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Until recently, only a few centralized and closed-source indexing solutions for ecosystems such as Solana. These solutions may suffer from several issues in addition to not contributing to the symbiotic growth of the Solana ecosystem because of their centralization and closed-source nature. Some of the most common problems they run into are security flaws, outages, single points of failure, and the inability to audit the base code.
However, these issues can be resolved if we enhance indexing, one of the key elements in project development that is typically still centralized, even for decentralized initiatives.
What is indexing, and why is it crucial for dApp developers and users?
On-chain data indexing is one of the essential requirements for building a decentralized application (dApp). It is the process of optimization of a database by minimizing the number of disk accesses necessary during query processing. Simply put, indexing is a data structure technique used to swiftly locate and access the data present in the network’s base.
On-chain data indexing enables network participants to access TVL dashboards, portfolio aggregators, wallet profiles, and more. It is the foundation of decentralized finance (DeFi) and NFT applications.
What do decentralized indexing solutions bring to the table?
An open-source, decentralized indexing solution enables dApp builders on Solana to access trusted on-chain data or computation simply, enabling full-stack development of dApps. Builders can simply fork, customize, or use the open-source indexing solution to get the data they need, how they need it. It allows builders on Solana to utilize a foundational framework that has already indexed 3000+ market pairs and can handle over 14 million requests daily via 250+ independently run resource nodes on the network.
Using such indexing tools, projects on Solana can power their data analytics, providing users with access to rich historical data. It includes TVL statistics, volume across trading pairs, token prices, liquidity provision, historic token swaps, and much more. A data-first reality is becoming the norm, with more and more data being consumed by the day. Users are looking for advanced metrics in their funds, and decentralized indexing solutions make data readily available and easily consumable. The future is in decentralization, powered by such solutions.
Are there any successful projects utilizing decentralized indexing?
Several Solana projects already use a decentralized indexing solution to index thousands of market pairs, fulfilling millions of transaction requests daily. The list of those doing it includes Serum.Markets, Raydium, Port Finance, Saber, Swim, and Orca. More are jumping on the bandwagon gradually.
To put into perspective how efficient decentralized indexing solutions are, PsyOptions, a decentralized options protocol on Solana, recently stated that using a decentralized indexing solution has saved them "250 development hours." The project’s team improved their engineering capacity and could "focus on shipping products" instead of developing a "custom indexing service."
Moving towards full-stack decentralization
Robust and user-centric data indexing solutions are a must for building a decentralized future on Solana. Network builders should be able to access cost-effective data retrieval tools rather than rely on centralized and closed-source solutions.
According to Solana Labs developers, to build a consumer-friendly Web3 experience, data availability is necessary and decentralized indexing will play an essential role in this transition.
Author Bio
Claudio Pascariello is co-founder of Aleph.im. Its core mission is to help decentralized apps and protocols strip off the centralized parts of their stack, achieving a fully decentralized architecture.
Disclaimer
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