*https://jumpcrypto.com/peeking-under-the-hood/*

Rahul Maganti & Saurabh Sharma, March 2022

Introduction

With the rapid emergence of cross-chain bridges, new testing frameworks, and other crypto protocols, effectively mapping out blockchain infrastructure remains a key challenge for users, developers, and investors alike. The term “blockchain infrastructure” can encompass a variety of different products and services, ranging from the underlying networking stack to the consensus model or virtual machine. We reserve a more in-depth analysis on the various “core” components that make up L1/L2 chains for a later post (keep your eyes peeled!). In this piece, we specifically aim to:

1. provide a broad overview of other key components of blockchain infrastructure.
2. break down those components into clear and digestible sub-segments.

Infrastructure Map

We define the "ecosystem" of blockchain infrastructure as protocols intended to support the development of L1s and L2s in the following key areas:

• Layer-0 Infrastructure: (1) Decentralized Cloud Services (Storage, Compute, Indexing); (2) Node Infrastructure (RPC, Staking / Validators)
• Middleware: (1) Data Availability; (2) Communication / Messaging Protocols
• Blockchain Development: (1) Security and Testing; (2) Developer Tooling (Out-of-the-Box Tools, Front/Backend Libraries, Languages / IDEs)

Layer 0 Infrastructure

Decentralized Cloud

Cloud services have been essential to the growth of Web2 - as compute and data needs for applications have grown, service providers specialized in making this data and compute quickly available in a cost effective manner has been critical. Web3 applications have similar demands for data and compute but want to remain true to the ethos of blockchain. As a result, protocols aimed at creating decentralized versions of these Web2 services have emerged. There are 3 core components of the decentralized cloud: