In the ever-evolving Web3.0 ecosystem, decentralized applications (dApps) are experiencing rapid growth. Their increasing value highlights their potential and expands the demand for the integration of real-world data, making the decentralized oracle landscape one of the most crucial components in the on-chain ecosystem. However, a significant challenge persists: how to seamlessly and securely integrate off-chain data into the blockchain ecosystem. In this context, API3 emerges as a solution to address this challenge, aiming to fundamentally change the data interface between off-chain and on-chain environments.
API3 was launched in December 2020 as a groundbreaking first-party oracle project. Its goal is to enable the majority of APIs tailored for centralized applications to enter the decentralized world of Web3.0 without imposing significant burdens on API providers or dApp developers.
Unlike traditional third-party oracle networks, API3 focuses on first-party data providers. Its infrastructure revolves around the core concept of decentralized APIs (dAPI), utilizing serverless oracle nodes called Airnode. This allows API providers to directly connect their data to dApp projects, eliminating the reliance on traditional third-party intermediaries for data aggregation and transfer, commonly found in traditional oracle networks. dAPI is inherently compatible with blockchain technology, facilitating cross-chain integration and providing cross-platform oracle solutions.
API3’s governance model is based on a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO), empowering token holders with decision-making authority to ensure a transparent and community-driven ecosystem. There is reason to anticipate that API3’s innovative framework has the potential to meet the critical demand in the blockchain space for decentralized and trustworthy data sources. It may set new standards for the oracle landscape and on-chain data integration, establishing a more interconnected and efficient decentralized future.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/heikki-v%C3%A4nttinen-83a86380/?originalSubdomain=pt
Heikki Vanttinen, co-founder of API3, brings extensive work experience across various domains, particularly in blockchain technology and smart contract development. As the founder and CEO of CLC Group, Heikki focused on achieving seamless integration between smart contracts and the real world. He has demonstrated outstanding capabilities in disciplines such as business development, decentralized application development, and research. Additionally, his entrepreneurial journey and experience in market sales showcase his leadership and business insights in cross-functional team management, business expansion, and new market development.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/burak-benligiray-b3055715b/
Burak Benligiray, co-founder of API3 and core technical team lead, holds a Ph.D. in Electrical and Electronics Engineering. He previously served as a research assistant at the university, exploring various technical fields. Burak brings rich experience and exceptional technical skills in technological innovation and research, demonstrating profound expertise in blockchain technology and smart contracts. His commitment lies in building a decentralized and trust-minimized system.
According to Crunchbase, on November 12, 2020, API3 secured a $3 million seed funding round led by Placeholder. In this round, 13 institutions, including Pantera Capital, Accomplice, CoinFund, Digital Currency Group, Hashed, Solidity Ventures, participated in the investment.
Additionally, in the token public sale conducted in December 2020, API3 raised a total of $23 million.
The mechanics of API3 is illustrated in the diagram. In this structure, API3 functions as a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) that connects various parties. API providers earn revenue by supplying data, dApps pay subscription fees to enjoy data services from dAPI, and if users of a dApp detect issues with dAPI’s data, they can submit claims. Token stakers receive rewards and voting power in the API3 DAO through the staking mechanism. The specific mechanism will be detailed in the following sections.
In Web 2.0, APIs act as crucial bridges for data exchange between various digital platforms, serving as key enablers for seamless communication in modern digital services that support our daily lives. For example, when we use a ticket booking website to reserve a flight, the website typically relies on APIs to fetch real-time pricing and availability from various airline databases.
The concept of dAPI extends the application pattern of traditional APIs to the decentralized domain. Unlike traditional APIs that rely on centralized servers and third-party intermediaries, dAPI provides direct data feeds to users from data providers without the need for any intermediaries.
API3’s dAPI is built on the foundation of oracles that support Airnode, allowing API providers to connect their data sources directly to the blockchain network, enabling dApps to access real-world data in a secure and trustless manner. API3 offers two types of dAPIs for developers: managed dAPIs and self-funded dAPIs, catering to different potential use cases. Additionally, API3 utilizes multisignature wallets and governance protocols to manage changes to its dAPI configurations, balancing flexibility and security.
