The use of this site and the content contained therein is governed by the Terms of Use. When you use this site you acknowledge that you have read the Terms of Use and that you accept and will be bound by the terms hereof and such terms as may be modified from time to time.
All text, graphics, audio, design and other works on the site are the copyrighted works of nasscom unless otherwise indicated. All rights reserved.
Content on the site is for personal use only and may be downloaded provided the material is kept intact and there is no violation of the copyrights, trademarks, and other proprietary rights. Any alteration of the material or use of the material contained in the site for any other purpose is a violation of the copyright of nasscom and / or its affiliates or associates or of its third-party information providers. This material cannot be copied, reproduced, republished, uploaded, posted, transmitted or distributed in any way for non-personal use without obtaining the prior permission from nasscom.
The nasscom Members login is for the reference of only registered nasscom Member Companies.
nasscom reserves the right to modify the terms of use of any service without any liability. nasscom reserves the right to take all measures necessary to prevent access to any service or termination of service if the terms of use are not complied with or are contravened or there is any violation of copyright, trademark or other proprietary right.
From time to time nasscom may supplement these terms of use with additional terms pertaining to specific content (additional terms). Such additional terms are hereby incorporated by reference into these Terms of Use.
Disclaimer
The Company information provided on the nasscom web site is as per data collected by companies. nasscom is not liable on the authenticity of such data.
nasscom has exercised due diligence in checking the correctness and authenticity of the information contained in the site, but nasscom or any of its affiliates or associates or employees shall not be in any way responsible for any loss or damage that may arise to any person from any inadvertent error in the information contained in this site. The information from or through this site is provided "as is" and all warranties express or implied of any kind, regarding any matter pertaining to any service or channel, including without limitation the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement are disclaimed. nasscom and its affiliates and associates shall not be liable, at any time, for any failure of performance, error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, computer virus, communications line failure, theft or destruction or unauthorised access to, alteration of, or use of information contained on the site. No representations, warranties or guarantees whatsoever are made as to the accuracy, adequacy, reliability, completeness, suitability or applicability of the information to a particular situation.
nasscom or its affiliates or associates or its employees do not provide any judgments or warranty in respect of the authenticity or correctness of the content of other services or sites to which links are provided. A link to another service or site is not an endorsement of any products or services on such site or the site.
The content provided is for information purposes alone and does not substitute for specific advice whether investment, legal, taxation or otherwise. nasscom disclaims all liability for damages caused by use of content on the site.
All responsibility and liability for any damages caused by downloading of any data is disclaimed.
nasscom reserves the right to modify, suspend / cancel, or discontinue any or all sections, or service at any time without notice.
For any grievances under the Information Technology Act 2000, please get in touch with Grievance Officer, Mr. Anirban Mandal at data-query@nasscom.in.
For any type of blockchain development, be it a decentralized application, customized blockchain-powered solutions, or smart contracts, web3 developers need to communicate with the blockchain and utilize the data. Shared APIs and RPC node endpoints offer a gateway for decentralized applications to obtain necessary data and share information with the blockchain.
Let’s say you’re building a web3 wallet and request to transfer 10 ETH to a specific address. For this, the wallet interface needs to check the wallet balance on the distributed ledger and then send the requested transaction to the blockchain for verification and completion. Wallets or any dApp cannot directly communicate with the blockchain, they use RPC nodes and APIs to access data and thereby process user requests. Knowing that shared APIs and dedicated nodes are integral for dApp development, this guide explains what RPC nodes and shared APIs are, how these work, and which component is a viable option for your dApp.
What are shared APIs?
Shared APIs are the shared endpoints in the RPC nodes that allows multiple users (clients) to request data from a single node which is setup and managed by node service providers. The term ‘shared’ implies that multiple applications can access the same API and request data simultaneously.
Though shared, these APIs are not open to be used publicly. Instead, these are made available to a specific set of users or applications that are authorized to access the endpoints. These API endpoints are designed to allow developers to have authenticated access to RPC endpoints for using APIs to interact with various blockchain networks for the purpose of querying, retrieving, and sharing data such as transaction details, smart contract logics, and other blockchain-powered assets.
Connecting to shared API endpoints is a viable option for businesses that rely on blockchain data, but their requirement is less. In line with API endpoints, dApps should ideally utilize developer APIs that expand their existing developer API support to new, emerging blockchain networks to meet the evolving development needs.
Read more about Developer APIs from this detailed guide.
What are dedicated nodes?
Dedicated nodes are the RPC nodes that allow you to leverage the benefits of shared API endpoints, as well as benefits such as ownership of a single node, full decentralization, highly efficient RPC calls, and much more. As the node endpoints are only available to you, the RPC calls become more efficient and supereasy with an added layer of security and reliability for connecting to blockchain networks.
RPC nodes are ideal for organizations requiring an added layer of security and full control over their communication to the blockchain networks. Advanced web3 dApps, exchanges, and sophisticated DeFi apps often rely on dedicated RPC nodes as they access a range of blockchain data and execute bulk transactions on a regular basis, hence reliability is important for them. Full nodes are known to be the most prevalent RPC nodes that help dApps retrieve, broadcast, and verify transactions directly from the node without using a blockchain explorer.
