What is Subsquid (SQD)?

Deep Dive

1. Purpose & Value Proposition

SQD addresses a critical bottleneck in Web3: reliable access to on-chain data. Most decentralized applications (dApps) rely on centralized data providers or slow indexing services, creating a single point of failure. SQD provides a permissionless and decentralized data access layer, ensuring that billion-dollar protocols are not bottlenecked by a central provider. Its mission is to offer institutional-grade data services without sacrificing decentralization, making blockchain data instantly usable for developers, enterprises, and AI systems.

2. Technology & Architecture

The network functions as a decentralized data lakehouse. It aggregates, cleans, and structures raw blockchain data from over 200 networks, including Ethereum, Solana, and Polkadot. A key innovation is its batch data extraction model, which significantly reduces the time and cost for developers to fetch historical data compared to traditional methods. The architecture is modular and incorporates zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs for trust-minimized verification, aiming for scalability and speed that benchmarks show can outperform legacy solutions.

3. Tokenomics & Ecosystem Utility

The SQD token powers the network's economics and security. Node operators must stake SQD to run worker nodes that store and serve data, earning rewards. Token holders can also delegate their stakes. Beyond staking, SQD is used for governance and managing query rate limits. A significant recent development is the launch of SQD Revenue Pools (Decrypt), where holders can lock tokens to support network capacity and earn a share of fees paid by enterprise customers like Deutsche Telekom, directly linking token utility to real-world demand.

Conclusion

Fundamentally, SQD is building the foundational data layer for a decentralized internet, prioritizing performance, reliability, and permissionless access. How will its evolving tokenomics, particularly the Revenue Pools model, reshape incentives for network participants and long-term sustainability?