Managed dAPIs aggregate data from multiple first-party oracles and provide a more reliable and stable data source using a median function. This is suitable for production environments with high requirements for data quality and stability. In the managed dAPI model, users need to pay fees to API3 to use the service, and these fees cover operational and management costs.
The specific mechanism is illustrated in the diagram. Each API provider first sends data to a single aggregator, which processes and integrates data from different sources to ensure that dApps receive reliable and consistent information. dApps can retrieve processed data by calling dAPI and use this data to provide services. API3 DAO supervises the entire process through governance mechanisms such as voting, ensuring transparency and security in the system.
On the other hand, self-funded dAPI allows users to bear the costs and provides data through a single first-party oracle. This approach provides developers with more flexibility and autonomy, allowing them to experiment with and use data interfaces at a lower cost, making it particularly suitable for early-stage projects or applications sensitive to costs. In this mode, users need to fund the operation of self-funded dAPI, and these funds will be used to cover on-chain transaction fees, ensuring timely data updates.
The innovation brought by API3 in the dAPI model may signify a paradigm shift in data consumption patterns in decentralized environments in the future. This method not only directly reduces delays, costs, and potential failure points associated with third-party intermediaries but also enhances the security and reliability of data. It represents an important step forward in seeking completely decentralized and efficient data solutions in Web3.0. Moreover, the concept of dAPI allows API3 to go beyond the scope of oracle price feeding services and provides a decentralized potential implementation and support for ubiquitous API applications in our lives.
Airnode is a critical component of API3’s core technology, allowing API providers to transform their APIs into dAPIs and establishing a direct communication bridge between off-chain APIs and on-chain smart contracts, enabling the seamless flow of real-world data into the blockchain ecosystem.
Specifically, Airnode is a serverless oracle node, emphasizing decentralization and security in its architecture. The node is both easy for API providers to deploy and maintain and highly scalable. Unlike traditional oracles that typically require complex setups and intermediary services, Airnode’s design allows API providers to become first-party oracles directly without the involvement of third parties. This design principle ensures the integrity and security of the data.
In addition, another major advantage of Airnode is its simplified API integration process. This allows API providers to set up and operate as first-party oracle nodes with minimal blockchain knowledge and costs. This feature simplifies the process of API providers becoming first-party oracle nodes, making it frictionless and promoting the democratization of blockchain technology. It encourages a wider range of data providers to participate in the decentralized data market.
Therefore, fundamentally, Airnode’s design goes beyond being just an oracle solution; it serves as a foundational component for building a decentralized, secure, and user-centric data ecosystem. Through Airnode technology, API3 is poised to address common challenges faced by traditional oracle services, such as transparency, trust, and efficiency, paving the way for more powerful and reliable dApp development.
In the cryptocurrency space, Miner Extractable Value (MEV) has been a crucial concept, where block producers (such as miners or validators) can manipulate blocks by altering the order, inserting, or replacing transactions, earning additional profit. Oracle Extractable Value (OEV) can be considered as a subset of MEV.
Recently, API3 announced the launch of the ZK-Rollup platform, OEV Network. OEV Network is a ZK-Rollup network customized with Polygon CDK, designed to capture all OEV generated by dApps using API3. This initiative aims to address the common issue of value leakage in current DeFi operations. The adoption of rollup makes the entire process transparent and verifiable, enhancing decentralization and trustlessness, boosting user confidence in participation and usage.
To understand what OEV is, consider an auction scenario where everyone’s bids are visible, and the auctioneer can choose to consider the order of bids. This situation creates an opportunity for the auctioneer to strategically perform certain bids to benefit themselves or others, thereby earning additional income. When the oracle updates or pushes data to the blockchain, based on the time and manner of using this information, even slight differences in time or accuracy can create opportunities for the “supplier” to capture potential value, such as front-running, arbitrage, or liquidation.
The OEV Network developed by API3 aims to systematize and democratize this process. Functioning as a dedicated order flow auction platform, it captures the value generated by oracles during data updates and redistributes this value to DeFi protocols and their users. The process is executed through auctions, where the highest bidder wins the right to update the data source, and the fees paid are shared with dApps using API3 data sources.
