In-depth Analysis: How does the Web3 middleware Goldsky improve the data availability of blockchain?

Original Title: "Research Report on the Crypto Digital Platform Goldsky"

Author: FSC Global

Brief Introduction to Goldsky

Goldsky is an API developer established specifically for real-time reading of blockchains. The company's software allows developers to utilize the tools they need to build reliable real-time applications without the need for data cleaning and organization on the front or back end, thus helping developers quickly launch real-time APIs.

Financing Information:

On September 13, 2022, Goldsky completed a $20 million seed round financing, led by Felicis and Dragonfly Capital. Product Logic: As an infrastructure for blockchain data, Goldsky can extract raw data from the blockchain in real-time through fast indexing or SubgraphAPI, allowing users to convert the data into the most suitable format for programming. At the same time, through GraphQL, Webhook, or custom ETL, users can access various on-chain data in real-time, conveniently, and personalized.

This raw data processing service is similar to the concept of a Data Pipeline, reducing the data development costs for users and allowing them to focus more on developing their own applications.

Figure 1 What is a Data Pipeline

Industry Positioning:

Goldsky is an API developer established specifically for real-time reading of blockchains, aiming to improve the data availability of blockchains and reduce the costs for other developers using blockchain data. Thus, Goldsky's industry positioning is data querying and indexing.

Figure 2 Structure of the Web3 Data Track

Table of Contents for This Issue

01｜Market Demand for Crypto Digital Platforms

02｜What is Goldsky

Terminology Explanation and Technical Framework

Product Process and Core Functions

Revenue Model

Roadmap for Feature Development

Track Comparison

03｜What Goldsky Can Become

04｜Team

05｜Financing Situation

01 Market Demand for Crypto Digital Platforms

1. Tools for automated integration and transformation of raw blockchain data: The data stored on the blockchain is too vast, and the data structure is not user-friendly for application programming, making it inconvenient for data users to use directly.
2. Indexing tools for real-time data extraction: Many data extraction/processing tools on the market currently have varying degrees of latency.
3. Customized enterprise data services: Users of blockchain data include various enterprises (financial transactions, gaming, social, etc.), each with different needs for data formats and types.

02 What is Goldsky

Goldsky is an API developer established specifically for real-time reading of blockchains.

More specifically: Goldsky enables users to access data stored on the blockchain in real-time and allows project parties to transform, integrate, and combine data. To meet the personalized needs of project parties, Goldsky also provides consulting and API customization services.

Technical Logic: As an infrastructure for blockchain data, Goldsky can extract raw data from the blockchain in real-time through fast indexing or SubgraphAPI, allowing users to convert the data into the most suitable format for programming. At the same time, through GraphQL, Webhook, and custom ETL, users can access various on-chain data in real-time, conveniently, quickly, and personalized. To better understand Goldsky, let's first look at what SubgraphAPI, GraphQL, Webhook, and ETL are.

Terminology Explanation and Technical Framework

1. Terminology Explanation:

a. The Graph and Subgraph

The Graph is a decentralized indexing protocol that allows users to index and query data from the blockchain, solving the difficulty of directly querying data. Anyone can create their own indexing module based on The Graph, which is called a Subgraph.

b. GraphQL

GraphQL is a query language particularly advantageous for querying graph (graph-like data), hence the name GraphQL.

c. Webhook

Webhook is an API concept, but unlike APIs, Webhooks do not require a request to receive a response, while APIs need to send a request to get a response. Using Webhooks allows for direct reception, while APIs require retrieval to respond. Using Webhooks can improve data indexing efficiency and allow enterprises to passively receive data pushes, strengthening the connection between enterprises and data service providers.

d. ETL Process (Extract-Transform-Load process)

ETL is the process of extracting, cleaning, and transforming data from business systems and loading it into a data warehouse. The purpose of ETL is to consolidate scattered, disorganized, and non-standard data within an enterprise to provide analytical support for decision-making.

2. Technical Framework

The raw data storage of The Graph directly calls Subgraph to read data from the underlying blockchain, which cannot meet the personalized business needs of enterprises.

Goldsky:

To meet the complex usage needs of real data, Goldsky transforms data into the most suitable format for users through data flow.

