NodeReal COO Open Letter: In 2023, continue to deeply explore the true needs of Web3 and accelerate the large-scale adoption of Web3 from four key aspects

Original source: NodeReal

Compiled by: flowie, ChainCatcher

NodeReal co-founder and COO Ben Zhang reviewed the progress of NodeReal over the past year and shared his vision and plans for the future of NodeReal. Below is the full text of the sharing:

NodeReal was founded in September 2021 with the aim of providing high-performance blockchain infrastructure for the mass adoption of Web3. Our vision is to become a one-stop solution and service provider for Web3, similar to today's cloud providers (such as AWS, Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure, or Alibaba Cloud).

By the end of 2021 and early 2022 (before May), the daily active users and transaction volumes of leading chains such as Ethereum, BNBChain, Polygon, and Solana (as per the Gnosis multi-chain dashboard) were very high and showed a rapid growth trend. NodeReal's flagship product "MegaNode" provides RPC/Archive node services and was launched in March 2022.

At that time, MegaNode could only support 2 chains: Ethereum and BNB Smart Chain. It quickly proved its scalability and technical strength, even providing 700K QPS (queries per second) for BNBChain during peak times, which is comparable to the performance of typical online shopping promotions (for example, around 600K TPS during Alibaba's holiday promotions). We gained significant recognition in the Web3 community and secured a $16 million seed round investment from Sky9 Capital.

After 2022, the bear market arrived. During this challenging period, we are carefully crafting products for real demand. We are very proud of the achievements made in 2022:

• MegaNode now supports 8 chains, including Aptos, BNBChain, Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, Avalanche, and Solana.

• Introduced a new API Marketplace to support a more comprehensive range of APIs for Token, NFT, DeFi, Naming Service, etc.

• Piloted blockchain infrastructure services—Semita, and established one of the largest gaming chains with FNCY.

• Made deep contributions to high-performance blockchain with the broader community.

BNB Chain

• Major contributor to the development of BNB sidechain and ZkBNB.

• 40% of BNB Chain BEP comes from NodeReal, such as high-performance parallel EVM and Fast Finality.

• Provides the best node services for BNBChain, with 70% of the top 50 projects on BNBChain using NodeReal.

Aptos

• Aptos TraceMove browser continues to contribute to Aptos data indexing services.

• Collaborated closely with the Aptos team from the start, providing comprehensive services from REST API to Explorer services. Therefore, 50% of the top 50 projects on Aptos are using NodeReal.

• The number of NodeReal community members has significantly increased compared to June 2022.

• User growth: 224% (from 9K+ to ~11K+)

• Daily usage: 1,169% (from 6B to ~31B)

• Twitter followers: 1,800% (from 2K to ~39K)

• Customers: about 100 projects, ranging from DeFi, gaming, NFTs, wallets to Web2 companies.

2023 Building Real Web3

Compared to the evolution of Web2 or the internet, Web3 is still in a very early stage, and reaching 1 billion users will be a long process. Despite the many challenges and difficulties faced in the down market of 2022, Web3 has shown real resilience. Web3 has now attracted top developers, with over 23,000 blockchain developers according to Electric Capital's 2022 report, a growth of about 297% since 2018. Industry leaders and KOLs have shared their "exciting predictions for 2023" (Vitalik, a16z), and Web3 has huge potential and opportunities from various segments listed by Qiao.

We have over 200 partners covering top L1 foundations, Web3 projects, and Web2 partners. By the end of the year, we had close discussions on the strategy of our partners. Common feedback and comments prompted the building of "real" Web3 business cases. Real Web3 means returning to the original spirit of Web3 and continuing to build disruptive blockchain infrastructure and applications to empower people with property rights: the ability to own a part of the internet (assets and data). The real demand for Web3 comes from Web3 native innovation and Web2 transformation:

• After the DeFi summer of 2020 and the NFT craze of 2021, Web3 has launched great applications to reform the way people own, exchange, and transfer assets or valuable things. Based on the lessons learned in 2022, existing DeFi and NFT applications need more sustainable innovations, such as DeFi needing to be safer with more risk control and compliance-friendly technologies, while GameFi needs to introduce more engaging games to retain their players. Additionally, many projects lack sufficient innovation, especially in data ownership and economics. Damus (decentralized Twitter) has begun to attract significant attention across the industry. 2023 should be a year of data innovation in Web3.

• At the same time, Web2 organizations are also looking for Web3 strategies. 2022 was the first year we saw many traditional Web2 giants (retail companies like Starbucks, Nike, eBay, social media like Reddit, Meta, entertainment like Disney, SM, and financial services companies like JPMorgan, Robinhood, Nubank) starting to adopt Web3 technologies. Web2 giants with existing blockchain programs (such as permissioned blockchains like R3 or Hyperledger) are also looking for hybrid blockchain solutions, such as bridging existing permissioned blockchains with public blockchains.

Currently, blockchain technology is a solid foundation for both Web3 and Web2. However, the level of "Web3-nativeness" varies greatly. Just like Web2 cloud service providers (AWS, Google Cloud Platform, Azure, or Alibaba Cloud) during the internet era, blockchain infrastructure is the pillar of these "real" demands that will lead to the flourishing of Web3. Cloud computing has gone through stages of "private cloud," "hybrid cloud," and "public cloud." The development path of blockchain infrastructure now resembles that of "permissioned blockchains," "permissionless blockchains," and "hybrid blockchains." All of these require one-stop solutions and service providers that not only provide Blockchain as a Service (BaaS) but also blockchain consulting services to standardize and accelerate this adoption.