By capturing OEV, API3 introduces a novel revenue source for dApps, strengthening the economic models of API providers and dApp projects. The winning bidder needs to pay an additional 10% fee on their bid, with half serving as API3’s revenue source and the other half being distributed to the oracle provider. This method of distributing captured OEV to API providers also incentivizes them to directly participate in the construction of the Web3.0 ecosystem, fostering a more fair and transparent data ecosystem. Additionally, the mechanism of on-chain auction feeding rights creates a decentralized and secure environment, promoting a fairer data ownership model and mitigating risks associated with centralized data feeding.
Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal praised API3’s innovative solution for oracle value extraction, considering it a significant breakthrough for the DeFi ecosystem.
In summary, API3’s OEV Network brings significant advancements to the dApp and oracle domains, addressing crucial inefficiency issues and unlocking new streams of value for participants. It has the potential to create a more balanced and financially sustainable ecosystem for data providers and users in the future.
According to the whitepaper, API3’s protocol revenue primarily comes from subscription fees paid by dApps, Oracle Extractable Value (OEV), and Service Coverage fees. The usage of protocol revenue includes but is not limited to supporting continuous project development, enhancing network security, covering operational costs, staking rewards, and rewarding potential stakeholders within the ecosystem. API3 governs the project through DAO to decide the allocation of its resources, ensuring the sustainability and stable growth of the project.
According to Etherscan, the current maximum total supply of the $API3 token is approximately 128 million, with a circulating supply of around 103 million. The non-circulating portion consists of reward tokens minted for token stakers, which will be unlocked one year after the reward date.
As shown in the chart, the largest holding address for $API3 tokens is the staking pool, and the second-largest is its treasury, together accounting for 62.6% of the total circulating supply. Additionally, major exchange addresses like Binance and OKX also hold a significant amount of $API3. Therefore, the actual circulating supply of $API3 in the market is relatively small, to some extent avoiding the occurrence of severe selling pressure.
In general, API3 comprehensively employs staking, collateralization, and governance in its tokenomics. The aim is to incentivize participation by ensuring token holders can influence the project’s direction, effectively manage resources, and participate in the ecosystem’s expansion. By combining these three utilities, API3 constructs a robust token system, achieving true decentralization in governance and operational activities.
The staking mechanism is a crucial core component of API3’s tokenomic model, designed to align stakeholders’ incentives with the project’s long-term success. By staking $API3 tokens, holders receive newly minted tokens as staking rewards (distributed weekly) and gain governance voting power in the API3 DAO. Simultaneously, the staked tokens serve as collateral, and in the event of dAPI failures, these tokens are used as compensation for users.
To ensure service continuity, product quality, and decentralized governance, API3 has established a “staking target” that constantly aims for a specific percentage of the total token supply to be staked. Currently, API3’s staking target is set at 64,097,566 tokens, and the actual staked amount has not yet reached this target. As illustrated in the graph, API3 DAO will increase the APR by 1% at each subsequent reward date to incentivize more holders to stake tokens until the staking target is met or the APR is increased to 75%.
Since the tokens received by stakers are minted, theoretically, this could lead to token inflation. To address this, API3 has implemented a deflationary mechanism. Firstly, as shown in the graph, the minted token rewards will be unlocked one year after the reward date, encouraging participants to hold and stake tokens for the long term rather than short-term speculation.
Secondly, API3 DAO requires users of dAPI to burn or lock $API3 tokens for a specific period to access data services. As indicated in the graph, by reviewing API3’s open-source code, it is observed that any address can independently decide whether to enable or disable its burning permission. Users can burn a specific quantity of tokens by calling the Burn function. This approach mitigates the inflation caused by newly minted tokens, effectively reducing market supply pressure for $API3. It benefits all token holders, enhances the confidence of long-term investors and participants in staking, and reinforces the overall sustainability of the ecosystem.
