The Graph’s Substreams Revolutionizes Multi-Chain Indexing with 24x Speed Increase

The Graph has significantly enhanced the speed and efficiency of multi-chain indexing through its innovative Substreams and Token API, according to The Graph. This advancement has transformed a previously sequential bottleneck into a high-performance data pipeline, delivering blockchain data 2300% faster across nine major networks, including Ethereum and Arbitrum.

Challenges in Traditional Multi-Chain Indexing

Traditional RPC-based indexing methods process blocks sequentially, leading to inefficiencies such as inability to meet demanding data needs, incorrect calculations of complex balance changes in DeFi protocols, and increased infrastructure costs due to the need for separate setups for each blockchain. These constraints have historically made the development of an effective Token API challenging.

Substreams: A Game-Changer for Token API

The Graph’s Token API, powered by Substreams, offers a unified REST API that provides token, balance, price, and NFT data across various blockchains like Ethereum, BNB Smart Chain, and Solana. Key features include:

• Wallet Balance Data: Accurate tracking of current and historical token balances.
• Transaction Data: Comprehensive token transfer data with cross-chain tracking.
• Price Data: Real-time and historical OHLC price feeds.
• NFT Data: Ownership records and transfer history for ERC-721/1155 tokens.

Core Innovations of Substreams

Substreams facilitates this transformation through several core innovations:

• Parallel Processing: Allows simultaneous indexing of thousands of blocks per second by dividing jobs into 1k block segments.
• Composable Modules: Independent modules for transfer, balance, price, and NFT data eliminate redundancy and allow efficient data reuse.
• Chain-Agnostic Design: Utilizes a unified protobuf schema for data from all supported blockchains.
• Redundant Balance Tracking: Ensures accurate DeFi balance updates through batched RPC lookups.
• Intelligent Caching: Enhances speed by allowing new modules to reuse cached data.

Impressive Performance Gains

By implementing Substreams, The Graph has achieved remarkable performance improvements. For instance, Ethereum’s full blockchain sync time has been reduced from three days to just 10 hours, while the complete history of Arbitrum One can now be processed in 15 hours instead of 15 days. These enhancements represent a 2300% speed increase for Arbitrum and over 600% for Ethereum.

Implications for Developers

The Substreams-powered Token API not only makes indexing faster but also enables new categories of blockchain applications, offering:

• Real-time accuracy and cross-chain interoperability.
• Significant cost reductions in comprehensive indexing.
• Ease of use with AI-ready features for natural language queries.

This breakthrough allows developers to build faster applications without the need for extensive infrastructure, facilitating the creation of DeFi dashboards, AI trading bots, and analytics tools with unprecedented efficiency.

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