The Graph

About The Graph (GRT)

What Is The Graph (GRT)?

The Graph is an indexing and query protocol that turns raw blockchain data into structured APIs applications can query. Its core product, the subgraph, is a custom GraphQL API that extracts and serves data from smart contracts, and its documentation describes a suite of data services spanning more than 60 networks. GRT is the work token: operators stake it to index and serve queries, consumers pay query fees in it, and curators signal with it to direct indexing effort.

Official resources:

• Website
• Documentation
• Graph Horizon documentation
• Graph Node on GitHub

Who Founded The Graph? (History)

The Graph was started in early 2018 by Yaniv Tal, Brandon Ramirez and Jannis Pohlmann, who ran into the fact that Ethereum offers no query language beyond low-level RPC calls. The project first ran a centralized hosted service, held a public GRT sale in October 2020 and launched the decentralized network that December. The original company became Edge and Node, still a core developer team alongside StreamingFast, Semiotic, GraphOps, The Guild and Pinax. In 2023 the protocol contracts moved from Ethereum mainnet to Arbitrum One, and the hosted service was later retired.

How The Graph Works

A developer defines a subgraph with three files: a manifest, subgraph.yaml, declaring which contracts and events to index; a schema, schema.graphql, defining the entities a consumer can query; and mappings in AssemblyScript that translate on-chain events into those entities. Indexers run Graph Node and serve GraphQL queries, Curators signal GRT to show where demand is, Delegators stake to Indexers without operating hardware, and consumers pay query fees after a monthly free allowance.

Key Ecosystem Components

• Subgraphs, the custom GraphQL APIs used by dapp frontends, dashboards and marketplaces
• Substreams, a parallel indexing technology for low-latency, high-throughput streaming data
• Amp, which provides SQL access to enterprise-ready datasets with compliance and audit trails

GRT Token Utility

GRT coordinates every role. Indexers must self-stake a minimum of 100,000 GRT and can accept up to sixteen times that in delegated stake; they earn query fees plus indexing rewards funded by a 3 percent annual issuance. Delegators pay a 0.5 percent delegation tax and wait a 28-epoch unbonding period of roughly 26 days to withdraw. Curators pay a 1 percent curation tax that is burned, and 1 percent of query fees is burned as well.

Penalties back the rewards: Indexers that behave maliciously can have 2.5 percent of their self-stake slashed and 50 percent of the associated indexing rewards burned.

What Makes The Graph Unique?

Blockchains are optimized for verification, not for reading: state lives in low-level storage, history requires expensive archive nodes, and there is no query language. The Graph made that work a permissionless market with staked capital, economic penalties and a standard interface, and Graph Horizon extends it so services beyond subgraphs can use the same economic layer.

How The Graph Differs from Similar Projects

Chainlink and Pyth move data in the opposite direction, bringing off-chain information onto a chain for contracts to consume. Pocket Network decentralizes RPC access, giving raw node calls rather than indexed, schema-defined entities, Covalent offers a unified cross-chain data API, and Arweave stores data permanently but does not index it. The Graph occupies the indexing and query layer specifically.

Use Cases of The Graph

• Powering dapp frontends that need contract history without running archive nodes
• NFT marketplaces querying ownership, listings and transfer history
• Low-latency data feeds built on Substreams

How The Graph Is Secured

Security here is crypto-economic rather than cryptographic. Indexers put capital at risk through self-stake, and delegated stake amplifies that exposure, so serving incorrect data can cost real money through slashing and burned rewards. Disputes are resolved through an arbitration process documented under the Graph Horizon arbitration charter.

Risks and Considerations

Indexing rewards are inflationary at 3 percent a year, so the long-term case depends on query fee demand growing enough to carry the network without heavy issuance. Delegation is not risk-free: the tax is paid up front and a slashed Indexer affects its delegators. Curation signal can lose value if a subgraph stops attracting queries, and the network competes with well-funded centralized data APIs that do not need a token to function.

Why The Graph Matters

Almost every serious blockchain application needs indexed history, and almost none want to build it. The Graph turned that shared dependency into public infrastructure with an open market attached.

Where Can You Buy The Graph (GRT)?

GRT is listed on major centralized exchanges including Kraken, Binance, Coinbase Exchange, OKX, Bitstamp, Crypto.com Exchange and MEXC, and on-chain it trades on Uniswap v3 on Arbitrum One and Uniswap v2 on Ethereum.

Storage Options After Purchase

GRT is a standard ERC-20 token and works in any EVM-compatible wallet, with a hardware wallet recommended for larger balances. Because the protocol lives on Arbitrum One, delegating or curating requires GRT on that network rather than on Ethereum mainnet.

Related Coins

• Chainlink (LINK)
• Pyth Network (PYTH)
• Pocket Network (POKT)
• Covalent X Token (CXT)
• Arweave (AR)