By examining the historical staking data of $API3, it is evident that since 2021, the staked amount of the token has remained consistently stable without experiencing significant fluctuations. Even during recent substantial price increases of $API3, the staking quantity has remained overall stable, indicating the effectiveness of API3’s staking mechanism and the absence of widespread selling. This serves as indirect proof of the efficiency of API3’s staking mechanism.
API3’s collateral mechanism can be viewed as an on-chain oracle service insurance product. This function is achieved by providing quantifiable security, and this security is manifested in the form of Service Coverage.
The entire process can be summarized into the following key steps:
Essentially, this process is akin to purchasing insurance, albeit without the need for traditional insurance policies. Once the protocol confirms a malfunction in the functionality of dAPI, users will receive compensation from the collateral pool. Moreover, API3 supports various types of cryptocurrencies (e.g., ETH), showcasing the diversification of its service and collateral mechanisms.
Crucially, API3’s collateral model is designed to introduce a negative feedback loop as a self-regulating mechanism, preventing the system from over-expanding and potential self-destructive behavior. Specifically, as API3 DAO expands and attracts new dAPI users, the increased risk of dAPI malfunctions triggering payouts also rises. Therefore, the potential demand for payouts provides API3 DAO with motivation during the governance process not to excessively increase the load, ensuring API3 does not undertake unnecessary risks for short-term gains. This approach aids in encouraging and promoting responsible and sustainable growth and development of API3 DAO.
Through this approach, the incentives of dAPI users and other token stakers become aligned as they share a common goal of preventing system malfunctions. Stakers have the incentive to supervise and maintain the healthy operation of dAPI due to the potential insurance payouts, while users benefit from the stability and reliability of the system. Moreover, since claimants of Service Coverage must stake tokens to make claims, it raises the cost of making claims, reducing the probability of false or abusive claims. This mechanism prevents the system from being exploited by individuals who might misuse the coverage mechanism for personal gain rather than the health of the system. Ultimately, the self-adjusting mechanism of the negative feedback loop contributes to curbing drastic fluctuations in the token’s value. In token economics, stability is crucial for attracting long-term investors and users. By suppressing excessive risks and failure rates, this loop helps establish confidence in $API3 as a token for long-term value storage.
In API3 DAO, the only way to obtain governance voting rights is by staking $API3 tokens. Consequently, governance participants bear all the risks and rewards associated with API3. As mentioned earlier, if governance participants do not actively engage, leading to a surge in claims, they will incur losses, and the tokens they staked will re-enter the market for purchase by new governance participants. Conversely, effective governance can reduce the supply of $API3 tokens in the market due to scarcity, potentially causing an increase in token prices, resulting in higher returns for governance participants. This mechanism enables continuous self-improvement and recovery from failures, achieving true decentralization for API3 DAO.
Overall, API3’s tokenomics is a carefully designed and complex model. The $API3 token serves multiple purposes, including staking, acting as collateral, participating in the insurance pool, holding governance voting rights, and accessing dAPI services. The model combats potential token inflation by setting reward lock-up periods and incorporating a token-burning mechanism, thereby reducing selling pressure. Importantly, the economic model intertwines $API3 token value (supply) deeply with the operation and risks of the project. In this context, governance becomes a pivotal tool for participants to implement incentives, maximizing the motivation for token stakers to actively participate in governance and mitigate their own risks. API3 thus tightly links the long-term development of the project with stakeholders, ensuring the project’s stable and sustained growth. This approach significantly promotes the realization of true decentralization.
In recent years, the oracle landscape has witnessed significant growth and development due to its unique technical capabilities and widespread use cases. According to CoinGecko, the total market cap of the oracle landscape has exceeded $13 billion. As an indispensable component of blockchain technology, oracles bridge the information gap between the crypto and real worlds, providing smart contracts with a means of accessing external data.
Historically, Chainlink has been the absolute leader in the oracle race. According to DefiLlama, Chainlink currently serves over 50 different networks and 360 protocols, with a Total Value Secured (TVS) exceeding $17 billion, significantly higher than its competitors. However, this market dominance does not imply an absence of challenges and competitors. API3, positioning itself as a first-party oracle solution, emphasizes direct data feeds from data providers to the blockchain. It aims to reduce dependency and potential failure points associated with third-party oracles like Chainlink, providing a competitive advantage in data accuracy and latency.
