The Graph, the indexing and query layer of the decentralized web, is now integrated with Avalanche, the first decentralised smart contracts platform built for the scale of global finance, with near-instant transaction finality.
With The Graph integration on the hosted service, developers building on Avalanche can easily query custom on-chain data requests, without having to run a full node, via subgraphs, which are indexes of specifically-defined blockchain data. As of February 2021, over 9,000 subgraphs have been deployed with many more coming online as The Graph continues to expand its support across major layer 1 blockchains.
“Decentralised, reliable data is at the core of high-quality Web3 applications. The Graph’s data suite and tooling expands the options and opportunities for developers building on Avalanche,” says John Wu, President of Ava Labs.
Expanded access to blockchain data hasn’t gone unnoticed by the Web3 developer community. In January 2021, The Graph’s hosted service saw queries increase to over 11 billion, with 100x growth during 2020.
This growth is also mirrored within Avalanche. Since the launch of the Avalanche-Ethereum Bridge (AEB) on 8 February 8 2021, smart contract activity on Avalanche has boomed, with transactions having increased by 2,007 per cent to over 1,140,000, and unique wallets increasing by 2,834 per cent to top 63,000.
Both Avalanche and The Graph strive for a more open, decentralised future for internet applications. Improving developer infrastructure and tooling will ultimately lead to fulfillment of this vision, with increased benefits for dapp developers and end-users.
The Graph fully decentralises the API and query layers of Web3. With subgraphs (open APIs), devs can index,map, and query on-chain data using GraphQL, the native query language of the protocol, without running local or hosted nodes. Instead, the subgraphs are deployed to a registry, and subsequently, Indexers who stake and run a Graph Node will index the subgraph.
This process allows anyone to create and deploy a subgraph, and earn The Graph’s native token, $GRT, as a reward for running a Graph Node. End-to-end, there are no centralised intermediaries that control this process. Data is open and accessible to all network participants.
For developers, this means lower costs and shorter times in development as indexing blockchains have fewer participants, and there’s infinitely more trust as subgraphs are maintained by a decentralised network of nodes–the more nodes that join The Graph, the stronger the network becomes.
Dapp developers can create highly performant applications by combining the power, speed, and ease-of-use unlocked through The Graph’s support of Avalanche.
Applications deployed on Avalanche will benefit from near-instant transaction finality and thousands of transactions per second, while developers using The Graph’s simple, responsive, customisable queries have complete control over their use of on-chain data. Interacting with other blockchains will also be seamless thanks to The Graph’s large, diverse set of subgraphs.
Developers can secure on-chain data with Avalanche and build an entire off-chain ecosystem using The Graph–all in a fully trustless manner.
