In the various infrastructure layers of Web3, storage always seems to play a "supporting role." It doesn't attract much attention in daily life, but once problems arise, they are often fatal. Recently, while reviewing a list of projects I have been tracking long-term, I re-examined the decentralized storage track, especially some protocols that follow a long-term and steady approach, and gradually understood why they don't follow the trend of hype.

Most decentralized storage protocols boast about how fast they are, how low their costs are, and how optimized their parameters are. However, some projects have a clearly different approach. They are not concerned with how much data can be stored in the short term, but are thinking—after network participants start to change and incentive mechanisms weaken, will the stored data still be usable and verifiable? This issue may not be apparent in early-stage projects, but once real users and actual data are running on the network, it becomes particularly critical.

From a mechanism design perspective, these projects do not put all their chips on short-term incentives but try to ensure the entire system can operate smoothly over the long term. This also changes my understanding of their tokens—they are not just targets for price fluctuations, but gears that truly maintain network behavior and security.

As a user, I don't actually expect such protocols to achieve astonishing short-term price surges. Instead, I value more whether, after market enthusiasm wanes and attention shifts elsewhere, these infrastructures can continue to work quietly and do their job well. This is the true foundation capable of supporting Web3 applications.