我很荣幸地宣布,Multicoin 领投了 The Graph 项目 250 万美金的种子轮。我们相信 The Graph 将会是 Web3 协议栈 中最为重要的协议之一。在介绍它的愿景之前,先让我讲一些趣事。 Yaniv 在 2018 年 2 月首次和我联系。他是通过推特私信(DM)突然联系我的(这正是我保持开放 DM 的原因)。
2018 年 2 月, Yaniv 和 The Graph 的第一次联系 Yaniv 给我发了一份 7 页的简短的文件。文件雄辩地解释了 The Graph 正在解决的关键技术问题——从区块链中查询数据非常困难,还重新引进了一个中心化层(layer)——并解释了 The Graph 是怎样解决这个问题的。 在我们的第一次通话中,Yaniv 给我看了一些演示,包括一些令人惊叹的演示(demo)——其中,The Graph 利用 GraphQL 的 Subscription(基本上是以太坊上的一个 pub/sub)——通过另一台电脑上的 Metamask 钱包,发送一笔交易到以太坊区块链,把过程实时推送到浏览器。我立即对它的优雅和快速留下了深刻的印象。随着 Yaniv 进一步解释那个 demo,我们很快明白了 The Graph 对在 Web3 协议栈上每个应用程序的重要性。不久后,我马上飞往旧金山,亲自与 Yaniv 和他的联合创始人 Brandon 联系,并承诺将尽快领投 The Graph 的种子轮。 从那以后,联合创始人 Yaniv、Brandon、Jannis 和 The Graph 团队中的其他成员就开始着手,开发(同时 宣传,如果你刚刚参加了 Graph Day 的话!)世界级的开源软件! 在我们第一次见面的那一年,web3 开发社区中的每个人都已经认识到:web3 协议栈的查询层是多么重要和空白。The Graph 目前已成为该领域的领导者,目前有数十个团队正在使用它们的服务进行内测。 团队 到目前为止,我已经和 The Graph 团队一起工作了将近一年,他们一直都非常独特。 首先,他们是优秀的沟通者。在一个充满热衷研究共识算法技术专家的领域,清晰沟通能力的价值怎么强调都不为过。这一点从 Yaniv 发给我的第一个展示文件就很清楚了,并且在与 The Graph 的沟通中,该优点持续显现——无论是技术方面还是非技术方面。 另外,他们在执行方面做得非常出色:包括开发产品、招聘、把握进度、与社区互动等等。工程师,尤其是加密领域的,在把控开发进度上是出了名的不靠谱。在我们的第一次电话会议中,Yaniv 说过他们将在夏天推出一个限制版的 beta 服务,结果他们做到了。我还想强调一下他们刚刚举办的 Graph Day。从社区接待的角度看,这是去年最好的技术活动之一。 我要指出的最后一件事是:他们非常谦逊,对 web3 的威力和自己正在开发的产品有着强烈的信仰,并且他们专注于开发耐用的产品。 解决 web3 协议栈中的瓶颈 我们花了大量时间思考 Web3 协议栈 会产生什么价值,结果得出的结论是:查询层将会捕获巨大(的价值)。 毫无疑问的是,基于以太坊开发的每一个团队——无论是像 Etherscan 这样的中心化应用,还是像 Augur 这样的去中心化应用——都遇到同样的问题:他们需要从以太坊区块链中查询数据。到目前为止,每个人都通过构建一个随机、脆弱、专有、中心化的索引服务器来解决这个问题。 每。 个。 人。 但是,为什么开发者不能直接查询例如 Geth 或 Parity 这样的以太坊客户端呢?他们是可以这样做,但 Geth 和 Parity 既没有提供强大的搜索功能,也不能以任何方式扩展的大规模查询。因此,到目前为止,基于以太坊开发的每个团队都构建了一个专有的、中心化的、脆弱的搜索功能。 The Graph 通过 GraphQL 端点,使用分布式、冗余、无需许可网络,给开发者提供以太坊和 IPFS(随着时间发展,还会有其它的数据源)来解决这个问题。为什么要使用 GraphQL 呢?因为它提供了优雅的查询接口——以至于 许多 web2 公司 正在从 REST 迁移到 GraphQL——而且它非常灵活。考虑到存储在以太坊、IPFS 和其他区块链数据的维度,该级别的灵活性是必不可少的。 那么,查询数据到底有多重要呢?虽然以太坊网络每天的交易记录不到 100 万 条,但开发人员每天查询 Infura 的次数超过 100 亿 次。Infura 是一个中心化的“键—值对”查阅服务(它不提供索引和查询服务)。随着 web3 应用的增长和消费者每天产生数以百万甚至十亿的 web3 交易,The Graph 的使用将呈指数级增长。 作为去中心化网络的一部分,为什么人们愿意运行一个 Graph 节点呢?简而言之:他们会因此得到报酬。The Graph 将采用 工作类代币 模型,以及其他一些机制,来让开发者参数化他们希望 The Graph 索引的数据。 开发世界级查询层 The Graph 团队刚刚举办了 Graph Day,他们将会在接下来的几周内发布查询服务的 1.0 版本。今年晚些时候,他们将会推出一个去中心化网络,允许开发者为他们的应用程序选择合适的信任模型。 我们非常激动能够支持 The Graph,并期望看到开发者在它上面开发令人惊叹的应用程序。 The Graph 要解决的问题是巨大的,同时也是 web3 的基础。如果你想帮助实现这个目标,The Graph 正在招聘。
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