The Graph Price

The Graph differentiates itself by functioning as a decentralized indexing and query layer rather than an execution chain or standard oracle. It eliminates the need for developers to run their own data servers, manage indexing infrastructure, or parse raw data, cutting down infrastructure costs by 60% to 98% while ensuring 99.99%+ uptime across a distributed network. Furthermore, it organizes blockchain data into open, community-curated APIs called subgraphs that serve millisecond-fast responses using GraphQL, backed by a coordinated multi-role network consisting of Indexers, Curators, and Delegators.

The GRT token is an ERC-20 token used to coordinate work, ensure economic security, and maintain data integrity within the network. Its primary utilities include:

• Staking: Node operators (Indexers) stake GRT to provide indexing and query processing services. If they provide incorrect or malicious data, their stake can be slashed.
• Delegation: Token holders who do not run nodes can delegate their GRT to Indexers to help secure the network and earn a share of query fees and indexing rewards.
• Signaling/Curation: Curators deposit and signal GRT on valuable subgraphs to indicate to Indexers which APIs should be indexed, receiving a portion of query fees in return.
• Query Payments: Consumers and applications pay Indexers in GRT to query data via GraphQL.

The Graph operates on a Proof of Stake (PoS) model to coordinate network participants and secure data indexing. Node operators (Indexers) must stake GRT tokens to provide services and can have their stake penalized (slashed) for delivering incorrect data. Other participants can delegate GRT to these Indexers to help secure the network without running their own nodes.

The Graph was co-founded in 2018 by Yaniv Tal (Project Lead), Brandon Ramirez (Research Lead), and Jannis Pohlmann (Tech Lead). With backgrounds in electrical engineering and experience working together at MuleSoft, the team previously worked on a startup building an immutable database called Datomic. They created The Graph to address the difficulty of directly retrieving and organizing data from blockchains, thereby providing the necessary decentralized data layer for Web3 and DeFi.

The Graph protocol was founded in 2018, held a $10 million token sale (ICO) during its launch in October 2020, and officially came online in December 2020.

Depending on your role in the ecosystem, you can use the GRT token in several ways:

• Stake as an Indexer: Operate a Graph Node, stake GRT, and process indexing and query requests to earn indexing rewards and query fees.
• Delegate: Delegate your GRT to active Indexers without needing to run hardware, earning a share of the staking and query rewards.
• Curate: Signal your GRT tokens on high-quality subgraphs to guide Indexers toward valuable APIs and earn a share of the query fees they generate.
• Pay for Queries: Spend GRT as a consumer or dApp developer to query indexed subgraphs using GraphQL.

The Graph can be bought on the SwissBorg app with just a few clicks. Download the app for Android or iOS and exchange cryptos instantly at the best price.

Querying raw data directly from blockchains is technically challenging, slow, and expensive. Developers traditionally had to run complex, centralized servers and proprietary indexing infrastructure to parse on-chain information, which introduced single points of failure and high operational costs. The Graph solves this problem by providing a decentralized indexing protocol and data market, enabling fast, resilient, and serverless data access across Web3 via standardized GraphQL queries.

Yes, The Graph is open-source. Its core indexing component, graph-node, is hosted publicly on GitHub by the Graph Protocol organization and is dual-licensed under both the MIT license and the Apache License, Version 2.0.

GRT was generated as an ERC-20 token with an initial total supply of 10 billion tokens minted at launch, following an ICO in October 2020 that raised $10 million. Its ongoing token supply is subject to a new issuance schedule starting at approximately 3% per year to reward network participants, balanced by the burning of roughly 1% of query fees as well as all deposit taxes.

The Graph utilizes technical governance managed by The Graph Council, which has the authority to oversee protocol decisions and adjust economic parameters, such as the new annual GRT token issuance schedule and query fee burning rates.

The long-term vision of The Graph is to serve as the global, decentralized data layer for the crypto economy, Web3, and DeFi. It aims to empower developers to create fully decentralized, serverless applications that run 100% on public infrastructure, connecting tens of thousands of projects across dozens of blockchain networks through resilient, millisecond-fast data access.