Shared APIs vs running your own Dedicated Node: Which is perfect for your dApp
Developers can leverage APIs or dedicated nodes separately or can combine them corresponding to the requirements. Below is a quick comparison of APIs and RPC nodes that will help you decide which component is more suitable for your dApp development:
Important Factors to consider for choosing APIs and RPC Nodes
While Shared APIs and dedicated RPC nodes are different components, both are useful for dApp developers based on their project-specific needs and SLAs. However, there are some factors you should consider before making a choice as to what benefits you seek to leverage. Let’s go through a quick analysis in this respect:
Maintenance cost
Shared APIs are the endpoints managed by a third-party node-as-a-service provider. Thus, it does not require heavy hardware requirements or technical maintenance support. You simply need permission to access the endpoints, and then, you can request data via RPC calls. RPC nodes require maintenance of node infrastructure and resources and hence the cost is slightly higher on the node side. That said, node compensates for the costing with reliable API requests and excellent response time.
Connectivity with the blockchain
Working with a trusted RPC service provider, you leverage enterprise-grade API connectivity. You can quickly configure your dApp, smart contracts, send/receive transactions, and retrieve data from the blockchain with no connectivity issues. Likewise, RPC nodes are set up and available only for your dApp, which makes the data connectivity with the blockchain even more robust, resulting in seamless accessibility.
Monitoring & Round-the-clock support
Since shared APIs requires you to access third-party endpoints, the service provider is responsible to provide 24*7 support, ensuring the endpoints work as expected and all the recurring issues are solved on time. On the other hand, RPC node providers keep on adding new features to their services. The most industry-relevant feature is the real-time monitoring and analytics of nodes. You can see how well your node is performing, where it is lacking, and how it can improve. Additionally, you can customize the monitoring parameters to see more granular analytics.
Customization
Web3 developers usually need to customize their RPC calls and pull event-specific data from the blockchain. While shared APIs provide all types of data to the dApps, a dedicated RPC node stands apart by allowing them to further customize the RPC endpoints and utilize them to pull required data from the blockchain.
Shared APIs and Dedicated node: Use cases and example
Shared APIs and dedicated nodes are being utilized across major industries to build dApps relevant to their business and maintain the ongoing operation. Following are the some of the real-world use cases and examples of APIs and RPC nodes in dApp development:
Web3 wallets
Wallet development using the APIs suite and RPC nodes becomes easier. These wallet dApps, built on the top of blockchain, need to interact and exchange transactional data from blockchain networks. Popular wallets like Metamask, CoinBase Wallet, and Trust Wallet use dedicated RPC nodes and APIs endpoints to execute transactions, interact with various smart contracts, and fetch data from blockchains.
Crypto Exchanges
Crypto exchange companies leverage nodes and APIs for quick development of exchanges and seamless operation. Platforms like Uniswap, PancakeSwap, and SushiSwap are heavily reliant on APIs and RPC nodes to have uninterrupted communication with the blockchains to execute trade, fetch information about digital assets, access liquidity pools, and retrieve real-time market data.
NFT Marketplaces
NFT marketplaces facilitate buying, selling, and trading of NFT-powered one-of-a-kind digital assets. Using RPC nodes and API endpoints, the marketplace fetch NFT metadata from the distributed ledger, verify unique ownership, and update the asset listing based on real-time transactions.
Gaming dApps
Gaming dApp platforms such as Decentraland, Axie Infinity, and Gods Unchained leverage RPC nodes along with a range of APIs to execute smart contract transactions, manage in-game assets via NFTs, and validate cross-platform transactions, driving great gameplay experience to the players.
About The Author
Dr. Ravi Chamria is co-founder CEO of Zeeve Inc, an Enterprise Blockchain company. He has an experience of 18+ years in IT consulting spanning across Fintech, InsureTech, Supply Chain and eCommerce. He is an executive MBA from IIM, Lucknow and a prolific speaker on emerging technologies like Blockchain, IoT and AI/ML.
Passionate About: Blockchain, Supply Chain Management, Digital Lending, Digital Payments, AI/ML, IoT
That the contents of third-party articles/blogs published here on the website, and the interpretation of all information in the article/blogs such as data, maps, numbers, opinions etc. displayed in the article/blogs and views or the opinions expressed within the content are solely of the author's; and do not reflect the opinions and beliefs of NASSCOM or its affiliates in any manner. NASSCOM does not take any liability w.r.t. content in any manner and will not be liable in any manner whatsoever for any kind of liability arising out of any act, error or omission. The contents of third-party article/blogs published, are provided solely as convenience; and the presence of these articles/blogs should not, under any circumstances, be considered as an endorsement of the contents by NASSCOM in any manner; and if you chose to access these articles/blogs , you do so at your own risk.
Zeeve is an enterprise-grade Blockchain Infrastructure Automation Platform. Join the growing list of clients that trust us with their Blockchain initiatives
‘To Blockchain or not to Blockchain’ – this is one big question that has been on the minds of startup founders in recent times. From supply chain monitoring to equity management and cross-border payments, Blockchain has been making its way into…
Just like the advent of the 21st century, the innovation consistently winds up streaming down to different divisions and over various ventures. Indeed, it has prompted the ascent new hybrid sectors like Fintech and Health-tech. Probably the…
In the crypto era, startups face plenty of unavoidable challenges. From creating a new cryptocurrency that individual and business holders can connect with to getting enough funding for their crypto project, it is easy for a crypto developer to get…
There are tons of million crypto-based small businesses running around the world, and 6,43,000 more are started every month. So if you’ve got a cryptocurrency or blockchain business idea and you want to stand out from the crowd and succeed, you…
Do you see the cookie consent banners on every website that you visit? Do you get emails from a long list of third parties asking to collect your information? Have you ever wondered how the items on your Wishlist are not showing up on the…
Blockchain market currently is in a nascent stage, limited by unstructured experimentations, low speed of executing multiple transactions, and massive decentralization of data creating a need for low-cost data storage and a change in end-user…