Unleashing the Power of Blockchain Data with The Graph
Tags: blockchain, web3, thegraph, subgraph
Published: 2023-09-16 06:24:31


## Importance of Data in the Modern World

Data is the lifeline of the modern world. With the incredible amount of information being generated every day, it is more important than ever to use data to make informed decisions. As the famous quote by Clive Humby says, "Data is the new oil." Just as oil fueled the industrial revolution, data is fueling the digital revolution. Businesses are using data to gain insights into customer behavior, optimize their operations, and develop new products and services. Researchers are using data to make breakthroughs in the fields of medicine and environmental science. Governments are using data to improve public services and make informed policy decisions. Data is being used in sports to analyze athlete performance, track player statistics, and reduce the risk of injury. Teams are also using data to scout and recruit new talent, engage with fans, and enhance the viewing experience through advanced statistics and immersive technologies. Overall, data is improving our world by enabling us to make more informed decisions, develop new solutions to complex problems, and improve the lives of people around the world.

In the modern era, the availability and accessibility of information have had a profound impact on society and individuals' experiences. With the rise of the internet and other digital technologies, people now have access to an unprecedented amount of information at their fingertips, which has transformed the way we live, work, and interact with one another. The ability to store, find, manage, and share information has become essential for many aspects of modern life, from education and research to business and social networking. As such, the structure of society and the experiences of individuals are increasingly shaped by how we create, consume, and interact with information. The internet has become a ubiquitous source of information for people around the world. With millions of websites and online resources covering a vast range of topics, the internet has made it easier than ever before to access information on virtually any subject. The internet has transformed the way we create, manage and share information.

## Blockchain and the Next Gen. of Internet

The internet of today has a client-server architecture. Client-server architecture is a way of organizing computer programs or applications where one program (the client) makes requests for information or services from another program (the server). This has been a fundamental part of the Internet and computing infrastructure for decades and has enabled many useful and valuable applications and services. One of the main problems with client-server architecture is that it is inherently centralized, meaning that it relies on a central server or authority to manage and control access to the system. This centralization creates a single point of failure and vulnerability, which can be exploited by hackers, governments, or other bad actors to disrupt or control the system. This centralization can also result in power imbalances and inequalities, as those who control the servers or the data can exercise disproportionate control and influence over the system and its users. While client-server architecture has enabled many valuable applications and services, it also has certain limitations and drawbacks that can have negative impacts on society, particularly in terms of centralization, privacy, and security. As a result, there is a growing need to explore and develop more decentralized and distributed architectures, such as peer-to-peer networks, that can provide greater resilience, privacy, and security. Blockchain technology offers a potential solution to these problems, as it is a decentralized, distributed system that eliminates the need for a central authority to manage and control access to the system.

Blockchain is a decentralized, distributed ledger technology that allows for secure, transparent, and tamper-proof record-keeping of transactions and data. In a blockchain system, transactions or data are recorded in blocks, which are linked together in a chronological chain. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, creating an immutable and secure record of all the transactions or data in the chain. One of the key benefits of blockchain technology is that it eliminates the need for a centralized server. Instead, transactions or data are verified and validated by a distributed network of nodes. This decentralized architecture eliminates the single point of failure and vulnerability that comes with centralized servers, making the system more resilient and secure and, it enables greater privacy and control for users, as they can maintain ownership and control over their data and identities without relying on centralized intermediaries.

Blockchain technology has seen a surge in popularity over the past few years, leading to a large number of applications being built on this technology. Applications built on top of blockchains are called Dapps or Decentralized Applications. Whenever users interact with these Dapps, every interaction with the Dapp is recorded on the blockchain. The large amounts of data generated by Dapps can be very useful for a variety of purposes, from improving transparency and accountability to enabling new forms of innovation and analysis. While this increase in data may seem overwhelming at first, it can be very useful in several ways. First, it provides a transparent and auditable record of all transactions and interactions on the Dapp, which can improve trust and accountability. Second, this data can be used for analytics and insights, enabling developers and stakeholders to understand how the Dapp is being used and to identify areas for improvement. Third, the data generated by Dapps can be used to create new applications and services, leveraging the power of blockchain technology to enable innovative new use cases.

