Genesis of BlockEden.xyz
Hello, world! We are a group of software engineers from the San Francisco Bay Area, building BlockEden.xyz - a suite of APIs powering DApps of all sizes for Aptos and Sui blockchains. Why are we doing this?
We were fascinated by the Bitcoin whitepaper and its disruptive technology back in 2012 and then started to build our own blockchain and its ecosystem at IoTeX in 2017. During the trip, along with the fast-moving industry, we find that:
- There are huge gaps between developers and new blockchains. Blockchain installment is like software in the 90s - complex, slow, error-prone, and unscalable.
- Web3 developer experience is quite fragmented. Blockchain raw data, derived data, API, push notification, blob store - all those APIs are scattered into different places for the developers to find out and make integrations.
Usually, DApp developers run their own blockchain node or purchase an API service; unfortunately, API service is not quite available for new blockchains like Aptos and Sui.
BlockEden.xyz is here to help -
We bring an API cloud SaaS to developers so they do not have to run and maintain their own blockchain nodes and services. (Starts to build in 10s, instead of spending 20 hours to start, countless hours to maintain!) We get started by serving unique developer tools and data to the Aptos and Sui ecosystem.
The developers could call our standard blockchain and GraphQL APIs with access keys, and use our dashboard to inspect blockchain data schemas, write SQLs and manage their access keys.
How are we different from other blockchain service vendors?
BlockEden.xyz vs. Ankr, NodeReal, Alchemy, and Shinami - Node RPC Services
We are a chain node vendor and we deep dive into the Move-language blockchains by providing unique APIs and services that developers cannot find elsewhere.
| Block Eden | Ankr | NodeReal | Alchemy | Shinami | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aptos RPC | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Aptos Data Analytics | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Aptos GraphQL | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Sui RPC | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Sui Data Analytics | ✅ WIP | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Sui GraphQL | ✅ WIP | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Ethereum RPC | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
BlockEden.xyz vs. Dune Analytics, Flipside Crypto - Data Service
We have no intention of being a web3 data infra for all blockchains.
Blockchain data is all public - Homogeneous content, quality and SLA won’t outrun category leaders. Web3 innovators want painkillers for specific pains, not one-stop shop vitamins for everything. Thus, we aim to be a category leader for Move language blockchains and avoid direct competition with established late-stage businesses.
Although we can build the general-purposed data infra, we think the costs are too high while the profitability is too low to target data analysts and researchers. So instead, we focus on builders, run lean, and persevere.
| Block Eden | Dune Analytics | Flipside Crypto | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Focusing on data analysts | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Focusing on developers | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Omnichain / multichain | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Aptos and Sui blockchains | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Write SQL to query | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Call GraphQL to query | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
Going beyond
Node RPC service is just a starting point for BlockEden.xyz. Compared to the crowded data infra space, we think there is vast room for innovations to bridge the gap between web3 developers and blockchain vendors.
In the past five years, we have built a top-50 blockchain, SDK, wallet, DEX, staking portal, decentralized e-commerce, and many more DApps. Now, we are sourcing the best technologies into a unified API and service suite, so that web3 developers like ourselves could focus on building their magic, without the hassle of maintaining a blockchain and its utilities.
In the incoming five years, if your mission is to build the killer app to bring web3 to everyone on the planet, then our mission is to be your best ally. Together, we fight for the next-generation decentralization innovations.