Know Your Indexer #22 | DataNexus


Know Your Indexer, a segment that allows you to get to know and feel closer to your favorite Indexer. In this opportunity we are pleased to introduce the Data Nexus team to the community.

This is a team that we always see active on social media supporting their delegators and in this segment you can learn more about them and their work on the network.


Data Nexus interview

Zuni:

  1. Team background

Data Nexus team:

  • Derek has been in the Database Development/Administration industry for 7 years
  • Vincent graduated from DePaul University in 2020 with a Bachelor in Computer Science and is finishing up his Masters of Science in Cyber Security. He has his own indexer which has been indexing on the mainnet for over a year.

Zuni:

  1. When was the first time you heard about the graph and why did you decide to get involved in the project?

Data Nexus team: I first heard about The Graph in June 2021 from a Coinbase learn and earn. When it mentioned that this protocol ‘indexes’ blockchain data I got immediately excited that this was an area I know very well and can leverage my prior experience to give value back to the protocol.

Zuni:

  1. How many indexers participate in the network? Do you plan to integrate others in the future?

Data Nexus team: We have our indexer, but also Vincent has his own personal indexer as well. 1. We operate the Data Nexus indexer currently on the ethereum mainnet but are very excited to participate in the MIPs program to expand the decentralized service to additional chains. We already have 4 archive nodes prepared and should have this up to close to 20 by the end of the year.

Zuni:

  1. In addition to indexers, does your team have other members who participate in different roles in the network?

Data Nexus team: In addition to our role as an indexer, we also help build subgraphs for larger consumers. We built the Rocket Pool subgraph and are currently working on a larger subgraph for a lending protocol. Our intent behind this is to leverage some of my database architecture experience to help build high quality subgraphs and thus expand the consumer base of the protocol. This has a unique effect in that it benefits all indexers (since we share query volume).

Zuni:

  1. Why should delegators choose you? How do you create bonds of communication and trust between them and you?

Data Nexus team: We’re very active in most channels (discord, graphtronauts, The Graph Germany telegram group, Curation Station, Graph AdvocatesDAO) as well as our own discord server.

Zuni:

  1. For those people who are not yet participating in the network, how would you explain to them what the graph is and why they should join our community?

Data Nexus team: When we say “The Graph Indexes data”, most have no clue what that means. By indexing we mean an optimized method of storing data so we can quickly refer to it later. The ethereum network has ~1m new contracts being created on a quarterly basis - which means a lot of data being stored on the blockchain in a big unorganized pile (or heap). Gathering data from this heap becomes slow so developers are looking for intelligent solutions to ensure their applications load rapidly - The Graph is the most elegant solution to this issue. Our community is filled with intelligent builders solving real problems while maintaining a decentralized ethos.

Zuni:

  1. The Advocates program was recently launched, how would you motivate the community to participate in this program?

Data Nexus team: There as tons of people who are enthusiastic about The Graph and want to find ways to help grow the protocol. This program was established to help people find ways that they can contribute even if they have no technical experience.

Zuni:

  1. What do you like the most about being part of this project and how do you contribute to its growth?

Data Nexus team: 1. Everyone in the advocates program is aligned with the common goal of wanting to see a decentralized future and wanting to expand The Graph to solve data problems. This makes for a very fun ethos. One effort that I am leading with some of the advocates with minimal tech experience is to help applications write documentation on their respective websites for their subgraph. A few examples can be found here: Premia, LooksRare, ENS

Zuni:

  1. Which blockchain networks are you excited to index for The Graph?

Data Nexus team: I’m excited for Polygon because I feel like that one will be on the difficult side but also highly rewarding in terms of query demand. I am also very interested in learning more about the cosmos ecosystem and starting to build substreams for cosmos. Due to their higher block speeds, the current indexing infrastructure that exists is very unreliable. The Graph has a huge advantage as soon as we step foot in there.

Zuni:

  1. What are you excited about the future of The Graph?

Data Nexus team: Continuing to work with some of the brightest minds in the data and web3 spaces.


INFORMATION ABOUT THE INDEXER
Social Networks
Discord
Twitter
Website
Wallet Address: 0x87eba079059b75504c734820d6cf828476754b83


If you want to participate in this segment, follow the next steps:

1 . Ask your questions in this post by leaving a comment
2 . You can review the other comments and see the answers directly from the Indexer
3 . Don’t forget to share this with your friends and colleagues to learn about the exciting ecosystem of The Graph ! :man_astronaut: :stars:

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Thank you Zuni and Derek! It was a pleasure to participate in this. If anyone has any other questions for us, we’re happy to answer!

1 Like

Why does polygon stick out to you as a “difficult” chain over say arbitrum or optimism? Do you anticipate arbitrum and optimism also becoming “as difficult” as polygon over time?

The faster block times and current state size make it a bulkier and rapidly growing blockchain (similar to how BSC is a harder chain to index). I would say that my personal view is polygon has some great applications building on it that make it appealing to contribute to.