Some have suggested that centralized data storage may gradually be phased out over the next five years, much like dial-up internet. Is this prediction too absolute and worth debating?

From the perspective of technological evolution, decentralized storage is indeed attracting increasing attention—advantages like user data sovereignty, privacy protection, and resistance to censorship are very appealing. But completely replacing centralized storage? There are many variables involved.

The reason centralized data storage still thrives is not just due to historical inertia. Its stability, access speed, and operational costs are practical issues that decentralized solutions have not yet fully resolved. The two modes are more likely to coexist in the long term—key data and privacy-sensitive information will gradually migrate to decentralized storage, while high-frequency interactions and applications with high speed requirements may still rely on centralized infrastructure.

Technological innovation is not a black-and-white replacement; it is often a process of coexistence and gradual evolution of new and old systems.