In August 2020, nine operators of Chainlink nodes fell victim to an attack. As Chainlink nodes operate by responding to smart contract requests, fetching and verifying real-world data, and delivering this data to smart contracts, the process incurs Ethereum gas fees to cover the execution of these operations. The attacker initiated the attack by sending a significant number of seemingly valid price feed requests to Chainlink nodes. This led to a sudden surge in Ethereum gas fees for node operators. Subsequently, the attacker leveraged $Chi, developed by 1inch as a gas token, to hedge against gas price fluctuations. After minting, the attacker sold these tokens for $ETH, effectively draining $ETH from the node wallets and causing a loss of approximately 700 $ETH.
Despite taking timely remedial measures following the incident, Chainlink has consistently worked to enhance its protocol to improve network security and reliability. However, considering the significant importance of oracles in on-chain ecosystems, risks associated with oracles will remain a crucial and unavoidable consideration. For instance, Mango Markets and Bonq DAO later suffered substantial losses due to oracle attacks. Notably, attackers exploited the mechanism of third-party oracles to carry out these attacks. In contrast, first-party oracles present a different solution.
Traditional third-party oracles are nodes hosted by intermediaries who aggregate external data and feed it into smart contracts. This mechanism introduces additional trust layers and potential costs for data consumers who must trust both data providers and intermediaries. It may raise concerns about central failure points, data manipulation risks, transparency, and trust. To incentivize honest behavior from third-party nodes, these oracles often incur middleman tax, an additional cost not present in the first-party oracle model. In a sense, the mechanism of third-party oracles may not be considered truly decentralized. In contrast, API3, as a first-party oracle, allows API providers to operate oracle nodes, providing a more secure and cost-effective way of decentralization while enhancing data reliability and integrity.
When discussing first-party oracles, it’s essential to mention the recently popular Pyth Network protocol. The following analysis will compare API3 and Pyth Network.
It is evident that both projects have made significant contributions to the Web3.0 ecosystem by addressing the crucial need for reliable, decentralized data sources. API3’s main advantages include a broader range of data applications, fully decentralized DAO governance, low operational complexity, cost-effectiveness, high transparency, and a robust tokenomic model.
From the data, it’s evident that Pyth Network has a greater advantage in terms of integration depth and coverage. However, this doesn’t imply a lack of competitiveness for API3. The current fewer integrated protocols provide API3 an opportunity to focus on delivering high-quality services and deepening its presence on the serviced blockchains. With continuous blockchain technology development and growing application scenarios, API3 can expand its market share by increasing integration services, protocol support, and enhancing its value proposition. Additionally, API3’s relatively smaller market size may bring flexibility, enabling rapid adaptation to market changes and user needs, offering significant growth and expansion potential. In the future, we anticipate that API3, through innovation and optimization, will continuously elevate its position within the industry.
Therefore, there are still reasons to maintain an optimistic outlook on the development prospects of API3. Coupled with the introduction of the OEV Network discussed earlier, envisioning the combination of dAPI architecture with OEV Network and ZK-Rollup, governed by a fully decentralized DAO, suggests that API3’s future might extend beyond being just an intermediary component providing oracle services. It could potentially evolve into foundational infrastructure for the development of on-chain ecosystems and dApp projects, even harboring the potential to disrupt the current market dominance by third-party oracles.
While API3 brings high expectations with its various advantages, like any blockchain project, it faces a unique set of risks. The primary risks associated with API3 may include:
In addition to its innovative approaches and mechanisms, API3’s success will depend on factors such as technical execution, market adoption, competitive differentiation, regulatory environment, and more. Like all investments in the cryptocurrency space, thorough understanding of the project’s strengths and risks is crucial before making investment decisions.
In summary, API3 presents a groundbreaking approach in the oracle landscape, directly connecting data providers and blockchain networks through first-party oracles and dAPI. This enhances security, transparency, and efficiency while reducing risks associated with data manipulation and data feed costs. API3 boasts a well-designed and robust tokenomic model, allowing smart contract platforms to leverage dAPI in a truly decentralized and trust-minimized manner to build meaningful dApps. With the launch of its OEV Network, there is reason to anticipate that API3 will be adopted by more blockchain networks and dApp protocols in the future, potentially becoming foundational infrastructure for the development and innovation of decentralized applications.