Product Process and Core Functions

1. Product Process

The usage process of Goldsky is very simple, as shown in the figure below:

Figure 5 Goldsky Product Usage Process

2. Methods Provided by Goldsky to Access Blockchain Data

Goldsky provides two methods to access blockchain data:

2.1 Direct Indexing

Using Goldsky's direct indexing service has the following advantages:

a. No need to create a Subgraph, and you can still use ABI (Application Binary Interface) to provide a GraphQL endpoint to access on-chain data, making it more convenient for users.

b. Can query data related to non-smart contracts, such as data on a single block or other raw transaction data.

2.2 Using Subgraph API (essentially providing an alternative to Subgraph)

Using Goldsky's Subgraph API has the following advantages:

a. Provides multi-node network acceleration services, improving data indexing performance and reliability.

b. Can extract the latest blocks in real-time from the Data Pool, solving the latency issue of Subgraph.

c. Provides a load balancing system to reduce the probability of node downtime, making the user experience smoother.

d. A world-class team monitoring the project 24/7, so users no longer have to worry about emergencies.

e. Provides enterprise-specific indexers for enterprise users, akin to a "backup generator," preventing enterprises from suffering losses due to data outages.

Figure 5 Subgraphs Module in Goldsky

2.3 Chains Supported by Goldsky

3. Data Transformation of Goldsky

Goldsky's data transformation model: can help projects transform raw blockchain data.

For example, each project has different and frequently changing data needs, and Goldsky can assist projects in transforming raw data into a form that suits their project requirements.

Goldsky's data transformation can achieve the following examples:

• Combined Subgraphs across multiple blockchains
• Real-time aggregated data
• Applying complex filters for preliminary data cleaning
• Fraud data and damaged data detection

4. Methods Provided by Goldsky to Access Data

Goldsky provides the following methods for accessing data:

• Actively query data on Goldsky through GraphQL.
• Passively receive data pushed by Goldsky through Webhook.
• Configure connectors: Goldsky integrates project parties into their ETL processes for real-time data sharing.

Revenue Model

1. Early Bird

Project parties can register to enter Goldsky's waitlist, and upon approval, they can become early bird members and enjoy Goldsky's features for free. Although it shows on Twitter that the deadline was January 14, registration is still available on the official website.

2. Charging

Currently, Goldsky has not disclosed specific charging standards.

Roadmap for Feature Development

The integration with The Graph has been completed, and the full functionality will be launched soon.

Track Comparison

Goldsky belongs to the "data indexing" track, primarily providing data indexing, data cleaning, and usability optimization services for data-using project parties. Data indexing aims to parse or index raw data on the blockchain through GraphQL or other indexing protocols, reducing the cost for developers to extract data from the blockchain. Upstream, it connects to public chains (e.g., Ethereum, Arbitrum) data, and downstream, it provides services for Dapps (DeFi, GameFi, SocialFi) project parties. Similar project cases in the "data indexing" track include: Bitquery, Covalent, The Graph, Center, and Web3Go.

1. Similar Products

1.1 Bitquery (focused on financial services: a software product for unified parsing, indexing, and storage of blockchain data)

Bitquery's DEX GraphQL API provides real-time trading for multiple DEX protocols across different blockchains. Users can access trading data from protocols like Kyber, Uniswap, 0x, Balancer, PancakeSwap, etc. It can be used to build charts, analyze, find arbitrage opportunities, or analyze the DEX market, and can also be used for blockchain investigations and compliance fund flow analysis to find the source and destination of funds.

Bitquery has tailored special plans for vertical domain clients:

a. Targeted service clients include:

i. Independent developers and crypto traders

ii. Financial institutions and fintech companies

iii. Digital asset exchanges and over-the-counter trading desks

iv. Regulatory agencies and government institutions

v. DApps and DeFi protocols

b. A unified blockchain GraphQL API interface to access blockchain data from over 30 blockchains to solve this problem. Bitquery can also help users access DeFi, DEX protocols, and token-related data across multiple blockchains in a simple and meaningful way.

1.2 Covalent (allows users to extract blockchain transaction data from multiple blockchains without coding)

Covalent provides an industry-leading unified API, bringing visibility to billions of Web3 data points. It allows developers to extract more granular, detailed, and historical blockchain data from multiple blockchains without the need for complex coding tasks.

