to grow the team and accelerate development.
  • Blob Storage Race (March 2024). After Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade activated blobs, we launched our first public testnet. Each of the 170+ participating nodes stored over 550 GB of unique data, and together they submitted more than 490 valid proofs — demonstrating that community-run nodes could handle large datasets and be rewarded for honest service.
  • Unstoppable dApps Campaign (May–July 2024). Our second public testnet campaign showcased “unstoppable dApps” with decentralized front-ends, back-ends, and data. Hundreds of developers uploaded websites and app assets via blobs and EthStorage, demonstrating that “deploy once, run forever” is practical.
  • Community Growth (2024–2025). Alongside our testnet campaigns, the community grew to 50,000+ members across Discord, testnets, and events worldwide, providing feedback that directly shaped EthStorage’s design.
  • Trusted Setup Ceremony (Aug 2025). Ahead of mainnet, we conducted a public trusted setup for our zk-SNARK circuits with 287 contributors worldwide. This ensured secure proving keys and strengthened the cryptographic trust in EthStorage’s protocol.

Ecosystem Collaborations

EthStorage is part of Ethereum’s broader scaling journey, strengthened by ecosystem partnerships and community backing.

  • Optimism & OP Stack: In 2024, Optimism awarded EthStorage a grant to serve as a long-term data availability provider. As OP Stack chains adopt blobs, EthStorage acts as the backstop beyond the 18-day window — plug-and-play for OP chains, adding permanence and security.
  • Other Partnerships: We are also working with Taiko (zkEVM rollup) and Celestia (modular DA chain) on long-term data retention. These integrations are ongoing but highlight broad interest in EthStorage as a universal storage layer across Web3.
  • Community & Foundation: EthStorage’s early research was supported by the Ethereum Foundation, and we have pledged 1% of our token supply to the Protocol Guild to give back to Ethereum’s core developers. Together with grants, partnerships, and grassroots community support, EthStorage has been a shared achievement with the ecosystem.

Mainnet Alpha: What It Means for Users and Developers

With EthStorage live on Ethereum Mainnet (Alpha), new capabilities are now available to the community:

  • Ultra-cost-effective, permanent storage for dApps. Developers can now store large amounts of data at about 0.1% of Ethereum L1 costs. Instead of expensive on-chain storage or unreliable off-chain servers, EthStorage provides Web2-like scale with Web3 security.
  • Rollups archival. Rollups post data to Ethereum for security, but that data is pruned quickly. EthStorage acts as a decentralized archive, preserving historical blocks indefinitely and reducing reliance on centralized archive services.
  • Unstoppable Web3 front-ends. Using the ERC-4804 web3:// standard, entire dApp interfaces can now live on EthStorage and be served directly from Ethereum’s storage layer. Developers can deploy censorship-resistant front-ends, ensuring that users always interact with tamper-proof, verifiable code.

Future Outlook & Roadmap

  • From Alpha to open participation. During the Alpha stage, storage provider participation is limited to a whitelist to maintain network stability and security. Access will gradually expand to investors and ecosystem partners, and once the network matures and adoption grows, EthStorage will transition to a fully permissionless model.
  • Ecosystem growth. Post-launch, our focus is on adoption. We’ll support developers through hackathons, grants, bug bounties, and incentive programs to make EthStorage a standard part of the Ethereum stack.
  • Developer experience. To drive broader use, we’re building higher-level SDKs and refining standards like ERC-4804 so that wallets, browsers, and tools can natively support content from EthStorage. Our vision is that adding decentralized storage to an app should feel as seamless as using AWS.
  • Cross-chain expansion. While the Ethereum mainnet is our base, EthStorage is designed to serve multiple ecosystems, especially on layer 2, where EthStorage serves as a data layer 3. In the future, rollups and other chains will be able to plug into EthStorage as their long-term data layer, ensuring critical Web3 data remains secure and available everywhere.

Conclusion

The launch of EthStorage Mainnet Alpha marks a foundational step for Ethereum’s modular future. Alongside computation (L2 rollups) and consensus (Ethereum L1), Ethereum now has a decentralized storage layer-2. By extending storage to the petabyte scale at a fraction of the cost, EthStorage ensures that data stored today remains accessible decades from now — without sacrificing decentralization.

Thank you for your support. Let’s build together toward a future where no data is left behind.

  • Docs: Guides, SDKs, and tutorials at docs.ethstorage.io.
  • GitHub: Open-source contracts, node software, and tools.
  • Community: Join us on Discord and follow on X for updates and support.

To learn more about EthStorage and connect with our community, visit our community channels:

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