Hey Hackers,

Great news—the submission deadline for the #blockchain-api writing contest has been extended to September 27, 2024, giving you 15 extra days to submit your #blockchain-api stories and compete for up to $1,000 in prizes. If you’ve already submitted an entry, you now have more time to draw attention to it or work on a new one to improve your chances of winning.

Start by carefully reviewing the contest’s writing prompts here.

To make the most of this extra time, we hosted an AMA with dRPC, the contest sponsors, where we discussed blockchain APIs, web3 infrastructure, and other key topics a winning entry should cover like reviews of the dRPC platform, popular APIs and RPC nodes, dAPP development, load balancing systems and more.

Let’s get started!

Meet our guests - Fito, Martin, Consta, and Slava!

Consta, CEO: In web3 since 2017, leading product, marketing, and business functions. After a stellar time as product lead at P2P Staking, Consta joined dRPC as CEO, building a team of rock stars that have managed to place dRPC as a market leader in little over a year.

Slava, CTO: Decade-old code master with experience in web2 banking and social networks. After a time following up events, Slava became convinced in 2022 of the importance of crypto, and jumped onboard the dRPC rocket ship.

Fito, Brand: Fito leads dRPC's brand efforts in getting to be globally known and recognised in the web3 infra industry as a market innovator and trustworthy partner. Jumped into crypto in 2018 out of love for decentralisation, and motivation to help in the adoption of web3.

Martin, Marketing: Martin has a natural flare for socialising, which has made it easy for him since 2017 to become a Sensei in reaching and engaging end users and online communities. Martin is a crypto native with his finger on the pulse of the industry, and our AMA MC.

• The role of blockchain APIs in web3 infrastructure

• Data accuracy in blockchain API calls

• Benefits of decentralized service providers: affordability, multichain, censorship-resistance

• The Blockchain-API Writing Contest

This Slogging thread by Mónica Freitas, Jose Hernandez, Jonh, Martin Kalliola, Asher Umerie and Sheharyar Khan occurred in slogging's official #amas channel, and has been edited for readability.

1. Hi team! Thank you for joining us! Could you start by sharing a bit about yourselves and your journey through Web3? How did you get started?

My name is Constantine, and I’m the CEO of dRPC.org. I started out as a tech guy, working as a DBA for several years before gradually moving to the business side. Before getting into Web3, I held various roles in large financial and telecom companies, handling high-load systems like billing and antifraud systems. My Web3 journey began in 2015 when I joined Ambisafe, where we built white-label wallets, a semi-decentralized exchange, and other services. It was an exciting time as many well-known crypto companies were just getting started.

2. What was it about web3 and crypto that made you all take the leap into this decentralized world?

For me, personally, it was excitement about investing in crypto. I started my career in crypto exchange but then later wanted to start contributing to decentralized technologies. RPCs are the backbone of dapps applications, especially DEXes, without reliable RPCs it’s impossible to run trustworthy dex. Jose Hernandez

3. How did you get involved in blockchain, and why did you decide to join dRPC?

After Ambisafe, I joined P2P.org, one of the largest infrastructure and staking companies in Web3. As Head of Product, I was responsible for the Ethereum ecosystem. By 2022, we at P2P were overwhelmed with RPC management. We had over 30 DevOps engineers from different teams managing RPC nodes for dozens of chains, using multiple third-party services because no single service met all our needs. We started building internal tools for RPC management.

During this time, we helped projects like The Graph, Everclear (formerly Connext), and others. Through this, we connected with many infrastructure companies. When we shared what we built, we received numerous requests for access, as many others faced the same RPC challenges. Konstantin Lomashuk, founder of P2P.org, asked me to lead a new company to offer this tool to the public. We brought in Slava, a tech leader from VK and Tinkoff, as our CTO, and that’s how dRPC was born.

4. How do you see blockchain APIs influencing the development and adoption of Web3 infrastructure? And how do blockchain APIs help in bridging the gap between traditional web services and decentralized applications?

Blockhain APIs makes it possible to focus on product and not infra. Founders may miss the opportunity window by spending time on web3 instead of just using providers who are experts at it. Also the cost of outsourcing infra is much cheaper than building it from scratch. With Blockchain APIs it is way easier to start building dapps since you can start pulling data with simple api requests. Start with dRPCs freemium and scale to premium when you need it!

I would look up speed and avoid single point of failure. So use distriputed providers or many providers at the same time.

6. How do you balance the need to innovate your product while relying on external providers for the infrastructure? How do you assess the trade-offs between cost savings and the potential risks of depending on third-party providers for critical infrastructure? Are there any specific features or functionalities in Blockchain APIs that you found particularly beneficial when pulling data for your dApp?

For example if you're building a DEX and your pricing data is not correct, then it is going to cause losses for users. That's why realiable node providers are must. We have strict quality requirements for the nodes we work with. Also, users usually run tests to see that data is correct and reliable.

7. Why is data accuracy critical in blockchain API calls, and what are the potential risks of inaccuracies?

Each provider sets up https://github.com/drpcorg/dshackle (load balancing proxy), that constantly performs checks and collect a lot of data about blockchain node status, and reports it back to dRPC. That allows us to maintain hight data quality in a distributed network of providers

8. How do you market something like a blockchain API to a highly specialized audience? What are some of the challenges on getting businesses on board? Is there a sweet spot between clever marketing and the technical details?

