table of contents
What problem does Shelby solve? How it works Infrastructure What’s available to partners from day one Early adopters
Shelby, the verifiable global object storage platform built for AI read workloads, is now open to the public for early access. Co-developed by Aptos Labs and Jump Crypto and running on DoubleZero’s dedicated fiber network, the platform allows teams to store data once and access it from any region through a single global namespace, with encryption proof attached to every read. Full production is scheduled for late 2026.
The early access phase will run on the testnet, giving developers and AI teams the opportunity to integrate Shelby into real-world workloads before full release.
What problems does Shelby solve?
Simply put, traditional object storage was built for write-intensive workloads. AI completely reverses that pattern.
A single user action in an AI-powered product can trigger dozens of background reads across multiple datasets and regions. The standard solution is replication. You pay to copy your data closer to the compute, add caching, manage consistency between copies, and store everything 3-4 times. Each fix resolves the problem that broke the last time during the creation of the next.
Then there’s the history. The moment licensed data, proprietary data, or data with user consent enters the context of a model, you need to prove what, when, and under what rights it was provided. Most teams deal with this with patched logging configurations that are kept until someone actually requests the evidence.
There are two compounding problems, and Shelby is built to address both at an architectural level rather than a workaround.
structure
shelby keeps running double zero Dedicated fiber network with deterministic bandwidth and predictable routing. You can write data once to an address and read it from any region through the same path. No need for regional buckets, replication, or combined post-routing. Egress costs are expected to be approximately 70% lower than traditional cloud providers.
Provenance is built into the read path itself. Every object delivered can return an encrypted receipt showing what was delivered, when it was delivered, where it came from, and under what rights. Consent, attribution, and license terms travel with the object. That verifiable record is fixed by apartmentcreate an immutable on-chain proof. Enforcement is done at the storage layer rather than a compliance layer added later.
The real selling point isn’t cheap storage. This is access to data that most teams currently cannot comply with and use at scale. Organizations that can legally and verifiably use their own or consented data in their models build something that competitors cannot easily copy. The same architecture also provides streaming. Depintoken-gated content distribution, and wherever ownership and access rights need to move with the data itself.
infrastructure partner
Three key infrastructure partners, three different layers.
double zero We provide a physical network: dedicated fiber spanning over 30 cities on 5 continents. Built for distributed systems with deterministic bandwidth and predictable routing. Delivery within 2 seconds is a guarantee and not a best case scenario.
jump crypto provides a hardened storage infrastructure for quantitative trading environments where zero tolerance for unpredictable retrieval patterns and latency spikes is the baseline. That experience translates directly to the demands of large-scale AI workloads.
apartment It acts as a coordination and validation layer and provides an on-chain control plane for data ownership, provenance, and rights enforcement. All crypto receipts that Shelby generates are pinned there.
What is available on the first day?
Developers who apply for early access will receive:
- S3 compatible API
- Cross-stack SDK for React, Ethereum, and Solana
- Shelby Media Kit for distribution and distribution of GenAI content
- AI Agent Tools via Shelby MCP Server and Shelby Skills
- complete documentation
early adopter
Organizations already looking to integrate include NBCUniversal, Metaplex, Story Protocol, and Pipe Network. NBCUniversal’s name stands out. A leading broadcaster with a large licensed content library, we are testing signal demands for verifiable data infrastructure far beyond the cryptocurrency market.
source:
- Shelby Early Access Announcement — Official announcement article covering platform architecture, infrastructure partners, and day-one feature availability
- shelby — Official product website for Verifiable Global Object Storage Platform
- Aptos Institute — The blockchain reconciliation and verification layer behind Shelby’s Certificate of Provenance
- jump crypto — Co-developer of HPC storage infrastructure
- double zero — Dedicated fiber network provider supporting Shelby’s global expansion