One-stop Web3 Infrastructure from NodeReal

In 2023, we will continue to refine our focus and strengthen our strategy as a "one-stop Web3 infrastructure" to meet these "real" Web3 demands.

Blockchain Core - "Fastest Meets Fastest"

Our advantage lies in solving high-performance challenges in L1 blockchains. NodeReal is actively involved in the core development work of L1 blockchains, including BNBChain and Aptos.

In 2022, NodeReal proposed Parallel EVM and implemented the initial version on BNBChain, becoming one of the most active contributors to the development of BNB sidechain and zkBNB. Based on these optimizations, BNB Smart Chain can now achieve >5000 TPS.

In 2023, we will continue to contribute to optimizing high-performance blockchains from both computing and storage aspects:

• High-performance blockchain (computing)

Parallel EVM 3.0 will be proposed to further optimize BNBChain EVM performance.

Fast Finality will be deployed to BNBChain.

• High-performance storage

The new plan for BNBChain, GreenField, will provide new high-performance decentralized storage to enhance the web3 data economy. NodeReal is honored to be the first contributor here.

All these technologies will not only be used for L1 blockchains but also for NodeReal's Enterprise Product Semita - Application Chain as a Service.

Specific Application Chain/L2 as a Service

In 2022, we collaborated with various partners in GameFi (FNCY chain) and Web3 identity platforms (Galxe) and piloted the idea of application chains using the BNB sidechain framework. The first FNCY chain was very successful, meeting their key business objectives, including high performance (>5K TPS), customizability of token economics, special Gas models, governance models, etc. In 2023, more than 30 games are planned to be deployed on the FNCY chain.

"Building your own ecosystem" is the key driving force for application chains. In 2022, projects like Bored Apes and dYdX have already launched or are considering launching their own application chains. We are actively engaging with platforms that have large developer communities (such as game engines) or large user bases (such as traditional Web2 companies with blockchain programs over the past 5-10 years), and we indeed see a high demand coming.

In 2023, in addition to application sidechains, we will leverage our core blockchain advantages and work closely with partners to create:

• Application-specific rollups: rollups represent a paradigm shift in blockchain scalability and dApp development. "Rollup-as-a-Service" (RaaS) will build tools and services to quickly and easily deploy rollups, including customizable execution environments and plug-and-play modular components, including sorters/validators, application-specific data indexers, node/archive services, browser and wallet integrations.

• Hybrid applications: As Vitalik emphasized in this blog, traditional Web2 giants have been conducting blockchain programs/experiments over the past 5 years, such as supply chain applications, loyalty programs, etc. They are looking for a solution to bridge the gap between permissioned blockchains and public blockchains.

Blockchain Explorer as a Service (EaaS)

Blockchain explorers allow crypto users to retrieve all information about block states. They enable users to quickly and conveniently search for blocks, transactions, addresses, profiles, and enhanced features. Anyone, whether blockchain developers, end users, data analysts, dApps, or institutions, can easily use the explorer to view all transactions on the blockchain.

In 2022, over 5 blockchain explorers, including BSC Explorer, Aptos Explorer, ZKBNB Explorer, FNCY Explorer, and CMC Explorer, began using NodeReal (EaaS) services, covering typical features such as blocks, transactions, assets, NFTs, etc.

In 2023, NodeReal will leverage high-performance nodes and API services to provide fully managed, modular, and customizable block explorers. EaaS will not only support L1/L2 blockchains but also the emergence of application chains. Additionally, multi-chain explorers will be introduced to cover portfolio monitoring and cross-chain transaction monitoring.

From High-performance API Services to Open API Platforms

MegaNode provides high-performance Node services and archive Node services, already supporting 8 chains. Meanwhile, the Web3 community and partners have raised high demands for APIs in specific areas such as NFT API, DeFi Data API, etc. In 2022, we launched the API Marketplace, where you can find the most relevant API packages to facilitate Web3 application development, such as Pancake/Uniswap API, NFT API, and Naming Service API (SpaceID).

In 2023, MegaNode will be optimized to ensure the fastest Node/Standard API services. We will work with our partners to identify key API cases, including

• DeFi data indexing API

• Compliance API

The most important part is that the API Marketplace will become an open API platform, akin to AWS/Google Developer Tooling or the Web2 Marketplace at https://rapidapi.com/.

Node(Know) You Real - End-to-end Web3 Services

"Understanding real users" is our top principle at NodeReal. In 2022, we worked hard to uncover the real needs of users and grow together with our partners:

• In-depth research: Our team has been conducting in-depth research with clients to provide the best products and services and build strong relationships. Check out our case studies, such as FNCY, P12, and Hippo Labs, to see how we understand our clients in a positive way.

• Meeting the community anytime, anywhere: Our team is spread across the globe, meeting with our clients, partners, and the broader community. For example, recent events include Alibaba Cloud Day, BNB Chain Lunar New Year Meetup, and ETH San Francisco. In just one year since our establishment, over 10,000 developers worldwide have chosen to trust us.

In 2023, we will take it a step further, striving towards the same goal—"co-creating intelligence and community": from 0 to 1, from the initial consulting phase to design, development, and operation. NodeReal will provide end-to-end services and grow intelligently with you.

2023 will be a super promising year for builders, and NodeReal will continue to build, laying the foundation for the mass adoption of Web3.

Thank you for all your support, and let’s continue to build real Web3.

Ben Zhang,

Co-founder and COO of NodeReal