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SQD (fka Subsquid) - Public Data Indexing Infrastructure for Polkadot and Kusama (Q3 2024)
Summary
Proponent: Subsquid Lab Official - 13bfKSQXoBn3AMLtZaW6BKv797fqZzsD3PYF6xpJDir3tdoE Beneficiary: Subsquid Lab Official - 13bfKSQXoBn3AMLtZaW6BKv797fqZzsD3PYF6xpJDir3tdoE
Contact Details: Subsquid Labs GmbH 6300 Zug, Switzerland mf@subsquid.io
Short description: Ongoing development and maintenance costs for public SQD Archives
Archive raw data: Archive Infrastructure Metrics - July, August, September
Requested: $310,592.98
Previous proposals: https://polkadot.polkassembly.io/referenda/1447
Motivation
A) Archives
Archives are an important piece of Polkadot and Kusama data infrastructure provided by SQD (formerly Subsquid). They provide access to on-chain data for public chains in the Polkadot ecosystem. They are being used as a data source for Squids and for efficient data exploration and ad-hoc queries. The Archives, as performant data sources of historical on-chain data, are critical to the operation of backend APIs run by major projects in the Polkadot ecosystem.
Popular Polkadot dApps and projects that depend on SQD include the following:
- Tanssi Network
- Talisman Wallet
- Polimec
- Polkassembly
- Apillon
- Hydration
- Giant Squid API (maintained by LimeChain)
- SubWallet
- FiDi
- KodaDot
- RMRK
- ChainSafe (in particular the Multix multi-sig, as well as other projects)
- Phala Network
- Stellaswap
- Polkascan
Since the beginning of 2024, SQD has transitioned to a paid model for supporting parachains. However, public chains continue to be available for free use. Throughout the Q3 of 2024, we provided a free public data indexing service for Substrate blockchains, allowing interested parties to access indexed data on Substrate Events, Extrinsics, Storage Items, and EVM logs. Below is a list of the public chains we currently support at no cost:
- polkadot
- kusama
- asset-hub-kusama
- asset-hub-polkadot
- bridge-hub-polkadot
- collectives-polkadot
- rococo
- westend
B) Contribution
During Q3 2024, we addressed real-world use cases that were highly requested by the community:
- Supported Substrate extrinsic v5, enhancing compatibility for newer Substrate-based chains.
- Updated squid templates to the new data decoder interface.
Achievements
Increase in Archival Data Demand and Infrastructure Scaling
During Q3’24, archival data demand increased approximately 3.6 times, from 3,265 GiB in Q2 to 11,713 GiB in Q3. We addressed the increasing demand for archival data by enhancing our infrastructure's throughput and redundancy through deploying archives to OVHCloud in addition to GCE, while also empowering our maintenance and engineering teams to support the expanded infrastructure effectively.
Decentralization of the SQD Network Enhancing the Polkadot Ecosystem:
In Q3’24, we continued to empower the SQD Network, driving forward our mission to strengthen the Polkadot ecosystem’s decentralization and resilience. By the end of the quarter, the SQD network had grown to include 1139 active Worker Nodes, securely storing 574TB of data and serving approximately 11TB of data per day. This expanding decentralized infrastructure enhances data processing and storage capabilities, delivering increased security, fault tolerance, and scalability for the Polkadot network.
Statistics and data
Over the course of Q3 2024:
- Served a total of 12,576,410,498,732 (~11.44 TiB) of data from the substrate based archives.
- Served 979,736 archive requests from substrate based archives.
- The highest daily total data transfer recorded for Substrate was 375.57 GiB within a single 24-hour period (2024-09-19).
Costing
This proposal encompasses the combined costs for running Archives for Polkadot, Kusama, and other public chains, along with the development contributions, amounting to a total of $310,592.98.
Raw data for Archives can be seen here.
The proposal is submitted towards the Polkadot treasury. Here is a summary of the running costs for Archives, in a tabular format:
Contribution costs:
Comments (7)
Requested
Proposal Passed
Summary
0%
Aye
0%
Nay
Aye (64)0.0 DOT
Support0.0 DOT
Nay (35)0.0 DOT
Many thanks for your proposal, Subsquid Labs Official!
We have carefully reviewed your application and are pleased to share our assessment below, prepared using our standardized evaluation methodology.
Summary of our analysis
■ Impact on the Ecosystem
The proposal significantly enhances Polkadot’s long-term development and resilience by maintaining SQD Archives, which provide free on-chain data access critical for projects like Tanssi Network. It addresses data demand growth and decentralizes infrastructure, fostering interoperability and parachain development.
■ Governance Compatibility
The proposal aligns well with the MediumSpender origin, requesting $310,592.98 within the 100,000 DOT limit, and builds on the successful precedent of referendum #1447. It meaningfully engages the governance system with detailed documentation, supporting transparent decision-making.
■ Cost-Benefit Ratio
The $310,592.98 is proportionate to the benefits of sustained data access and infrastructure scaling, offering substantial value by fostering ecosystem growth. While reasonable compared to similar proposals, the lack of cheaper alternative exploration slightly limits cost efficiency.
■ Transparency and Traceability
The proposal communicates general fund usage and past metrics but lacks specific future KPIs, detailed budgets, and success criteria. Raw data is provided, yet the absence of a formal reporting plan hinders comprehensive tracking and evaluation.
■ Record and Credibility
Subsquid Labs demonstrates credibility through verifiable contributions like SQD Archives and open-source tools, supported by GitHub repositories and partnerships. Their proven ability to scale infrastructure and deliver technical upgrades ensures capability to implement the proposal.
Conclusion
🔹🔷🔹 vonFlandern 🔹🔷🔹 has therefore voted with: ** AYE **
Our methodology aims to analyze and evaluate OpenGov proposals objectively, effectively, and transparently, establishing clear decision-making foundations for our votes while making our process visible to the community.
For a deeper dive into our evaluation, please see the detailed report here.
We actively use Subsquid's services and appreciate the team's efforts in helping solve ecosystem's data problem. It would be helpful for the community and us, if we are able to get the split of costs/revenue accommodating the money charged to individual projects like Polkassembly.