OKG Research: The widespread adoption of AI and Web3 relies on this “invisible” technology

More than 40 years ago, in the early development of computer science, the first APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) emerged to enable data sharing and exchange between different applications. With the spread of the Internet and cloud computing, APIs have gradually become ubiquitous.

Today, in the Web3 space, as most projects and organizations begin to focus on data and application innovation, APIs are becoming increasingly important. During a conversation with Victor, the product manager of OKLink at OKEx, he said, “Whether it’s a blockchain explorer or an on-chain data service provider, APIs are indispensable.”

1. Why are APIs “indispensable”?

More and more people are trying to integrate AI products like ChatGPT into their daily work routines for brainstorming, summarizing text, retrieving translations or composing emails. All of these rely on APIs: like an “amplifier for AI technology,” APIs allow complex AI technologies to be rapidly integrated into applications by more developers and organizations, making it easier for users to use AI, and thus leading to widespread adoption and explosive growth of the technology.

From this perspective, many of the AI ​​applications we see today are actually recreations based on APIs. After all, not all organizations have the ability to start research from scratch, but with APIs, everyone has the opportunity to participate in the exploration and practice of more AI applications.

Domestic and international giants such as OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Baidu have now opened up a wealth of artificial intelligence API interfaces and are engaged in fierce competition around APIs. Because behind APIs lies the ecosystem: whoever’s API can be chosen and used by more organizations and developers will have a greater advantage in future competition.

In the Web3 world, APIs cannot be overlooked, especially in the area of ​​Web3 data. Although on-chain data is theoretically open and transparent and accessible to all, it is often difficult to access directly. This is especially true when applications such as wallets or NFTs require data from multiple blockchain networks, as the data structures and output formats may differ, and they must conform to different API interface specifications for repeated data calls, resulting in a massive and complex workload.

However, for most DApp and crypto application developers, it is essential to link on-chain data at scale when building the product frontend and providing services. From setting up nodes to data filtering and successfully retrieving the required data, each step requires a significant amount of time. If there are useful APIs that can solve these problems, it will undoubtedly free users and developers from the large amounts of on-chain data and address many data challenges that enterprises and brands are facing when entering the Web3 market. APIs can be seen as possible technologies hidden beneath the surface of blockchain, which really drive the construction of the Web3 ecosystem.

Today, many organizations providing blockchain data API services are emerging in the Web3 market, mainly consisting of blockchain explorers and on-chain data service providers. Taking OKLink’s OpenAPI as an example, it currently supports block data from more than 40 mainstream public chains and provides token price data from more than 200 blockchain networks, covering more than 7 million tokens and NFTs, as well as comprehensive data on popular protocols, including runes, BRC20, and ARC20. “More importantly, we adopt an integrated API interface design. Users only need to use one API to access all data from more than 40 chains in one stop,” said Victor.

2. What is the use of data APIs in the Web3 field?

After accessing on-chain data through APIs, what can we actually do with it? Many people are unclear. In fact, this data plays a role in numerous public chains, wallets, DApps, and security-related Web3 projects and platforms.

Recently, the Meme narrative has become popular, and Sui, as the hottest L1 public chain, is also attracting widespread attention. If a wallet wants to integrate Sui into its product and support data querying and mining for popular Meme coins, what should it do?

The most direct way is of course to build a node to obtain Sui chain data, but this has costs associated with self-built nodes, block synchronization, data storage and maintenance. In contrast, using the API services provided by OKLink is a lighter and more efficient choice. Developers can quickly access data across multiple dimensions such as transactions, addresses, and tokens through simple API calls, and can track and visualize transaction data for specific wallet addresses to meet user market requirements.

Media or on-chain analysts can also access data through APIs and analyze specific data dimensions based on their needs, thereby obtaining more accurate and reliable on-chain information for their professional work and investment decisions. Various Web3 marketplaces and platforms can use blockchain data APIs to access and update on-chain data in real-time, and visualize it on the platform frontend. Therefore, although we may not always directly see the existence of on-chain data APIs, we have used or come into contact with related products and services to some extent.

In the future, more and more brands and enterprises will seek to build Web3 applications or platforms, either starting from scratch or upgrading existing technologies. Using blockchain data APIs will make these tasks simpler. And APIs will accompany the development and aging of these applications, making on-chain data ubiquitous in the Web3 world.