## Blockchain data & its accessibility issues

Blockchain data has enormous potential for innovation and value creation, but it has several challenges around its accessibility. Every Dapps interact with a smart contract, Smart contracts are self-executing computer programs that are deployed on a blockchain network. They are designed to enforce the terms of a contract by automatically executing predefined rules and conditions encoded in the contract's code. Smart contracts can be used to store data, transfer assets, and perform other operations within a decentralized network. Performing basic read operations in a smart contract is relatively easy. For example, In the case of Bored Ape Yacht Club, we can perform basic read operations on smart contracts like getting the owner of a certain Ape, getting the content URI of an Ape based on their ID, or the total supply, as these read operations are programmed directly into the smart contract, if we wanted to query for apes that are owned by a certain address, and filter by one of its characteristics, we would not be able to get that information by interacting directly with the contract itself. We can see that the more complex operations, such as filtering and aggregating data, are much more difficult to achieve. This is because, the storage capacity of the blockchain is limited, which can be a challenge when working with large datasets. Since each node in the network must store a copy of the entire blockchain, storing large amounts of data can become impractical, especially when considering the cost of storage and processing power.

Earlier developers used to get around this gap in functionality by building centralized indexing servers. Developers have to run their full node to the data stored on the blockchain. These servers pull data from Ethereum, store it in a database, and expose it over an API. This is a very resource-intensive and time-consuming task. It is also not cost-efficient and can be a complex and error-prone task. This is brittle as users need to trust these teams to continue to operate these servers correctly. The projects could go out of business, modify the data for strategic reasons, get acquired, or simply make mistakes. Suddenly we’re not far from where we started with web2. How can developers overcome the limitations of performing complex operations on data stored on the blockchain, without relying on resource-intensive and centralized indexing servers?

## Solving the problem of blockchain data accessibility with The Graph

A solution to this problem is to use decentralized indexing and querying services, this is where The Graph comes to rescue us. The Graph is a decentralized protocol for indexing and querying data from blockchain networks, including Ethereum, IPFS, Arweave and more. It enables developers to build decentralized applications that can access and query blockchain data without relying on centralized intermediaries or resource-intensive processes. The Graph provides a marketplace of subgraphs, which are open APIs that index and expose specific data from the blockchain. Developers can build their subgraphs, which can be used to index and query data for specific use cases. The Graph enables developers to leverage the power of the blockchain network without having to run a full node or rely on centralized indexing servers.

When a developer wants to query data from a blockchain network, they can use The Graph's Query API to request the data they need. The Query API sends the request to the appropriate subgraph, which has already indexed and stored the data from the blockchain network. The subgraph then processes the query and returns the requested data to the developer. The Graph uses a decentralized network of indexers to index and stores the data from the blockchain network. Indexers are nodes that run The Graph's software and provide indexing services to the network. They compete to provide the best indexing service, which ensures that the data is accurate and up-to-date. Developers can create their subgraphs to index and query specific data from the blockchain network. The Graph provides a set of tools and libraries to make it easier for developers to create subgraphs. The Graph also provides a marketplace where developers can discover and use existing subgraphs that have been created by other developers. The marketplace allows developers to find subgraphs that are relevant to their use case, which can save time and effort in building their decentralized applications.

We can see how The Graph is an essential part of the Web3 tech stack as it provides a decentralized indexing protocol for querying and indexing data from blockchain networks. By enabling developers to efficiently search, retrieve and analyze data from various blockchain networks, The Graph makes it easier to build decentralized applications with rich user interfaces and data-driven functionalities. Without The Graph, developers would need to manually parse through large amounts of raw blockchain data, which can be time-consuming and resource-intensive. The Graph's decentralized indexing protocol simplifies this process, making it easier for developers to access and use blockchain data in their applications.