Although blockchains excel at computing and temporarily managing data, they have historically struggled to handle large-scale data storage – a capability that traditional web servers have enjoyed for decades. Enter Bernie Blume and Xandeum, who are working to fill this critical gap with an innovative solution that could catalyze what Blume calls blockchain’s “Cambrian Explosion.”
In this exclusive interview, we explore how Xandeum’s revolutionary storage layer could revolutionize everything from DeFi to healthcare, potentially ushering in a new era of blockchain innovation.
Ishan Pandey: Hello Bernie Blume, welcome to our “Behind the Startup” series. Tell us about yourself and the motivation behind building Xandeum?
Bernie Blume: Hi, Ishan. I’ve been working on distributed systems and low-level, “near-hardware” programming for decades, and through that experience, I became a blockchain enthusiast in 2013. Over the years, I’ve seen some parallels with artificial intelligence technology.
AI got its first hype in the 80s, but couldn’t live up to expectations, which is why many great minds left the field. It was only in the 2000s, with the advent of artificial neural networks, that AI finally experienced its Cambrian explosion. I think someone needs to trigger this Cambrian explosion for blockchain as well, because unfortunately it hasn’t happened yet. And I haven’t seen anyone working on it. So I started Xandeum.
Ishan Pandey: Can you explain the core mission of Xandeum and how it differs from other decentralized storage solutions on the market?
Bernie Blume: The mission is to unlock the full potential of Web3. For now, Web3 is stuck in a rut. Can you name a single successful Web2 application that has been ported to Web3 and is successful there? Everything needs to be made “blockchain friendly” in Web3, which essentially means removing the storage capabilities that every Web2 server has had for ages.
Today’s blockchains have their CPU (the EVM/SVM, etc.) as well as their RAM, which are the accounts. Ethereum or Solana accounts can only store limited amounts of data but are very close to the CPU and therefore very fast. Centralized computers also have disks and file systems that make them versatile to serve all of today’s applications. The blockchain does not have this disk equivalent today. This is the missing link to launch this Cambrian Explosion blockchain.
Ishan Pandey: In your opinion, how crucial is data ownership and privacy in the data storage space, especially in today’s decentralized landscape? How does Xandeum ensure users maintain full control over their data while protecting their privacy?
Bernie Blume: Data ownership and privacy are absolutely crucial. Decentralization is the key, and if we really get to the bottom of it, it’s only why blockchain technology exists. Decentralization is a huge step in the evolution of humanity. For ages, there have been trends, both at the micro and macro level, whereby humans are striving to be increasingly independent and masters of their own destiny. Overall, this is what blockchain, and specifically Web3, is all about. We must bring self-determination, self-custody, decentralization of control and ownership to the world of data also, not just coding.
This is what motivates me and keeps me up at night: building this storage layer for smart contracts, so the story can continue. For Xandeum, this is a huge distributed file system that lives on a set of pNodes, our provider (storage) nodes. These pNodes can be considered part of the smart contract chain, in our case Solana, as they are cryptographically orchestrated and supervised by our modified validator and RPC software.
Data is paged into pages of equal size, a concept borrowed from Unix memory management. The status of pNodes is stored in the PNDB (pNode database) within Solana accounts. The pages are encrypted and randomized so that no pNode operator has the opportunity to examine the data they store. The key to data ownership is Xandeum-enabled apps, which we call sedApps for storage-enabled dApps. These can request an application-specific level of redundancy, as well as control key management for encryption. Only the user has the private key, just like with traditional wallet accounts, and this is used to optimally encrypt sensitive data.
Ishan Pandey: What are the biggest challenges Xandeum faced in developing its platform, and how did you resolve issues related to scalability and performance?
Bernie Blume: By far the biggest challenge was finding an architecture that could run 100% on the Solana chain. We started with our architecture being our own L1, based on the Solana codebase. We quickly realized that being 100% integrated with Solana would have huge benefits for us. We could then leverage Solana’s momentum and developer base. However, it is not easy to design a solution that can use our storage layer on a mixed cluster of Vanilla Solana validators as well as Xandeum compatible validators.
This was a big step for us. Regarding scalability and performance, as mentioned before, we address this by offloading the actual data storage from validators to a separate but cryptographically connected network of storage provider nodes, called pNodes.
Ishan Pandey: As Web3 continues to grow, how do you see Xandeum playing a role in the broader adoption of decentralized technologies? Which sectors do you think will benefit the most from your solution?
Bernie Blume: It’s hard to say given the nature of our innovation, a scalable storage layer. When creating Ethereum, the first programmable blockchain, Vitalik Buterin was only speculating about possible use cases. We face a similar situation here, where smart contract blockchains suddenly become capable of storing large amounts of data. I expect DeFi to benefit from this, by being able to store documents (like scanned credit reports) directly in the smart contract. Insurance and medical applications require a lot of storage space.
But simply porting the full variety of Web2 applications, most of which use petabytes to store their customer data, will become possible. It will be this Cambrian explosion which will be our polar star. I can’t wait to see this happen; it’s going to be wonderful.
Ishan Pandey: What is your vision for the future of decentralized data storage? How do you see Xandeum evolving over the next 3-5 years, both in terms of technology and market presence?
Bernie Blume: The vision is that smart contracts can finally be like normal servers: execute code (CPU), access “accounts” (RAM), And access storage (disk). Right now, the entire company is focused on building the product, and once this milestone is reached, the entire company will change its focus in 2026. In 2025, we will focus on building and in 2026, on adoption. There will be Xandeum hackathons, grants, etc. to help spread the word among developers, that is, among Web3 entrepreneurs, that Xandeum will make their lives easier and make them realize that they can create much more versatile dapps, which we call sedApps. – Storage-enabled dApps.
Over the next 3-5 years, I expect to see some of the fastest adoption among developers that I have ever seen. Scalable, contract-intelligent native storage is the missing link that will trigger the Cambrian blockchain explosion that AI saw with ANNs. This means we have all these sedApps, each paying Xandeum storage fees on top of the usual Solana transaction fees.
Ishan Pandey: What advice would you give to developers and startups looking to build decentralized applications or services in today’s Web3 ecosystem?
Bernie Blume: First imagine that blockchain does not have today’s limits; imagine having all the power of traditional computing (including storage) when building your dApp. Then break down what can be done with today’s blockchain – you’ll find that it’s a fairly limited version of what you imagined in step 1. Next, build your dApp on blockchains today, but keep in mind the timely advent of a scalable storage layer. This way, you will put yourself in pole position as soon as the race to create sedApps begins.
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Disclosure of vested interests: This author is an independent contributor publishing through our
