Web3 is coming.
In fact, it's already here.
And if you're watching this video,
it means you're already way ahead of the curve.
But what does it actually mean?
Well, think of it like this.
Web1 was all about consuming static web pages,
sending emails and asking Jeeves the best way to cook a lasagna.
Then Web2 came along and changed the game forever.
Because it didn’t just allow us to interact with the internet.
It shifted a lot of what we did in real life into a whole new age of online activity.
And with that, came a byproduct.
Data.
Our Data.
And that data put power into the hands of a few major players.
I’m talking Amazon, Google, Facebook.
A cabal of super powerful centralized entities became our evil overlords.
The shepherds of everything we do online.
Which pretty much made us the sheep.
And our data became the golden fleece to be sold off to the highest bidder.
But here’s the good news.
The sheep are waking up.
And we’re just getting started.
Let's get it!
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My name is Ben.
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In this video, we take a look at The Graph, a blockchain technology for Web3.
Blockchain will be the foundation on which Web3 is built.
But when it comes to creating decentralized applications,
aggregating the data needed to make them work is a serious headache.
Why?
Well, first, because obtaining data on the blockchain is a nightmare.
I mean, that's basically what a blockchain is,
an endless stream of immutable data.
So going through it to find the relevant chunks of information
takes a huge amount of time and processing power.
With the current Web 2.0 infrastructure,
that means building an indexer running a server and indexing the data in-house.
It's labor-intensive,
energy-intensive,
and crucially highly centralized
with a single point of failure and a constant security risk.
But when you're building applications, querying data is the name of the game.
So the questions of how to streamline it for blockchain are huge.
How do we move away from centralized databases and indexing services?
How do we collect data in a decentralized way?
Because accessing data on the blockchain is easy.
Accessing relevant data?
Not so much.
A bit like going to Walmart where everything is randomly organized.
Sure, you'd eventually find the frozen tamales you can't stop thinking about,
but it would take a lot of time and determination.
A way to query data efficiently on the blockchain was always going to be a big deal.
And lucky for us,
the answer came in 2018 by way of three software engineers.
Yaniv Tal, Jannis Pohlmann and Brandon Ramirez.
Now, these guys aren't just nerds.
They're super nerds.
Because they solved one of the most pressing issues facing developers in Web3.
You probably heard of it.
It's called The Graph.
Sometimes called the Google of blockchains,
but unlike Google, this isn't an evil superpower hell-bent on world domination.
It's a decentralized indexing protocol that offers a seamless, hyper-efficient way
to organize and query blockchain data.
The first thing to understand is that The Graph isn't a blockchain.
Instead, it's an indexing layer that sits on top of a blockchain
allowing for transparent decentralized APIs, or application programming interfaces.
In simple terms,
The Graph gathers and analyzes data before storing it into subgraphs
which dApps can search through to instantly receive the right information.
This could be anything from which exchanges have the most liquidity,
which governance proposals have the most rep,
to who is the most handsome and swolest guy in all of crypto.
Just kidding.
Kind of.
That's something you already know.
But what are subgraphs? And how do they work?
Well, they're basically decentralized datasets that means dApps don't need to run their own indexer.
They can just query the relevant subgraph to get what they need for the frontend.
This means cutting through the noise of different blockchains, IPFS, oracles, sidechains, layer 2s,
you name it.
The Graph slices through them all like a hot knife through butter
and easily gathers required data,
which is why it's found traction with pretty much all of the major DeFi protocols
with billions of monthly queries for things like token price,
historical trading volume and liquidity all taking place behind the scenes.
I mean, If you want to see a textbook case of exponential growth,
just check out this chart.
That's an old chart too.
In the past 18 months, they've had over 135 billion on the hosted service.
5 billion coming since May this year.
Which tells us two things.
The blockchain use is growing exponentially
and that The Graph's technology is playing a defining role.
As of last week,
over 22,000 unique subgraphs have been deployed to their hosted and decentralized networks
with names like Aave and UNI and Audius relying on protocol.
Speaking of which,
a decentralized indexing layer should be decentralized itself.
Since the mainnet launch, they've been running the Legacy Explorer,
but they've recently deployed the Subgraph Studio,
a launchpad to the decentralized network
where users can test, create and publish subgraphs for public use.
And they've already seen some major subgraphs migrating to the protocol
like SUSHI, PICKLE, Synthetix and Radicle,
to name but a few.
Here's a quick rundown of The Graph's basic infrastructure.
It's effectively a free market model incentivizing the GRT token.
First, you have the indexers.
They run the nodes that process the queries.
And you've got to be a nerd to be an indexer because it requires some technical know-how.
Indexers can then stake GRT as collateral against their activity,
compete for subgraphs,
and earn query fees as well as inflation rewards.
Then you've got the curators.
And you don't need to be living in mom's basement to do this one.
Almost anyone can apply.
Curators pick out good-looking subgraph and stake their GRT to create signal.
The higher the signal,
the greater the chance that the subgraph will be picked up by the indexers.
By the same token,
curators are incentivized for rewards coming from query and indexing fees.
Last but not least are the delegators,
which is pretty self-explanatory.
They stake GRT to support indexers help keep the network secure.
Now, I know you're not just here for the tech,
so you probably want to know about GRT's price potential.
And here's the thing.
Despite having a working product with a crystal clear use case,
widespread adoption and no real competition snapping at their heels,
GRT is unlikely to do 100X anytime soon.
I know. I know.
It's hard to believe, but it comes down to tokenomics.
As far as I can tell, it's the only area where The Graph has come under fire.
The reasons?
Pretty self evident.
For starters, the team and early backers have the lion's share in almost 60% of the original 10 billion.
Backers who include the likes of Compound,
Coinbase Ventures,
not to mention our old frenemies at the DCG.
Combine that with an inflationary model of 3% a year to cover indexing rewards,
a vesting and distribution schedule playing out over a decade,
a burn rate of only 1%,
and as many as 800,000 tokens flooding the market a day,
well, GRT could come under some major sell pressure as time goes on.
But I don't want to take away from the magnitude of the project.
I'm not saying it won't reward investors with impressive gains and returns.
It's just likely to happen over time.
And yet as DeFi and Web3 grow exponentially,
The Graph could see its adoption and market cap reach levels we can't even compute today.
I mean, it could literally play a role in the lives of billions of people all over the globe.
The project might have started out on Ethereum back in 2018,
but their vision is to be part of a multichain future.
And they've been steadily expanding support for all major layer 1s.
Think about it.
Creating a global API by aggregating the world's data in an open source way,
it's a big, big deal.
And if we're going to call it the Google of blockchains,
then maybe it's best to think of GRT as what Google stocks were in the 90s.
They might not have flipped crazy gains overnight,
but if you'd had the conviction to buy back then,
well, you'd be laughing today as you cruise past the bank in a Lambo.
As for price prediction for this cycle,
it's around a 3X from its all-time high of $2.77 back in February.
It went into a downtrend straight after.
Having said that, it's had a decent consolidation period since the mini crash in May,
but it seems to move at a different pace from the rest of the market.
Personally, I wouldn't be surprised to see it reach somewhere between $3 and $4
by the end of this bull run.
But when it comes to The Graph,
I'm looking way past the next few months.
This is a long-term play with long-term potential
and a seriously exciting future.
That's all I got.
Be blessed.
BitBoy out.