The Current Role of AWS S3 in Crypto
Crypto is obsessed with decentralization. On the other hand, crypto leans hard on Amazon’s AWS S3 (Amazon’s Super Simple Storage) and other popular centralized storages for its data needs. What do we mean by data needs?
Sep 20, 2025
Crypto is obsessed with decentralization. On the other hand, crypto leans hard on Amazon’s AWS S3 (Amazon’s Super Simple Storage) and other popular centralized storages for its data needs. What do we mean by data needs? Data underpins the majority of crypto that we interact with every day. Like it or not, chances that you’ve digested or interacted with centralized data today in the cryptosphere are very high.So if you are seeing centralized data all the time, how come you don’t recognize it? Well, we aren’t always thinking about it. Sometimes we don’t even recognize what is data and what isn’t, or the fact that it has to be stored somewhere. We can peel back the curtain a little bit!
These are some common uses of centralized data:
Front-End Hosting
Many of our favorite protocols are hosting their website UI’s on centralized storage solutions. ReactJS files, images, databases, they more often than not are being hosted centrally. No decentralized data storage provider can meet the throughput and latency requirements of front-end hosting.User-Generated Content
PFPs, posts on “decentralized” social platforms, images, you name it! All of this is hosted on centralized data providers like S3.NFT Metadata & Media
Many of the existing (and upcoming) NFTs are hosting their metadata and their imagery on solutions like S3. Those traits you brag to your friends about, that’s metadata my man! What happens when S3 has an interruption in service and you wake up in the morning to your Active Ape showing a 404 error? Is it still worth anything? Can you even trust it?AI & ML Checkpoints
Most AI centered protocols are storing their training data, models and inferences all on S3 or similar centralized solutions. IPFS/Filecoin can store vast amounts of data, but it’s archival storage. AI & ML data is as hot as data gets. It needs to be accessed constantly and continuously.Failover Infrastructure
Some projects and protocols do their best to as decentralized as possible. They make use of glacial file storage solutions like IPFS and Filecoin. These platforms can store massive amounts of data decentralized, but it is painfully slow and expensive to access that data. This works for archiving, but not so great for active hot data. With a little digging, you will find that even the ones making use of IPFS/Filecoin, are also making use of S3 or similar as a failover/backup. Or using IPFS/Filecoin for their cold data and using S3 for their hot data.
AWS S3 is pervasive in our world and many of us were none the wiser. Data is necessary and it’s not going away, which makes data in crypto ripe for innovation.
Enter Hyve! As an AWS S3 alternative, Hyve provides truly decentralized hot object storage. With over 1GB/s throughput and comparable latency with S3, Hyve can serve crypto’s data needs, finally enabling crypto to sever its last remaining ties with centralization. Make decentralization decentralized again!
Disclaimer:
This content is provided for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute legal, business, investment, financial, or tax advice. You should consult your own advisers regarding those matters.
References to any protocols, projects, or digital assets are for illustrative purposes only and do not represent any recommendation or offer to buy, sell, or participate in any activity involving digital assets or financial products. This material should not be relied upon as the basis for any investment or network participation decision.
Hyve and its contributors make no representations or warranties, express or implied, regarding the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the information provided. Digital assets and decentralized networks operate within evolving legal and regulatory environments; such risks are not addressed in this content.
All views and opinions expressed are those of the authors as of the date of publication and are subject to change without notice.
