When you use MetaMask to check your ETH balance or execute a swap on Uniswap, your request doesn’t go directly to the Ethereum blockchain. It goes through an RPC (Remote Procedure Call) provider — a service that runs Ethereum nodes and provides API access to blockchain data. Infura and Alchemy are the two dominant RPC providers, and together they handle the majority of Ethereum’s read and write requests. They are, in effect, the internet service providers of the blockchain world.
Infura, founded in 2016 by E.G. Galano and Michael Wuehler, was the original Ethereum infrastructure provider. Acquired by ConsenSys (MetaMask’s parent company) in 2019, Infura became deeply integrated with the MetaMask ecosystem — MetaMask uses Infura as its default RPC provider. When Infura goes down, MetaMask stops working for millions of users. This has happened multiple times, exposing a uncomfortable truth: much of “decentralized” crypto depends on a handful of centralized infrastructure providers.
Alchemy, founded by Nikil Viswanathan and Joe Lau (both Stanford graduates), launched in 2020 and rapidly grew into Infura’s primary competitor. Alchemy differentiated through developer tools — enhanced APIs, debugging tools, webhooks for real-time notifications, and an analytics dashboard. By 2024, Alchemy supported Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, Solana, and dozens of other chains, becoming the default backend for many major dApps.
The centralization concern is real. During Ethereum’s early days, most dApps ran their own nodes. As the blockchain grew (Ethereum’s full node requires 1+ TB of storage), running nodes became expensive and complex, pushing developers toward managed services. By 2024, Infura and Alchemy handled a majority of Ethereum RPC traffic. Decentralized alternatives — Pocket Network (POKT), Lava Network, and dRPC — aim to distribute this infrastructure, but adoption has been gradual. The irony of decentralized applications running on centralized infrastructure remains one of crypto’s most persistent contradictions.
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