TL;DR:
- Covalent’s Block Specimen spec remedies the siloed data behind blockchains, bringing visibility to billions of Web3 endpoints;
- By presenting a unified, canonical schema that can be applied across multiple blockchains, Covalent is standardizing how users can see blockchain data, and preparing them for a multichain world;
- This engineering feat is open-source and generated in decentralized means because we recognize the paramount public value of strengthening diversity and longevity in blockchain visibility for everyone; and
- Covalent is, thereby, committed to mobilizing the utility of our product line to augment further human intelligence in Web3 and advance the exploration of blockchains to benefit common societies.
The underlying ethos of blockchains is that they are open and public. Yet, their data, against the backdrop of an expanding multichain ecosystem, is becoming more siloed, fragmented, and inaccessible, contradicting the founding spirit of blockchains.
Covalent’s very own “Block Specimens” remedy this exact problem. By injecting a universally readable, standardized data layer on blockchains, Block Specimens ensure that DApps, blockchain agnostic or not, can deploy Covalent’s Unified API to asynchronously export any data from one blockchain client to another.
Preceding Block Specimens, Web3 indexing protocols had been slow, expensive, and anything but granular. Covalent is the pioneering proof-based method that overcomes the classic and cumbersome issues of querying the JSON-RPC layer of blockchains.
This engineering feat is unparalleled in the industry.
Covalent, nevertheless, has made the unending decision to open source current and future reference implementations of Block Specimens, convening Web3 builders of all backgrounds to innovate equally in blockchain technology and public utility. This arrangement makes it impossible for Covalent to deny anybody, even competing entities, to make use of our Block Specimen technology, completely satisfying the “non-excludability” pillar of public goods.
Another defining pillar of a public good is being “non-rivalrous.” Currently, 11 node-operators are live on the Covalent Network, establishing a reliable connection, robust security, and decentralized practices. They have the complete agency in generating Block Specimens on behalf of Covalent, for which each node-operator is compensated in CQT for the duties performed. Because of this, the generation of Block Specimens is not centrally dependent on Covalent alone but collectively shared. Consumers, thereby, can be assured that the supply of Block Specimens that they expend on will not be exhausted and that their individual usage leads to no subtraction from any other consumers’ usage.
Together, Block Specimens’ satisfaction of non-excludability and non-rivalrous criteria absolutely makes the technology a public good.
The Block Specimen spec is open-sourced and generated in decentralized means because, at Covalent, we recognize its paramount public value. The visibility deficit of billions of Web3 endpoints our technology closes, hence, must be shared, but exceedingly secured and accurate as well. As a result, we consistently strive to have our solutions be straightforward and legible to anyone, regardless of expertise or skill. At each step, we provide a window into our work, including open source code bases, public repositories, and forums for user feedback.
Such transparent development of firmwares and software builds trust, inspires new features, and incentivizes fixes that make our solutions more effective and secure. This mobilizes the utility of Covalent’s product line to augment further human intelligence in Web3, and advance the exploration of blockchains and their applications to benefit common societies.
We believe that the most innovative systems are easily accessible, decentralized, and operate across protocols, platforms, and companies to integrate networks of technical and human resources.
We encourage users, in retrospect, to use and build systems that work together with Covalent’s Block Specimen technology, augmenting scalabilities and the composition of larger and more complex systems; and thereby, strengthening diversity and longevity in blockchain visibility for the greater public good.