Cloudflare offers now a Ethereum Gateway

Cloudflare, a website security solutions provider, is discovering the world of blockchain technology. So the enterprise announced now the introduction of its own Ethereum gateway. The Gateway allows users easy access to the Ethereum Blockchain functions. Specifically, its use provides the opportunity to dispense with any additional software. Each Internet-enabled device can thus participate in the Ethereum network. Cloudflare provides access through a custom hostname. The company promises to help spread decentralized web applications.

Cloudflare wants to reduce barriers to entry

At the center of all these efforts is the reduction of entry barriers. After all, traditional participation in the ethereum network does not come without the use of complex software. In addition, the high computational burden also excludes users with weaker hardware from the advantages of blockchain.

The Gateway should just help here. It allows you to make payments in the Ethereum network and create Smart Contracts without having your own node. Instead, the gateway places the contracts independently on the network. Miners are given the opportunity to commit the smart contracts to the blockchain. The implementation of own contracts is thus enormously simplified.

Of course, a gateway is a bundled entry point into the network. Its use thus seems to contradict the basic idea of ​​the decentralization of Ethereum. Cloudflare itself points out in this context that it is not the only provider of gateways. The presence of several suppliers would therefore ensure a sufficient degree of decentralization. The blog post mentions Infura here. The operated by ConsenSys gateway provider, however, has itself several times in the criticism. Again, the charge of excessive centralization was raised. Ultimately, these debates show that simplified participation in the network is currently only at the price of increased centralization. To counteract this development, more cost-efficient technical solutions would have to be developed.

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