TOKEN: CQT $0.06642

Figure 6 Market Cap of $CQT

Covalent is more developer-friendly:

• Automatic indexing: Covalent's archival nodes have precisely backed up every contract, wallet, and transaction in the database. Covalent's database contains billions of rows of data and terabytes of data. All underlying blockchain code has been automatically indexed for developers.
• No-code solutions: Covalent offers "no-code" solutions, allowing developers to complete all customizations without writing any code. Development teams no longer need to waste funds on indexing programming work, allowing them to focus more on their software development.
• Wide product coverage: The same unified API applies to over 30 blockchains and dozens of use cases, such as crypto wallets, NFT galleries, investor dashboard tools, and DAO tools. Subsequent features are still under development.

1.3 The Graph (makes data easily accessible by building SubgraphAPI)

Financing Information: $50 million financing on January 21, 2022, led by Tiger Global

The Graph is an indexing protocol for querying networks like Ethereum and IPFS. Anyone can build and publish an API that becomes a subgraph, making data easily accessible. Before The Graph, teams had to develop and operate proprietary indexing servers, which required significant engineering and hardware resources and compromised the important security attributes needed for decentralization. The usage process of The Graph is as follows:

a. Deploy a contract on Ropsten and call trigger events;

b. Create a subgraph that defines data indexing;

c. Deploy the subgraph to The Graph to achieve data indexing;

d. Query indexed data in the front-end DApp.

1.4 Center (committed to building the most reliable NFT indexing API)

Financing Information: $11 million financing on July 28, 2022, led by Founders Fund and Thrive Capital

Center is committed to building the most reliable NFT API. Center.dev spans more public chains, with higher search performance, and the API design considers data indexing speed and format, focusing on improving developer productivity. It aims to save time and costs for development team users, allowing them to enter the NFT market faster.

Center addresses two major issues:

a. Building NFT-oriented products is difficult and expensive;

b. To increase the usage of NFTs, better NFT indexing tools are needed.

1.5 Web3Go (initially focused on on-chain monitoring of Polkadot, will expand to BNB and Move-related chains in the future)

Financing Information: A project in the Binance incubator, in deep collaboration with BNB Chain

Web3Go builds a data platform for the Polkadot ecosystem and provides a suite of tools that allow everyone to easily create visual results for data analysis. Web3Go can track on-chain smart contracts, various parameters of different DeFi protocols' Stakings and CDPs, NFT circulation, and cross-chain assets in the Polkadot ecosystem, formatting and persisting this data. As the Polkadot ecosystem develops, more on-chain data will be generated, and the value behind this data is enormous. Currently, there is still a gap in technical know-how between professional users and ordinary participants. Using the infrastructure and tools provided by Web3Go, everyone can easily create, publish, and share their insights based on real data formatted from the blockchain in beautiful charts.

Web3Go addresses the following issues:

a. Allows ordinary users to effectively utilize on-chain data and enables users to build dashboards themselves;

b. Traditional data architectures like Dune and Nansen have delays, while Web3Go provides a no-latency algorithm.

2. Similar Comparisons

Bitquery: The product, as its project name suggests, focuses more on providing on-chain crypto trading-related projects, such as DeFi and DEX, offering data services. Bitquery is more vertically aligned with financial enterprise data services and does not have a strong competitive relationship with Goldsky.

Covalent: Emphasizes "no-code," allowing developers to extract data from the chain without coding. At the same time, Covalent has multiple API interfaces and a wide coverage, presenting a certain competitive relationship with Goldsky.

The Graph: A pioneer in the data indexing business, allowing anyone to build APIs on top of The Graph to serve their data needs. However, building a Subgraph API also requires a certain level of programming knowledge and cost. Therefore, similar to Bitquery, Goldsky's business provides more segmented personalized solutions for enterprise service providers. The technical logic of The Graph and Goldsky is similar, but they target different users, forming a complementary relationship.

Center: Aims to provide NFT APIs, which do not have a strong competitive relationship with Goldsky's general on-chain data APIs.

Web3Go: Primarily focuses on data services for the Polkadot chain, providing real-time pushes of on-chain data, which directly competes with Goldsky. However, this direct competition exists only on Polkadot. The focus of both projects is different.

Goldsky: The product is positioned more like a "Data Pipeline," a type of data middleware aimed at creating personalized data services for enterprises based on GraphQL and other data sources. It reduces the cost for enterprises to use on-chain data. If The Graph is the most basic service for blockchain data indexing, then Goldsky builds on this foundation to make this data more usable and better "adapted" to the needs of data users. Additionally, Goldsky integrates data from other public chains besides Ethereum, enriching the data sources.