In the ever-evolving Web3.0 ecosystem, decentralized applications (dApps) are experiencing rapid growth. Their increasing value highlights their potential and expands the demand for the integration of real-world data, making the decentralized oracle landscape one of the most crucial components in the on-chain ecosystem. However, a significant challenge persists: how to seamlessly and securely integrate off-chain data into the blockchain ecosystem. In this context, API3 emerges as a solution to address this challenge, aiming to fundamentally change the data interface between off-chain and on-chain environments.
API3 was launched in December 2020 as a groundbreaking first-party oracle project. Its goal is to enable the majority of APIs tailored for centralized applications to enter the decentralized world of Web3.0 without imposing significant burdens on API providers or dApp developers.
Unlike traditional third-party oracle networks, API3 focuses on first-party data providers. Its infrastructure revolves around the core concept of decentralized APIs (dAPI), utilizing serverless oracle nodes called Airnode. This allows API providers to directly connect their data to dApp projects, eliminating the reliance on traditional third-party intermediaries for data aggregation and transfer, commonly found in traditional oracle networks. dAPI is inherently compatible with blockchain technology, facilitating cross-chain integration and providing cross-platform oracle solutions.
API3’s governance model is based on a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO), empowering token holders with decision-making authority to ensure a transparent and community-driven ecosystem. There is reason to anticipate that API3’s innovative framework has the potential to meet the critical demand in the blockchain space for decentralized and trustworthy data sources. It may set new standards for the oracle landscape and on-chain data integration, establishing a more interconnected and efficient decentralized future.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/heikki-v%C3%A4nttinen-83a86380/?originalSubdomain=pt
Heikki Vanttinen, co-founder of API3, brings extensive work experience across various domains, particularly in blockchain technology and smart contract development. As the founder and CEO of CLC Group, Heikki focused on achieving seamless integration between smart contracts and the real world. He has demonstrated outstanding capabilities in disciplines such as business development, decentralized application development, and research. Additionally, his entrepreneurial journey and experience in market sales showcase his leadership and business insights in cross-functional team management, business expansion, and new market development.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/burak-benligiray-b3055715b/
Burak Benligiray, co-founder of API3 and core technical team lead, holds a Ph.D. in Electrical and Electronics Engineering. He previously served as a research assistant at the university, exploring various technical fields. Burak brings rich experience and exceptional technical skills in technological innovation and research, demonstrating profound expertise in blockchain technology and smart contracts. His commitment lies in building a decentralized and trust-minimized system.
According to Crunchbase, on November 12, 2020, API3 secured a $3 million seed funding round led by Placeholder. In this round, 13 institutions, including Pantera Capital, Accomplice, CoinFund, Digital Currency Group, Hashed, Solidity Ventures, participated in the investment.
Additionally, in the token public sale conducted in December 2020, API3 raised a total of $23 million.
The mechanics of API3 is illustrated in the diagram. In this structure, API3 functions as a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) that connects various parties. API providers earn revenue by supplying data, dApps pay subscription fees to enjoy data services from dAPI, and if users of a dApp detect issues with dAPI’s data, they can submit claims. Token stakers receive rewards and voting power in the API3 DAO through the staking mechanism. The specific mechanism will be detailed in the following sections.
In Web 2.0, APIs act as crucial bridges for data exchange between various digital platforms, serving as key enablers for seamless communication in modern digital services that support our daily lives. For example, when we use a ticket booking website to reserve a flight, the website typically relies on APIs to fetch real-time pricing and availability from various airline databases.
The concept of dAPI extends the application pattern of traditional APIs to the decentralized domain. Unlike traditional APIs that rely on centralized servers and third-party intermediaries, dAPI provides direct data feeds to users from data providers without the need for any intermediaries.
