In this edition, we’re providing you with some background on Ankr, and how their RPCs play a crucial role when it comes to utilizing DeFi as we know it.
Learn how Sei, a sector-specific L1 focused on the trading of digital assets, uses Ankr to connect applications with the underlying blockchain tech.
Over and out ⬇
Exploring RPC’s Role In Web3
RPC (Remote Procedure Call) is a significant component of Web3. RPC is the standard protocol for making calls to the blockchain and it plays a vital role in the interaction between users and blockchain networks.
Ankr is a blockchain-based cross-chain infrastructure with a DeFi platform that enables Staking and dApp development.
Ankr provides RPC infrastructure for teams in crypto and DeFi to utilize.
Ankr operates its own bare-metal servers worldwide, optimized for high performance, rather than outsourcing to AWS.
When it comes to RPCs, low latency is crucial, particularly for a blockchain like Sei, which has a block finality of about 300 milliseconds.
Ankr’s infrastructure ensures that Sei can handle high throughput requests from high-frequency traders and developers.
Sei’s Blockchain Evolution
Sei is a sector-specific Layer-1 blockchain, specialized for trading to give exchanges an unfair advantage.
Sei is not just a DeFi chain but it is designed to facilitate any kind of digital asset exchange, according to the team. The team believes the core use case of blockchains is the ability to exchange digital assets, and Sei is the first blockchain specifically built for that.
Sei utilizes Ankr to connect applications with the underlying blockchain technology of the chain.
Sei Co-founders Jeff and Jay initially wanted to build an exchange, but realized there wasn’t a blockchain that could support the kind of exchange they wanted, leading them to create a highly performant blockchain optimized for exchanges.
Sei recognizes the importance of “time to finality,” mentioning that Sei achieves single-block finality. Unlike Ethereum, where finality is achieved over a period of 20 minutes, Sei’s blocks are finalized instantly. The team initially aimed for 250 milliseconds per block but settled on 380 milliseconds for better stability. This provides a seamless user and developer experience, similar to Web2.
Evolution Of Blockchain Latency
Latency on Sei was artificially increased from 250 to 400 milliseconds for testing purposes.
Reducing this latency is a priority for their engineering team over the next 6-12 months.
Centralized exchanges are naturally faster than blockchains due to the absence of consensus mechanisms.
The “Twin Turbo Consensus” is a proprietary consensus mechanism based on Tendermint.
Tendermint has proven to be a robust foundation, mentioning its performance during turbulence in the case of the Terra blockchain in May 2022.
The Sei team consciously chose to build a monolithic layer-1 blockchain rather than a layer-2 Rollup on Ethereum. The thought process behind this decision is that Rollups are constrained by competition for block space on Ethereum.
The theoretical upper limit for transactions per second on a roll-up would be 6,000 without competition, whereas Sei can achieve 22,000 transactions per second. This emphasizes the advantage of building a standalone layer-1 blockchain.
Sei’s Collaborative Ecosystem
Contributors to Sei include Sei Labs, the software development company that built the original Sei blockchain, and the Sei Foundation, a nonprofit aiming to further decentralize and fund initiatives.
It is very important to have a robust RPC layer as a link between applications and the Sei blockchain. The team recognizes Ankr’s role in providing this service as “crucial.”
Ankr is providing the necessary backbone for Sei by spinning up clusters of nodes for developers and offering a reliable, fast RPC service. They aim for sub-150 millisecond RPC call requests.
Ankr aims to exceed developer and customer expectations in terms of performance and reliability.
Ease of integrating Ankr’s RPC into Sei-based products varies. For beginners, it’s as simple as adding an endpoint and running a command, especially if they are following a tutorial.
However, for multi-chain projects, the process can become more complex due to different configurations.
Ankr’s RPC will behave exactly like Sei’s and that developers can get up and running relatively easily.
Sei is not limited to DeFi, but its infrastructure supports everything that involves digital assets like NFT marketplaces and online gaming platforms.
The core use case for crypto currently is the exchange of digital assets, which is what Sei is optimized for.
The only limitation of using Sei is the creativity of developers.
Sei is optimized for exchanging tokens, contrasting it with blockchains like Ethereum that prioritize running nodes for millions of people at the expense of performance.
The design choice for Sei is to move toward higher performance without sacrificing excessive decentralization.
Sei has been audited twice by top firms, which helps to support the security and integrity of the chain. It’s an open-source project that has benefited from community contributions.
The team sees Sei’s achievement in rapid time to finality in crypto as a key milestone. The team is also impressed by the ongoing commitment from the community.
A project called Nitro allows Solana-based applications to be deployed on an optimistic Rollup on top of Sei.
Sei is focusing on infrastructure, believing that the key to attracting users is to support killer applications. Sei is actively funding various initiatives to create a developer-friendly environment.
“Entrepreneur In Residence” program for bringing in experienced project leaders and underscores the importance of selectivity in funding and long-term survival, especially during bear markets.
Sei recognizes that the teams that build on Sei are pivotal for its success.
The team is putting out content emphasizing incubator and hackathon winners, focusing on empowering developers in the ecosystem.
Scaling RPCs For Web 3.0
In the future, Ankr plans to collaborate with large Web 2.0 companies like Tencent, Google, and Amazon to provide accessibility to the RPC space.
The team believes the crypto industry is still in the infrastructure phase.
Ankr aims to be a central hub for connecting to various blockchains. The team also anticipates significant growth in the RPC industry, stating that it is crucial for scaling Web 3.0.
Sei is focusing on infrastructure, believing that the key to attracting users is to support killer applications. Sei is actively funding various initiatives to create a developer-friendly environment.
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