Consensys-owned Infura plans to start decentralizing by end of 2023

Infura, a blockchain infrastructure service provider owned by Consensus, plans to release a decentralized version of its service by the end of 2023 that will be operated by multiple entities to make it resilient to outages.

The decentralization effort is planned to take place in various phases, the firm told The Block. The governance model for the decentralized Infura — either a DAO or a foundation — has not yet been determined.

Infura functions as one of the most widely used Infrastructure-as-a-Service platforms in the blockchain space. It provides decentralized applications and web3 wallets such as MetaMask, with fast access to multiple blockchains.

The objective of the plan is to continue providing high-throughput access to blockchain APIs, while also mitigating the risk of a single point of failure. The firm has already initiated an early access program.

Infura expects 'federated phase' launch

The implementation of a decentralized Infura will go through an initial "federated phase," expected to be introduced by the end of 2023. The stage will include a limited number of launch partners and be succeeded by subsequent phases to incrementally develop the architecture.

"We’re looking to launch something later this year, and that is going to be a federated phase," Tom Hay, decentralized infrastructure product lead at Infura, said in a statement. "The federated phase will last at least 6 months and will provide the network with the insight on how to build a sustainable model before introducing further decentralization."

The decentralized version of Infura could be governed either by a decentralized autonomous organization or a foundation, although that has yet to be decided, the team clarified.