ATTENTION: Covalent's business is already taking shape and has a certain competitive relationship with Goldsky. In the future, after Goldsky's product matures, it will need to be compared with Covalent. However, I believe that the market size for data middleware is large enough to accommodate multiple unicorn companies, and healthy competition will promote mutual complementarity and optimization of both products.

Evaluation:

Currently, these competitors, while belonging to the same track, serve different needs. The market space is vast, and there is no intense competition. In the early stages of Web3 development, data indexing services should be in a phase where multiple solutions run in parallel, with different enterprises needed to meet various personalized demands initially, and later considering mergers and integrations of industry giants. Goldsky, as a data middleware more oriented toward enterprise developers, reduces data usage costs and provides real-time personalized data customization services, showing great potential for future growth.

03 What Goldsky Can Become

According to Grandview data: The global enterprise data management market size was $82.25 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.0% from 2022 to 2030. As a data middleware infrastructure, the on-chain data services provided by Goldsky are significant not only for Crypto Native enterprises but also for traditional internet companies with on-chain data needs. I believe that as blockchain continues to thrive, Goldsky's market size will also expand.

For example, projects with complex smart contracts like Uniswap and NFT programs like Bored Ape Yacht Club store data on the Ethereum blockchain, making it difficult to read anything beyond basic data directly from the blockchain. Therefore, obtaining more blockchain data and processing and utilizing that data more deeply is currently the top priority in the Web3 data track.

In our daily work, whether in machine learning modeling or data product development, data pipelines are indeed an indispensable part. Especially with the diversification, complexity, and rapid growth of data sources, building an efficient data workflow is crucial. As a data indexing tool in the Web3 data track, Goldsky can build efficient data workflows for more enterprises in the future, allowing users to focus on extracting the information they need from data rather than spending their energy on managing daily data and databases.

04 Team

Kevin Li, Cofounder & CEO, previously served as Engineering Manager at Ox Labs, Meta, Google, and Heap;

Jeffery Ling, Cofounder & CTO, previously served as Vice President of Engineering at TrueAccord, CTO at Uppercase, and Engineer at Heap;

Benny Sidelinger, Chief Software Engineer, previously served as Engineering Manager at Venmo, Chief Engineer at Bright Machines, and Chief Engineer at Oracle;

Yaroslav Tkachenko, Chief Software Engineer, previously served as Data Engineer at Shopify and Software Architect at Activision;

Xiao Meng, Software Engineer, previously served as Expert Data Engineer at Activision/Demonware;

Mike Nikles, Software Engineer, previously served as Chief Solutions Architect at Google Aviation, Employee Developer Advocate at Gitpod, and Founder of Webstone Education;

Avishek Neupane, Software Engineer, previously served as Senior Software Engineer at Shopify and Software Engineer at Amazon;

Paymahn Moghadasian, Software Engineer, previously responsible for distributed databases at Meta, ML Infra at Solvvy, and RelEng at Datadog.

05 Market Operations and Partners

The company's current client base includes well-known industry companies such as POAP, Polymarket, and Arweave. More operational actions will follow in the future.

06 Financing Information

Seed: Financing Amount: $20 million

Investors: Dragonfly Capital Management and Felicis Ventures led the round, with participation from Compound founder and CEO Robert Leshner, Plaid founders Zachary Perret & William Hockey, Mixer Labs CEO Elad Gil, Shine Capital founder Mo Kofyman, Alex Xu as an individual investor, and Ox Labs and Uniswap Labs participating.

Pre-Seed: Financing Amount: $1.4 million

Investors: Not disclosed.

FSC Global Comments

Why can Goldsky become a leading project in this track?

Currently, the market space for Web3 data tracks is vast, with no intense competition. In the early stages of Web3 development, data indexing services should be in a phase where multiple solutions run in parallel, with different enterprises needed to meet various personalized demands initially, and later considering mergers and integrations of industry giants. Goldsky, as a data middleware more oriented toward enterprise developers, reduces data usage costs and provides real-time personalized data customization services, showing great potential for future growth.

On the core product level, it has integrated with The Graph, solving the difficulty of directly querying data. Moreover, project parties can create their own subgraphs directly on Goldsky, with simple and smooth front-end operations.

In terms of market and financing, the project has collaborated with well-known companies POAP, Polymarket, and Arweave, having a good ecological background; it also has the backing of numerous top-tier investors.