Why is The Graph critical to Web3?

Published in

Coinmonks

6 min readDec 20, 2020

Lately there has been so much buzz about Web3 within the crypto community; a proposed decentralized server system that will deal with the irregularities of the centralized Web 2.0. For years, the centralization of web applications has stirred up controversies, because some central authorities have capitalized on the flaws of these systems to monopolize the applications, and thus made it difficult for a lot of web 2.0 users to enjoy reliability without the restrictiveness that centralized proprietary users place on the users. We cannot also forget that these centralized systems are also extractive, and most times it is at the expense of the users of the platforms.

What’s Web3 bringing to the Table?

Developers from every part of the world can work together to not only share ideas, but build networks for the sustainability of interoperable open source codes and data needed to create a growing ecosystem of decentralized applications (DApps) needed to compete effectively and efficiently against their centralized counterparts. With Web3, decentralized applications will have a better edge over centralized and monopolized applications. Here are some features that Web3 brings to the table:

Interoperability

It makes it easier for DApps to switch and function seamlessly with each other.

Data and Identity Ownership

Centralized systems are known to harvest user private data behind their backs, and that is indicative of the fact that users do not completely own their identities, reputation and data. However, with DApps and the Web3 protocol, users have total control over their data and identity.

Security

By default, blockchain technology is immutable, decentralized, and cryptographic. This makes it difficult for bad actors to get access to user data, and thus makes it impossible for private data to get harvested, as is the case of some centralized social media platforms where user data gets harvested for profits and other purposes without the knowledge of the users.

Reliability

The Web3 protocol is expected to continue running till infinity, while scaling and making room for improvements. Furthermore, its stability makes it a reliable alternative over the centralized systems we have at the moment.

Governance

Imagine having rules that are not just transparent, but also created and enforced by the people. This means, no one person has some power over another, and that is one of the many good features about decentralized systems.

Money

This will be a good platform for the creation of decentralized applications that will aid the functionality of financial contracts and programmable or digital money.

The importance of The Graph in all of this

The Graph Network was created as a protocol to facilitate the functionalities of decentralized applications. One of its products is The Graph which is an indexing and querying protocol that is decentralized, with an API that is global. Interestingly, The Graph Network has been conducting series of tests since inception, and it is on its way to getting launched on mainnet before the close of 2020. The mainnet launch will see the platform’s GRT tokens and protocol contracts getting sent to the Ethereum mainnet for processing and execution. When the launch happens, indexing rewards will be given to indexers as queries get processed. The indexers will also start earning query fees.

Some people may be wondering about the relationship between The Graph and Web3, and it is quite simple. Basically, The Graph is an indexing protocol with decentralized abilities, and it is an integral part of Web3, considering that it is an important addition needed to provide seamless decentralized applications (DApps) that will be efficient for anyone using them, especially over their centralized versions.

The idea is to have a full stack indexing and querying platform that is decentralized, and The Graph comes into play as an enabler of decentralized internet applications that will be completely facilitated by public infrastructure. With a completely decentralized system, applications that are susceptible to failures will surmount their challenges, and also enjoy better interoperability. Both developers and users will be protected from the usual irregularities that affect centralized systems.

One of the aims of the Graph Network is to provide a decentralized network that will bring life to decentralized applications (DApps), and ensure that network participants and contributors are incentivized. In order to achieve this, the protocol will take into cognizance the node operators or indexers who work tirelessly to ensure that the best services are provided at all times, the curators who are responsible for the accurate organization of signal and data for use on the subgraph, and the developers who are responsible for creating DApps on The Graph, and are also saddled with the responsibility of ensuring that query volume is driven to the protocol’s network.

Web3 is a combination of different components and protocols functioning independently to provide seamless decentralized operations of DApps within the network, and The Graph is one of its core functionalities, considering that indexing and querying is a vital part of any system where data and information gets exchanged. With an integral indexing and querying system provided by the graph, users are assured of getting nothing but topnotch results from the queries.

In the drive for an internet that is radically efficient, effective and reliable, Web3 has all it takes to make it achievable. One of the exciting things about Web3 is that as data gets transferred though different points, they get processed and stored on networks that are not only open source, but they are also transparent and have verifiable reliability and integrity. It even gets more interesting when you know that The Graph is there to ensure that users can easily query the data in a secure, reliable, and fast way.

At the moment, developers are doing all they can to provide what can be referred to as next level decentralized applications with amazing abilities that will surpass the usual expectations that users have when interacting with centralized applications. It is safe to say that the future has been expedited and brought to us sooner than was expected and anticipated. The Graph and Web3 are futuristic protocols with amazing abilities, and internet users will be glad to have and use them.