What is Shelby?

Shelby is a decentralized hot storage network built by Aptos Labs in collaboration with Jump Crypto, designed for Web3 applications that need fast, frequent access to data rather than just cold archival storage. It supports real-time or near-real-time use cases like video streaming, generative AI pipelines, token-gated content, dynamic NFTs, and Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePIN) where data’s speed and availability matter.

Shelby is built on a foundation of high performance: low latency (sub-second reads), a dedicated fiber backbone between high-performance nodes, and architecture optimized for fast reads and writes. The protocol separates control and data planes, uses erasure coding (to reduce replication overhead and improve repair bandwidth), and implements cryptoeconomic auditing to maintain integrity without excessive overhead. It supports “pay-as-you-go” usage and monetization of data reads — i.e. nodes get rewarded for actual usage, especially high performance. Permission logic / access control (e.g. token gating, smart contract-defined permissions) and dynamic pricing or billing are part of the model.

Shelby is chain-agnostic; while its native coordination / finality layer seems tied to Aptos, the design plans to support multiple chains (Solana, Ethereum, etc.) in the future.