The Race Is On to Replace Ethereum's Most Centralized Layer

That's how Afri Schoedon, release manager for the Parity Ethereum client, described one of ethereum's most popular - and controversial - technologies on Twitter in October.

Infura handles around 13 billion code request per day and provides a way for developers to connect to ethereum without having to run a full node.

Here's the thing: Infura is operated by a single provider - the ethereum development studio ConsenSys - and relies on cloud servers hosted by Amazon.

While many of the projects recognize the importance of Infura's contribution to ethereum - referring to the service as a pillar that holds up the developer community today - many, like Schoedon, feel that steps must be taken to seek a decentralized alternative.

Rather, he's met by a host of new efforts to dethrone Infura as the go-to connection point for developers linking their decentralized applications to ethereum.

"The way Infura works is they host their own full nodes and they open up an [interface] to allow you to easily access those full nodes," Aidan Hyman, CEO and co-founder of ethereum research and development startup Chainsafe, told CoinDesk.

Working on a grant that has been given by the Ethereum Foundation, uses the identifier with which full nodes connect to ethereum to dole out rewards to nodes that are online, that are paid through a subscription from developers wishing to use the service.

To do this, D-Node uses a decentralized autonomous organization, or DAO. An initiative by Toronto-based startup Chainsafe, D-node was conceived in May at ethereum hackathon ETH Buenos Aires and is funded through a grant by the Ethereum Community Fund.

One of ethereum's largest startups - the company behind Infura - Consensys is also funding a project, named Incubator, by which is trying to reduce Metamask dependance on Infura on its gateway to ethereum.

According to Wuehler, Infura's popularity is due to a quirk inside the ethereum platform itself.