API3’s dAPI is built on the foundation of oracles that support Airnode, allowing API providers to connect their data sources directly to the blockchain network, enabling dApps to access real-world data in a secure and trustless manner. API3 offers two types of dAPIs for developers: managed dAPIs and self-funded dAPIs, catering to different potential use cases. Additionally, API3 utilizes multisignature wallets and governance protocols to manage changes to its dAPI configurations, balancing flexibility and security.
Managed dAPIs aggregate data from multiple first-party oracles and provide a more reliable and stable data source using a median function. This is suitable for production environments with high requirements for data quality and stability. In the managed dAPI model, users need to pay fees to API3 to use the service, and these fees cover operational and management costs.
The specific mechanism is illustrated in the diagram. Each API provider first sends data to a single aggregator, which processes and integrates data from different sources to ensure that dApps receive reliable and consistent information. dApps can retrieve processed data by calling dAPI and use this data to provide services. API3 DAO supervises the entire process through governance mechanisms such as voting, ensuring transparency and security in the system.
On the other hand, self-funded dAPI allows users to bear the costs and provides data through a single first-party oracle. This approach provides developers with more flexibility and autonomy, allowing them to experiment with and use data interfaces at a lower cost, making it particularly suitable for early-stage projects or applications sensitive to costs. In this mode, users need to fund the operation of self-funded dAPI, and these funds will be used to cover on-chain transaction fees, ensuring timely data updates.
The innovation brought by API3 in the dAPI model may signify a paradigm shift in data consumption patterns in decentralized environments in the future. This method not only directly reduces delays, costs, and potential failure points associated with third-party intermediaries but also enhances the security and reliability of data. It represents an important step forward in seeking completely decentralized and efficient data solutions in Web3.0. Moreover, the concept of dAPI allows API3 to go beyond the scope of oracle price feeding services and provides a decentralized potential implementation and support for ubiquitous API applications in our lives.
Airnode is a critical component of API3’s core technology, allowing API providers to transform their APIs into dAPIs and establishing a direct communication bridge between off-chain APIs and on-chain smart contracts, enabling the seamless flow of real-world data into the blockchain ecosystem.
Specifically, Airnode is a serverless oracle node, emphasizing decentralization and security in its architecture. The node is both easy for API providers to deploy and maintain and highly scalable. Unlike traditional oracles that typically require complex setups and intermediary services, Airnode’s design allows API providers to become first-party oracles directly without the involvement of third parties. This design principle ensures the integrity and security of the data.
In addition, another major advantage of Airnode is its simplified API integration process. This allows API providers to set up and operate as first-party oracle nodes with minimal blockchain knowledge and costs. This feature simplifies the process of API providers becoming first-party oracle nodes, making it frictionless and promoting the democratization of blockchain technology. It encourages a wider range of data providers to participate in the decentralized data market.
Therefore, fundamentally, Airnode’s design goes beyond being just an oracle solution; it serves as a foundational component for building a decentralized, secure, and user-centric data ecosystem. Through Airnode technology, API3 is poised to address common challenges faced by traditional oracle services, such as transparency, trust, and efficiency, paving the way for more powerful and reliable dApp development.
In the cryptocurrency space, Miner Extractable Value (MEV) has been a crucial concept, where block producers (such as miners or validators) can manipulate blocks by altering the order, inserting, or replacing transactions, earning additional profit. Oracle Extractable Value (OEV) can be considered as a subset of MEV.
Recently, API3 announced the launch of the ZK-Rollup platform, OEV Network. OEV Network is a ZK-Rollup network customized with Polygon CDK, designed to capture all OEV generated by dApps using API3. This initiative aims to address the common issue of value leakage in current DeFi operations. The adoption of rollup makes the entire process transparent and verifiable, enhancing decentralization and trustlessness, boosting user confidence in participation and usage.
To understand what OEV is, consider an auction scenario where everyone’s bids are visible, and the auctioneer can choose to consider the order of bids. This situation creates an opportunity for the auctioneer to strategically perform certain bids to benefit themselves or others, thereby earning additional income. When the oracle updates or pushes data to the blockchain, based on the time and manner of using this information, even slight differences in time or accuracy can create opportunities for the “supplier” to capture potential value, such as front-running, arbitrage, or liquidation.
