Why web3 needs to think like Amazon

The following is a guest post from Anurag Arjun, Co-Founder of Avail.

Modern tech platforms succeed because they break complex operations into specialized components. During high-demand events like Black Friday, Amazon can scale up specific services under pressure while others maintain normal operations.

This architecture has enabled an entire ecosystem of businesses to build on top of AWS, each focusing on its core competency while leveraging a battle-tested infrastructure that gives users a seamless experience. In 2025, it’s time for Web3 to start thinking like Amazon and other web2 giants because a microservices-style web3 is the ideal foundation for the future of business.

Platform Independence

Even Amazon recognizes that the future isn’t about platform lock-in – at least not within a storefront – the real value comes from providing infrastructure that powers business growth anywhere: Chinese merchants who built their foundation on Amazon are now growing faster on platforms like Walmart and TikTok Shop, but rather than fighting this shift, Amazon is adapting by opening its logistics operations to these multi-platform sellers and competing on infrastructure quality rather than exclusivity.

This mirrors how web3 should evolve: instead of trying to trap users and businesses within closed ecosystems, protocols need to be thinking more about how to unify specialized infrastructure that adds value regardless of where the actual transactions occur.

Just as Amazon can profit from merchants’ success on other platforms by providing crucial backend infrastructure, web3 protocols can thrive by offering specialized services – like verifiable ownership or programmable assets – that create value across the entire digital economy. The winners won’t be those who build walled gardens but those who provide the essential infrastructure that makes business better everywhere.

The future of web3 isn’t about building isolated chains; it’s about creating services that communicate seamlessly behind the scenes. To understand this evolution, look at how microservices work: When you interact with a web app, you’re not actually interacting with one monolithic system. Instead, specialized microservices handle each part of the experience — image assets, in-browser chat, inventory, payments, shipping — communicating asynchronously at such high speeds that users perceive it as a single, smooth experience.

This is a Web3 that Web2 can’t compete with: Seamless user experience, plus verifiable ownership, permissionless participation, and programmable value transfer.

It’s not the Web3 of today, but it soon will be. As rollups and application-specific chains proliferate, users still must navigate an increasingly complex landscape of bridges, third-party solutions, and varying security assumptions. Each new chain adds another layer of complexity, forcing users to understand bridging mechanics and manage assets across multiple networks. This fragmentation isn’t just inconvenient – it’s becoming a fundamental barrier to mainstream adoption.

Moreover, this problem is set to worsen dramatically. The ecosystem is moving toward a world with hundreds or thousands of rollups, many optimized for specific applications. Without a unifying framework enabling these chains to communicate seamlessly, the user experience will become increasingly fractured and inaccessible to mainstream users.

Breaking Down Bridges

The technical foundation for Amazon-like experiences in Web3 requires three components: reliable data availability, proof verification, and a coordination layer. Data availability ensures transaction information is properly published. Proof verification, through validity proofs or fraud proofs, guarantees correct execution. The coordination layer aggregates these proofs while maintaining chain sovereignty.

Crucially, such a system must preserve trust minimization. Unlike Amazon’s trusted API calls, blockchain interactions require cryptographic guarantees that are verifiable through light clients on mobile devices. Users should be able to verify both data availability and execution proofs without trusting intermediaries.

The challenge lies in aggregating different types of proofs. Each rollup ecosystem – from Polygon to StarkWare – implements varying proof systems. Creating adapters to make these systems compatible while maintaining their security guarantees represents the core technical challenge facing Web3 infrastructure.

Success requires a permissionless verification hub that can aggregate proofs while allowing chains to maintain independence. Chains must freely choose which proofs they accept rather than conforming to forced standards. This preserves the innovation that makes modular blockchain architecture powerful while enabling seamless user experiences. The missing piece is coordinating these components into a unified but sovereign system.

Just as Amazon’s microservices architecture enabled e-commerce to scale, asynchronous chain communication will shape Web3 into the best place for businesses of the future to build and operate on.

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