We are racing toward Web3 with the promise of improved usability and functionality of decentralized applications for participants, brought about by greater infrastructure interoperability and better tools for developers looking to build custom apps. These tools are coming in the form of environments that guide blockchain developers in how to build apps and streamline processes for the sake of both ease and security. Even if you have a passing interest in blockchain and its development, you probably would have heard about RPCs, APIs, and nodes in this context.

RPCs, APIs, and nodes are nothing new to the world of computing, but they have greater visibility in blockchain products. This is down to the fact that blockchain is still a new, developing sector, which hasn't had as long as Web2 applications to perfect user interface layers that hide pretty much all complexity from users. Consequently, the application's internal processes aren't as far removed from those interacting with them. This can be seen in the example of MetaMask; to add a new connection to a blockchain, the user is required to input the RPC network information manually.

While some may like to have this agency and control within the products they use, it doesn't necessarily aid widespread adoption, which is precisely why having better tools and environments for builders is crucial.

We will explore this area in this blog, addressing:

  • The functions of RPCs, APIs, and nodes.
  • Why RPC providers are important in blockchain development.
  • How new developments will usher in Web3 sooner, rather than later.

So whether you are a developer who wants to build apps or just someone interested in how blockchain works, read on for a comprehensive overview.

RPCs, APIs, and nodes

To understand blockchain development, knowing about the fundamentals is key. This is where we encounter RPCs, APIs, and nodes.

What's the difference between RPCs and APIs?

RPC stands for Remote Procedure Call and involves a client request to a receiver, establishing a direct connection to a server for the purposes of retrieving information. As one example, without a remote procedure call, a DEX wouldn't be able to display accurate pricing information. RPC connections are set up so that this can happen.

An Application Programming Interface, or API, works alongside an RPC; the RPC establishes the connection to one or multiple servers, and the API then allows for back-and-forth communication between them.

Confusion arises because when explained in short, RPCs and APIs are both described as involving requests for information—but let's break this down:

  • RPCs are limited in that they involve making a specific request (which can be setting up a connection or retrieving certain blockchain data).
  • APIs provide a complete framework for communication once a connection has been established between different servers. They can take advantage of the information provided by remote procedure calls, but go further to allow—as mentioned above—two-way encoding of information, that is, read and write access.

Following on from this, we can come back to the example of the decentralized exchange. RPCs can make specific calls for information such as pricing, which is used to facilitate processes such as a cryptocurrency transaction. The API, as a communication framework with read and write access, is able to then record details like updated wallet balances to the relevant blockchain.

Where do nodes come into the picture?

You will often see the word node used in the world of blockchain. Node is just another word for server; a computer that stores information. Key to a blockchain network's decentralization is the network of nodes throughout the world, which relay information to each other and confirm transactions or other activity that occurs on the blockchain. There is no central point of authority, and no single point of failure, making it extremely hard for one entity to control or attack.

Nodes don't just have one kind of function; we often hear about them in the context of recording & validating transactions and creating new blocks once a network is set up, but nodes are also key to building a decentralized application.

Building Dapps with RPC nodes

When it comes to the building of decentralized applications, most developers use RPC nodes. The RPC node is a base element around which the app's infrastructure is built and information is stored. Sounds simple enough, right? In the next section, we'll look at what role RPC providers can play in helping to boost development.

Why are RPC providers important in blockchain development?

As we've established, RPC nodes are essential to creating decentralized applications, but this actually requires a lot of work; RPC node requests alone aren't able to filter and aggregate data, and as mentioned above, are only the first step in making an expansive and functional application work as it should.

Infrastructure needs to be built around the node, and without a big dedicated team, maintaining it and ensuring security can be difficult, especially if an RPC connection with many different blockchains is required.

This is where RPC providers come in, with RPC, API, and software development products that mean you don't have to build from scratch. Established infrastructure providers such as Ankr offer all the connections and tools to build out a decentralized application in an efficient and secure way. Not only is this great for developers, but helps to usher in an advanced suite of easy-to-use Web3 products, which, in turn, onboards new users.

