Building robust data infrastructure for blockchain and Web3

The transition from Web2 to Web3 represents a fundamental shift in how data is owned, stored, and processed. While blockchain provides the immutable ledger, the supporting data infrastructure, including decentralized storage (IPFS, Arweave), indexing protocols (The Graph), and cross-chain messaging, remains a critical bottleneck for mass adoption. This Research Topic explores the architectural challenges and innovations required to build robust Web3 data infrastructure. We focus on the tension between decentralization and performance, examining how novel consensus mechanisms, sharding techniques, and off-chain computation can support data-intensive applications. Furthermore, we address the critical need for semantic interoperability between heterogeneous blockchains and legacy systems, ensuring that the next generation of the internet is not a series of walled gardens but a cohesive, user-centric ecosystem.

The primary goal of this Research Topic is to consolidate cutting-edge research that bridges the gap between theoretical blockchain capabilities and practical data infrastructure requirements. As decentralized applications (dApps) grow in complexity, the limitations of on-chain storage and processing have become glaringly apparent. Current solutions often compromise security for speed or sacrifice decentralization for cost-efficiency.

This Research Topic aims to foster a rigorous academic dialogue on solving the "data availability problem" and the "indexing trilemma" in Web3. We seek to highlight contributions that propose scalable architectures for high-throughput data ingestion, verifiable query processing, and privacy-preserving data sharing. By bringing together experts from cryptography, distributed databases, and network engineering, we aim to define the standards and protocols that will underpin the future of decentralized data. Ultimately, this collection will serve as a foundational reference for researchers and practitioners building the backend of the decentralized web.

This Research Topic invites original research papers, comprehensive reviews, and case studies that address the engineering and theoretical challenges of Web3 data infrastructure. We are particularly interested in work that moves beyond simple tokenomics to address the hard problems of distributed systems in adversarial environments. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

- Decentralized file storage and content delivery networks (CDNs).

- Blockchain indexing and querying protocols.

- Zero-knowledge proofs for data privacy and scalability (zk-Rollups).

- Cross-chain bridges and data interoperability standards.

- Decentralized Identity (DID) and verifiable credentials.

- Oracle networks and real-world data integration.

- Data availability layers and sharding techniques.

- Incentive mechanisms for long-term data persistence.

- Security analysis of Web3 middleware and APIs.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Community Case Study
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Community Case Study
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Review
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Web3, Web3 data infrastructure, Web3 scalability, Decentralized storage, Blockchain, Data Interoperability, Cross-chain interoperability, Zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP), Decentralized identity, Privacy-Preserving Computing, Oracle Networks

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.