Shelby, in collaboration with Aptos Labs, is addressing one of blockchain’s biggest missing pieces: high-performance storage. While blockchains execute fast, oracles deliver data efficiently, and cross-chain messaging works seamlessly, true decentralized applications still rely on centralized storage solutions. Shelby aims to change that.
The system integrates three components — the Aptos blockchain for coordination, RPC nodes for user access, and storage providers for actual data management — to make decentralized storage operate at “cloud speed.”
The project’s core question: can decentralized systems compete with AWS and GCP on price while keeping node operators profitable? According to the team, the answer is yes — with the right architecture.
Efficiency drives every layer of Shelby’s design: a replication factor of 2 instead of the typical 4.5+, erasure coding for durability without excessive redundancy, and aligned incentives between RPC nodes and storage providers.
In Shelby’s model, RPCs earn from read fees — serving around 324TB per month per node — while storage providers earn from both storing and serving data. Estimated costs are around $0.014/GB for reads and under $0.01/GB per month for writes, making it highly competitive with centralized alternatives.
Behind Shelby is Jump’s 25 years of experience handling massive data volumes — hundreds of petabytes stored and hundreds of terabytes processed daily. The same expertise that powered Jump Firedancer for blockchain throughput and DoubleZero for networking now drives Shelby for decentralized storage.
Shelby aims to give developers what blockchains have long lacked: sub-second storage access, programmable data layers, and freedom from centralized gatekeepers.
As usage grows, everyone benefits. Higher read rates mean more savings for users compared to AWS and greater profits for storage providers — a rare alignment of incentives.
From Pyth Network for oracles to Wormhole for messaging and Firedancer for Solana, Jump’s teams have built critical infrastructure wherever ecosystems hit their limits. Now, Shelby is next — decentralized, high-performance storage at prices that actually work.