Detailed Explanation of the CESS Mechanism (4): Application Layer

In the previous sections, we explained the overall architecture of CESS and the design of the blockchain layer as well as the storage and data distribution layer. All of these are the most important functional networks of CESS, and the ultimate purpose of these networks is to achieve secure storage of user data and, further, to support actual applications.

The so-called application layer is the application ecosystem that will be built on top of CESS in the future. As a storage public chain, it is highly likely to become a backbone force within the public chain ecosystem. The reasons for this are twofold: on one hand, the storage public chain is fundamentally reliant on the blockchain itself, and all functionalities of the blockchain can be encompassed by the storage public chain; on the other hand, the storage public chain provides storage services for applications, which can further achieve decentralization of projects and protect data security. In fact, there have been issues where AWS failures led to many so-called decentralized Web3 applications becoming unavailable, primarily because the nodes of the public chain and much of the data that needed off-chain processing were stored on centralized clouds. Decentralized storage public chains can provide a more distributed data processing method for applications, bringing them closer to the "complete" form of Web3.

So, what kind of design has CESS implemented for the construction of the application ecosystem?

First, CESS can support large-scale commercial applications.

CESS can support large-scale commercial applications, and it is the first decentralized storage protocol in the industry that natively supports large-scale commercial applications. The ability to support applications with high data interaction demands not only depends on the maximization of on-chain transaction processing efficiency in the consensus mechanism design of the CESS blockchain but also benefits from CESS's content distribution network, which enables quick data localization and caching of popular data. It can be said that CESS achieves maximum efficiency under a decentralized framework.
In addition to the ample preparations made for applications at the storage level, CESS also provides significant support for application development. At the smart contract level, CESS, developed based on the Substrate framework, supports both WASM and is compatible with EVM, allowing native applications from the Polkadot and Ethereum ecosystems to seamlessly migrate to CESS. Furthermore, CESS will provide modular development tools and APIs for application developers, facilitating the use of network functionalities such as data storage, distribution, smart contracts, privacy protection, and data rights confirmation in application development. In addition to open Web3 applications, CESS also supports enterprise-level SDKs, providing decentralized storage services for enterprise applications.
In fact, CESS has already begun taking action in this regard. Previously, CESS's application to add storage APIs to the Substrate codebase was approved by the Web3 Foundation, allowing CESS to smoothly resolve the "idle" period in the early stages of the network, where storage resources were continuously accumulated without sufficient demand. This enables direct integration into the application ecosystem after the network goes live, and continuous practice will lead to improvements and upgrades to the network.

For decentralized storage based on blockchain, the most important aspect currently is the application scenarios. Many non-Web3 applications are reluctant to use similar storage protocols primarily due to a lack of trust in the technology itself. However, many P2P protocols (such as Thunder) have already demonstrated the advantages of this storage mechanism. With the arrival of the Web3 era, many scenarios have a rigid demand for decentralized storage.

Here’s a simple example.

NFTs, as native applications of Web3, represent the best application scenario. Many people have significant misunderstandings about NFTs. In fact, just through the information on OpenSea, we can learn that the data of many NFTs in various projects is stored on centralized servers. This means that the ERC721 or ERC1155 tokens on-chain essentially only point to a "small image" signal; we never truly "own" the NFT. True ownership of an NFT can only be realized when the data pointing to the NFT is controlled by the protocol itself rather than the issuer.

In this situation, peer-to-peer storage protocols like Filecoin can still be deleted or lost by the storage service provider. However, CESS ensures the integrity and security of data through preprocessing, making it impossible for data to be arbitrarily deleted or tampered with, thus achieving true ownership of NFTs. In fact, there are quite a number of applications in the Web3 field whose data is stored on centralized servers, leading to users not truly owning their assets. This represents the largest application scenario for decentralized storage today.

The concept of decentralized storage networks based on blockchain was proposed nearly a decade ago, but due to limitations in the blockchain itself and developments in overall network and storage proofs, well-known projects like Filecoin and Arweave have not yet demonstrated sufficient explosive power in practical applications. CESS has absorbed the essence of its "predecessors" and, through its development team's years of accumulation in storage protocols, has considered the integration of the two "contradictory points" of decentralization and efficiency in various aspects of overall network design. CESS's entry into the market is not late; it is believed that with the rapid development of Web3 applications and the deepening understanding of blockchain in traditional industries, CESS will ride the next wave and set sail!