Building on NEAR Protocol

NEAR blockchain is public Proof of Stake infrastructure for creating decentralized applications. Over the last year it has grown at a spectacular rate due to a few key features:

  • Carbon-neutral – NEAR has been awarded the Climate Neutral product label by South Pole, meaning it has become a blockchain for the increasing number of environmentally-focused Regenerative Finance (ReFi) applications.
  • Nightshade sharding – More users bring more transactions, leading to, as in the case of Ethereum, slow transaction processing and high fees. Achieving scalability is the key to allowing for speed, security, and decentralization, the difficulties of which are detailed in the blockchain trilemma. NEAR's Nightshade sharding architecture ensures the network can manage transactions successfully even at peak times, without the need for Layer 2 scaling solutions.
  • Interoperability – If you build your apps to be interoperable across blockchains, you will reach the most people and have the greatest chance of success. NEAR provides solutions for both developers and users to connect to Ethereum, the blockchain ecosystem that presently hosts the largest number of decentralized applications, through: Aurora – An Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), which allows developers to launch Ethereum compatible applications on the NEAR network; Rainbow Bridge – A NEAR Protocol bridge built so that users can quickly and easily transfer Ethereum and many other ERC-20 assets to its blockchain.
  • Developer friendly – Along with the EVM for interoperability, NEAR puts a lot into ensuring developers get the best possible experience and support when building on its blockchain. This includes: Guilds — specialist developer teams from around the world who provide support to those creating a Dapp on the NEAR blockchain; fair payment from fees that developers' smart contracts generate; grants from the NEAR Foundation; CLI, SDKs, and APIs to assist efficient and cost-effective development using different languages, even JavaScript.

NEAR RPC providers

NEAR gives developers clear set up instructions for the RPC NEAR API, as well as a list of RPC providers that help with connecting to and interacting with the NEAR Protocol ecosystem. As mentioned above, these tools allow developers to more efficiently build out a functional Web3 application in a secure environment—without having to reinvent the wheel.

Spotlight on Gynn.io

Update: GYNN has since been discontinued and is no longer operating; the section below is preserved as a record of the product at the time of writing. Gynn.io, then the latest product from the INC4 team, gave NEAR builders the chance to achieve their development goals without the headaches. Drawing on our experience of building our leveraged yield farming app, PembRock Finance, on NEAR, we developed GYNN to expedite the development process in a secure way.

In a nutshell, GYNN:

  • Was a magic RPC provider that removed the headache of node management.
  • Allowed users to outsource their node infrastructure in a quick and easy manner — authorization could be achieved through a Google or GitHub account.
  • Operated the nodes and ensured 100% uptime so that users didn't have to.
  • Provided flexibility to ensure that development didn't stop because of overloads.
  • Offered a tool, GYNN Nodes Benchmark, which helped users see the most suitable node for their operations, tracking how stable the performance of each provider had been in the last 24 hours via criteria such as response rate and request duration.

How did GYNN compare to the competition?

GYNN wasn't the first RPC provider and wasn't the last, but the team built it with the expertise and motivation to assist every single user and build trust in the Web3 community, which was extremely important in what was then a developing sector.

  • INC4 was a NEAR Guild, and through work with different builders, understood exactly what they needed. The platform was built around the continuous feedback of developers.
  • It supported archival nodes! Many providers stayed quiet about only working with full nodes, leaving clients' projects unsupported. GYNN was a provider that ensured stable performance not only for full nodes but also for archival ones.
  • The software rapidly reacted to failures, controlled all resources, and automatically added new nodes if the load was 80% or higher, aiming for the smoothest experience possible.
  • Using internal statistics, developers could check all the request parameters they needed, receiving comprehensive stats.
  • Built-in functionality limited endpoint requests to a specific domain, so that even if a token was taken over, it couldn't be used on another domain.

RPC Infrastructure Today

In sum, RPCs and APIs are both crucial to creating a Dapp that interacts with different blockchain networks. Just like in the Web2 app-building world, there need to be development tools that not only make the process of creation easier, but also provide the safety that is needed to ensure that there are no major problems along the way.

GYNN was INC4's attempt at solving that problem as a standalone product; today, that same node-management and infrastructure-reliability discipline lives inside INC4's Compute Infrastructure practice, where it's applied directly to client systems rather than sold as a separate service — alongside sister practices in Blockchain Hub, AI Lab, Algotrading, and MLOps & DevOps.

If you have a great idea but don't have a development team on board to realize it, get in touch with us; INC4 offers full product development with a custom team that knows the best way to build apps depending on your requirements. We have successfully delivered over 80 products, across services that include:

  • Smart contract architecture
  • Full-cycle Dapp development
  • Infrastructure and RPC node reliability
  • Blockchain consulting
  • And much more…