Fluence ($FLT) and the Shift Toward a Truly Open Web3

One thing I’ve been noticing lately is how the conversation in Web3 is moving beyond just blockchains and into the layers that make decentralized systems actually usable.

Take Fluence ($FLT) — it’s not about another L1 or scaling tweak. It’s tackling the middleware problem: giving builders the tools to run distributed, peer-to-peer applications without relying on centralized servers. That matters, because if our “decentralized apps” still run on AWS, we’re not really there yet.

Alongside $FLT a few other projects feel central to this bigger narrative:

$FIL (Filecoin): Decentralized storage is the backbone of data availability. Without it open services can’t scale.

$AR (Arweave): Permanent storage is an interesting counterpoint preserving history and data beyond any single chain.

$TIA (Celestia): Modular blockchains highlight that execution and data availability can be decoupled, unlocking flexibility.

$FLT (Fluence): Completing the picture enabling the compute and service layer to be actually decentralized.

Together, they start to outline a vision of a full decentralized stack: store, prove, execute, and serve without needing to phone home to centralized infra.

That’s why Fluence stands out to me: it feels less like another token race, and more like a missing piece being slotted into place.

Curious if others see the same shift happening — from hype around new chains to excitement about the invisible infrastructure that makes decentralization real.