Ethereum Network DRPC Aims to Quell Centralization Risks Ahead of Shanghai Upgrade

DRPC, a decentralized RPC (remote procedure call) network, went live on Thursday in an effort to curb some of the centralization risks on the Ethereum network.

An RPC is the communication protocol used by decentralized apps (dapps) to interact and transfer information, such as transaction detail, to and from blockchains.

Ethereum’s infrastructure layer remains the last holdout of centralized processing left, a situation which has been largely unaddressed. If RPCs are, for any reason, attacked or undermined, it threatens Ethereum’s network integrity and the security of dapps that rely on it.

DRPC developers said they are tackling this issue by leveraging its globally distributed decentralized network of RPC service providers, dividing the load between them.

“Decentralized RPC services form the bedrock for a trustless, secure, and scalable network. The launch of DRPC will enable end-to-end decentralization for Ethereum,” explained Constantine Zaitcev, chief product officer of DRPC, in a note to CoinDesk.

“In addition to the blockchain and application layer, the infrastructure layer will be decentralized as well. These efforts will help build confidence in Ethereum’s RPC nodes, the infrastructure that fuels the network’s growth,” he added.

The launch comes ahead of Ethereum's much-awaited Shanghai upgrade, which will allow ether stakers to withdraw tokens from the network. Such users rely mostly on centralized RPC providers for activities, which serves as a counterparty risk in case of any bugs or exploits.

DRPC currently supports projects built on Ethereum and will be expanding to other EVM-based networks including Arbitrum, Polygon, BSC and Optimism in the coming months.