SEO, Google Ads and through partnerships. Those are the channels where you can help your audience to find your product not vice versa. Onboarding businesses question: Talking to CTOs. Those guys are usually super busy and don't have much time to discuss about infra. Sweet spot question: Yes definetely. Most people want to understand the thing in high level first, and then dive into technicals.

9. We all know how much of a hassle cross-chain interactions are in the web3 ecosystem. How do blockchain-apis manage to ‘solve’ it? What are the specific challenges involved in facilitating communication between distinct blockchain networks, and how do APIs address or mitigate these issues?

Blockchain APIs can interact with the blockchain it is built for but there is certain solutions for cross chain interaction. For example Polygon Agglayer is trying to do this and some other projects. Then you can get API for this "top layer".

Unlike Alchemy or QuickNode, which rely heavily on AWS and in-house DevOps teams to host their RPC nodes, we’ve built a distributed network of RPC providers under an AI-based load-balancing system. Providers handle node maintenance, while we focus on creating reliable load balancing, fault tolerance, quality checks, and UX.

You might think our model is similar to POKT, Lava, or BlastAPI, and in some ways, it is. However, they interact with providers through endpoint links, working more like routers without detailed knowledge of each connection.

In our case, each provider sets up a load-balancing proxy that constantly performs checks, collects data about node status, and reports it back to dRPC. This means we have deep insights into connected nodes without guessing their availability or supported methods.

We run random auto-checks between providers and block nodes if their responses differ from others. We also offer quorum verification for clients who want to verify every request. This allows us to offer a new generation of RPC services with better distribution, performance, and data quality.

11. What are some of the unique security concerns associated with blockchain APIs, and how can developers address these concerns when building dApps?

It's important to talk about both security concerns and the general risks of using centralized API providers. With centralized providers, you can’t verify data; you just have to trust them. They usually work with only one type of software client, often GETH, so if there’s an issue with that client, you're stuck.

In our model, we unify dozens of providers using different client types (geth, reth, erigon, etc.), allowing us to quickly identify and address issues. This design helps mitigate risks like bugs in specific software clients, human errors, cloud provider failures, and geographic risks.

For dApps, the best approach is to use at least 2-3 providers simultaneously to minimize risk. While this can be more expensive with providers offering subscription packages, our pay-as-you-go model helps optimize costs by charging only for resources actually used.

12. How does dRPC incentivize node providers to contribute to the network and maintain data quality?

We incentivize providers through a reputation system. Providers are rewarded for high performance and penalized for downtime or inaccurate data. Poor-performing providers receive fewer requests or may be permanently removed from the pool if their quality consistently falls short.

13. What are your plans for the future development of dRPC? Are there any specific features or functionalities you're working on?

In the short term, we plan to keep improving our RPC SaaS by fine-tuning the reliability and performance of our permissioned network of node providers, developing more mechanisms to ensure data accuracy, and expanding into new blockchains with high adoption potential. This will help us grow our market share rapidly.

In the long term, we aim to expand into other data-related products and become a leader in the Web3 data space. Our goal is to build a marketplace where data providers and consumers can easily find and exchange high-quality data at the best price.

14. What inspired you to launch a writing contest focused on blockchain APIs? Why is now the right time to explore this theme?

We launched this contest with two goals in mind. First, we wanted to see how much non-Web3 experts know about Web3, especially the role of blockchain APIs in dApp performance. Second, we wanted to encourage writers to share their knowledge and insights, helping to make this topic more accessible to others.

Now is the perfect time for this because the industry needs killer dApps that will drive adoption and bring Web3 into the mainstream. For that to happen, performance is key, and blockchain APIs play a big role in providing a reliable and engaging user experience.

15. What kind of submissions are you hoping for? Are there any specific topics you're particularly interested in reading?

We’re looking for submissions that educate the general public about blockchain APIs and their practical uses. Bonus points will go to submissions that include graphics or videos explaining how blockchain APIs work, especially if they showcase our dRPC platform.

16. Can you recommend any learning resources or tutorials for participants who are new to blockchain APIs?

Our dRPC YouTube Channel has tutorials on using blockchain APIs to fetch on-chain data, along with showcases of the dRPC solution. Our official docs provide comprehensive information on the platform and its features. The dRPC blog is another great source worth subscribing to.

17. What advice would you give to participants to help them succeed in this contest? Are there any common pitfalls to avoid?

Focus on clearly explaining what blockchain APIs are, how they work, and using the dRPC platform as an example. Make sure to articulate the benefits of decentralized blockchain APIs versus centralized solutions, including the pros and cons of each approach.

18. What would a high-quality submission look like? What would you call a low-quality submission?

A high-quality submission is clear, concise, and explains how everything works, with practical examples from the dRPC platform. A low-quality submission would be unclear, unfocused, or lacking concrete examples.

19. Are there any specific aspects of blockchain APIs that you think are underexplored or ripe for innovation?

Yes, a few. One is how decentralized solutions can ensure multichain support and scalability without issues under a centralized architecture. Another is the misconception that running your own node is always more secure, reliable, cost-effective, or data-accurate. It's often better to focus on building your dApp rather than maintaining your own nodes, especially if your dApp supports multiple chains.

20. What would be the main takeaway you’d like people to get from this AMA and your contest?

First, understand that RPC is critical for providing a user experience that supports accuracy, scalability, and mass adoption. Second, don’t build infrastructure yourself—it’s time-consuming, costly, and less reliable than using external providers. Finally, centralized infrastructure won’t support Web3’s mass adoption, so look into the benefits of decentralized solutions.