The advent of Web3 has ushered in a new era of decentralized digital economy, promising a shift from centralized authority to distributed, peer-to-peer interactions. However, the underlying infrastructure of this decentralized ecosystem often relies on centralized cloud providers, creating a paradoxical concentration of value and power. This paper investigates the mechanics of value accrual and extraction within the Web3 ecosystem, focusing on the roles and revenues of centralized clouds. Through an analysis of publicly available material, we elucidate the financial implications of cloud services in purportedly decentralized contexts. We further explore the individual's perspective of value creation and accumulation, examining the interplay between user participation and centralized monetization strategies. Key findings indicate that while blockchain technology has the potential to significantly reduce infrastructure costs for financial services, the current Web3 landscape is marked by a substantial reliance on cloud providers for hosting, scalability, and performance.

翻译：Web3的到来开启了一个去中心化数字经济的新时代，承诺从中心化权威向分布式、点对点交互转变。然而，这一去中心化生态系统的基础设施往往依赖于中心化云服务提供商，造成了价值与权力的悖论性集中。本文研究了Web3生态系统中价值积累与提取的机制，重点关注中心化云的角色与收入。通过对公开材料的分析，我们阐明了在标榜去中心化的场景下云服务的经济影响。我们进一步从个人视角探讨价值创造与积累，考察用户参与与中心化货币化策略之间的相互作用。关键发现表明，尽管区块链技术有潜力显著降低金融服务业的基础设施成本，但当前Web3格局仍以对云提供商在托管、可扩展性与性能方面的实质性依赖为特征。