Nirvana Cloud Computing Service Specializes in Blockchain Workloads
Nirvana cloud computing service specializes in handling blockchain workloads, with a vision to reduce the reliance of the Web 3 ecosystem on centralized cloud services like AWS and Google Cloud. CEO Dan Burke stated to Blockworks that Nirvana’s seed round financing amounted to $1.7 million, and the company has raised an additional $6 million from a seed round co-led by Jump Crypto and Crucible Capital. RW3 Ventures, Castle Island, and Hash3 VC participated in this financing, bringing Nirvana Labs’ total funding to $11.8 million.
Nirvana’s press release indicated that since January 2024, the company’s revenue has grown 26 times, scaling to manage 2,000 TB of blockchain data across 11 global data centers, with clients including BitGo, Goldsky, Thirdweb, Paxos, and Flipside.
Nirvana Addresses the Highly Centralized Cloud Computing Challenges of Web 3
Nirvana aims to resolve the issue of blockchain ecosystems like Ethereum being overly dependent on centralized cloud computing systems, which threatens the essence of decentralization. Using centralized cloud systems creates vulnerabilities during offline periods, leading to Ethereum being unavailable. Most of Ethereum’s execution nodes are actually hosted on cloud servers, and if too much of Ethereum’s infrastructure is hosted by a single provider or a single data center, any issues (such as power outages or other technical problems) could potentially take a significant number of services built on it offline.
CEO Burke expressed that Nirvana hopes to attract Web 3 blockchain teams from general cloud providers like Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud. Unlike startups like Golem that create decentralized computing platforms or IPFS that builds decentralized storage solutions, Nirvana adopts a model where each server accommodates a single client, specifically providing Bare Metal Infrastructure services to Web 3 companies.
Nirvana’s Features
Many blockchain node operators use cloud systems like AWS and Google Cloud, which allow them to use servers and storage without installing their own physical hardware. However, reliance on centralized cloud computing systems poses risks and can lead to high costs for operating crypto industry startups, especially on high-throughput chains like Solana. Meltem Demirors, co-founder and partner at Crucible Capital, mentioned that a single Solana node’s archival node capacity is 700 TB, representing a significant storage amount. Currently, AWS and Google Cloud hold over 80% of the cloud systems market share, which is unreasonable, as the NVME storage costs on AWS last month were nearly equivalent to directly purchasing hardware.
Nirvana utilizes Bare Metal Infrastructure, where each server accommodates a single client, differing from traditional cloud providers that rely on centralized computing. Nirvana also possesses CPUs optimized for the high workload demands faced by blockchain operators, along with a diversity of data centers that enhance resilience against data disruption risks.
Demirors stated that Nirvana’s crypto cloud services are significantly cheaper than AWS or Google Cloud. Nirvana’s business demand comes from infrastructure and technology providers such as BitGo and Fireblocks, as well as foundations like Avalanche and Berachain.
Risk Warning
Investing in cryptocurrencies carries a high level of risk, and their prices can be highly volatile, potentially resulting in the loss of your entire principal. Please carefully assess the risks.