Centralization in the Decentralized Web: Challenges and Opportunities in IPFS Data Management
Ruizhe Shi, Ruizhi Cheng, Yuqi Fu, Bo Han, Yue Cheng, Songqing Chen · 2025
The InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) is a pioneering effort for Web 3.0, well-known for its decentralized infrastructure. However, some recent studies have shown that IPFS exhibits a high degree of centralization and has integrated centralized components for improved performance. While this change contradicts the core decentralized ethos of IPFS and introduces risks of hurting the data replication level and thus availability, it also opens some opportunities for better data management and cost savings through deduplication.