Subsquid Becomes SQD

Just as squids shed their skin occasionally, today marks the day that Subsquid becomes SQD, the beginning of a new era for Subsquid Network. This rebranding marks another step in maturing as an entity and aims to better communicate the values and future-proof vision of Subsquid.

Why is Subsquid rebranding?

When you think about the most resilient, reliable dApps in crypto, chances are you’ll think of big DeFi protocols such as Aave, Compound, and Uniswap, which have proven themselves over time. Yet, what actually enables that level of trust is the blockchains underneath, Ethereum, Arbtirum, etc?

Paradoxically, despite the industry’s heavy emphasis on decentralization, there is little adoption in the decentralized infra stack, meaning at any point, these billion-dollar protocols might be bottle-necked by a central node provider or data access failing.

Even Arweave, one of the most mature data projects, remains niche due to high costs and a lack of trust. As our Co-Founder, Dmitry Zhelezov, reckons, “ We fall short of seeing this truly decentralized stack.”

Decentralization alone is not a great selling point for real businesses, as The Graph is currently seeing customers leave due to a lack of service guarantees and predictability with a now decentralized network.

With SQD, we want to prove that it’s possible to build a decentralized network and offer institutional-grade services with it. Our recent mainnet launch was the first step toward that, and with our new brand, we believe we’re well-positioned to earn the trust necessary to become a go-to data access solution.

That’s why we’re moving away from our previously cartoon-based theme to a more solid foundation, with the block next to the SQD in our logo referencing the data access layer we are building.

Instead of accepting the status quo as a constraint, SQD is set to enable a truly decentralized way to access on- and onchain data without compromising reliability or efficiency.

Why now?

The new branding symbolizes our transition from a three-year-long R&D period focused on building no-warranty open-source software, during which our team followed a “hacker mentality.” With the transition, it becomes clear that SQD is serious about earning a reputation for a reliable, trusted data access layer without sacrificing our R&D roots.

With our mainnet launch live, it’s the best time for us to pivot from the previous Squid, which unfortunately was often mistaken for a memecoin or NFT project, to a more reliable, trust-invoking messaging.

We believe that access to data should be:

• Trustless
• Simple for devs
• Faster and cheaper than RPC reliance.

SQD is how we will make this a reality, taking it from hundreds to thousands of projects. It’s future-proof in its simplicity and more mature in its reflection of where we’re at in our journey.

“The new branding not only reflects SQD in its current state as a reliable infrastructure provider but should also be future-proof. A symbol that appears timeless thanks to its simplicity.” — Marcel Fohrman, Co-Founder of Subsquid

Indexing has changed significantly in the past few years, and SQD has grown in response, going from a hackathon project to a multichain indexing solution.

What’s next?

Starting today, you will see us use our new logo across all our outlets. Shortly, our entire website will go live with a new look.

We’re also releasing an updated roadmap that lays out in detail what projects and SQD users can expect for the rest of 2024 and into 2025

For any more questions, feel free to contact us on our social channels or on Discord.

FAQ

Will your domain change?

Yes, the new one will be sqd.dev. However, the move will come with the launch of our complete rebranded website. For now, you’ll be re-directed to subsquid.io

Does anything change for network participants?

No. It’s just the name.

What happens with the Squiddie?

The Squiddie will make occasional appearances as a community mascot.

What is the new token ticker?

The token ticker remains the same: SQD. For anyone already holding tokens, nothing changes.

What does SQD stand for?

Subsquid

Is there a Style Guide and Brandkit to get familiar with the brand?

Coming soon