Aptos Labs and Jump Crypto on June 24, 2026 announced Shelby, a decentralized hot-storage protocol built to deliver cloud-grade, sub-second read performance without centralized servers. Early Access on Aptos testnet opened the same day, per the Aptos Labs blog.

Hot storage, the layer required for streaming video, real-time AI pipelines, and social timelines, has remained a centralized chokepoint even as transaction settlement moved on-chain. Shelby is the two teams' bid to close that gap; they describe it as the first decentralized, cloud-grade hot-storage protocol. Coordination runs through Aptos at 600-millisecond finality and 30,000 transactions per second with ultra-low gas fees. PANews reported that standardized interfaces currently support Ethereum Layer 2 and Solana dApps, with Cosmos and modular stacks planned for future expansion.

How Shelby works

The protocol replaces content-delivery networks with a global mesh of high-performance nodes linked by a dedicated fiber-optic backbone. Crypto Briefing and PANews both confirmed sub-second read latency, usage-based pricing that converts each data read into a micropayment, token-gated access enforced via smart contracts, native encryption, and built-in DRM, with no centralized server in the path.

Aptos CEO Avery Ching described the gap Shelby targets: "The exchange of Web3 assets can already be done in seconds, but the data remains in a static and difficult to use state. Shelby aims to solve this key bottleneck," per PANews.

Jump Crypto, known as a primary contributor to Solana's Firedancer validator client, joins as co-developer. PANews described the firm as bringing high-performance computing infrastructure built over decades of operating quantitative trading systems. Neither party disclosed financial terms of the collaboration.

Stated use cases include streaming video, AI training outputs, DePIN sensor feeds, dynamic NFTs, and game assets. Crypto Briefing reported early attention from Metaplex, Story Protocol, and Pipe Network; no contracts were disclosed.

Market reaction

APT, Aptos' native token, rose roughly 30% on the day of the announcement, from approximately $4.20 to a peak near $5.13, per PANews.