The OEV Network developed by API3 aims to systematize and democratize this process. Functioning as a dedicated order flow auction platform, it captures the value generated by oracles during data updates and redistributes this value to DeFi protocols and their users. The process is executed through auctions, where the highest bidder wins the right to update the data source, and the fees paid are shared with dApps using API3 data sources.
By capturing OEV, API3 introduces a novel revenue source for dApps, strengthening the economic models of API providers and dApp projects. The winning bidder needs to pay an additional 10% fee on their bid, with half serving as API3’s revenue source and the other half being distributed to the oracle provider. This method of distributing captured OEV to API providers also incentivizes them to directly participate in the construction of the Web3.0 ecosystem, fostering a more fair and transparent data ecosystem. Additionally, the mechanism of on-chain auction feeding rights creates a decentralized and secure environment, promoting a fairer data ownership model and mitigating risks associated with centralized data feeding.
Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal praised API3’s innovative solution for oracle value extraction, considering it a significant breakthrough for the DeFi ecosystem.
In summary, API3’s OEV Network brings significant advancements to the dApp and oracle domains, addressing crucial inefficiency issues and unlocking new streams of value for participants. It has the potential to create a more balanced and financially sustainable ecosystem for data providers and users in the future.
According to the whitepaper, API3’s protocol revenue primarily comes from subscription fees paid by dApps, Oracle Extractable Value (OEV), and Service Coverage fees. The usage of protocol revenue includes but is not limited to supporting continuous project development, enhancing network security, covering operational costs, staking rewards, and rewarding potential stakeholders within the ecosystem. API3 governs the project through DAO to decide the allocation of its resources, ensuring the sustainability and stable growth of the project.
According to Etherscan, the current maximum total supply of the $API3 token is approximately 128 million, with a circulating supply of around 103 million. The non-circulating portion consists of reward tokens minted for token stakers, which will be unlocked one year after the reward date.
As shown in the chart, the largest holding address for $API3 tokens is the staking pool, and the second-largest is its treasury, together accounting for 62.6% of the total circulating supply. Additionally, major exchange addresses like Binance and OKX also hold a significant amount of $API3. Therefore, the actual circulating supply of $API3 in the market is relatively small, to some extent avoiding the occurrence of severe selling pressure.
In general, API3 comprehensively employs staking, collateralization, and governance in its tokenomics. The aim is to incentivize participation by ensuring token holders can influence the project’s direction, effectively manage resources, and participate in the ecosystem’s expansion. By combining these three utilities, API3 constructs a robust token system, achieving true decentralization in governance and operational activities.
The staking mechanism is a crucial core component of API3’s tokenomic model, designed to align stakeholders’ incentives with the project’s long-term success. By staking $API3 tokens, holders receive newly minted tokens as staking rewards (distributed weekly) and gain governance voting power in the API3 DAO. Simultaneously, the staked tokens serve as collateral, and in the event of dAPI failures, these tokens are used as compensation for users.
To ensure service continuity, product quality, and decentralized governance, API3 has established a “staking target” that constantly aims for a specific percentage of the total token supply to be staked. Currently, API3’s staking target is set at 64,097,566 tokens, and the actual staked amount has not yet reached this target. As illustrated in the graph, API3 DAO will increase the APR by 1% at each subsequent reward date to incentivize more holders to stake tokens until the staking target is met or the APR is increased to 75%.
Since the tokens received by stakers are minted, theoretically, this could lead to token inflation. To address this, API3 has implemented a deflationary mechanism. Firstly, as shown in the graph, the minted token rewards will be unlocked one year after the reward date, encouraging participants to hold and stake tokens for the long term rather than short-term speculation.
Secondly, API3 DAO requires users of dAPI to burn or lock $API3 tokens for a specific period to access data services. As indicated in the graph, by reviewing API3’s open-source code, it is observed that any address can independently decide whether to enable or disable its burning permission. Users can burn a specific quantity of tokens by calling the Burn function. This approach mitigates the inflation caused by newly minted tokens, effectively reducing market supply pressure for $API3. It benefits all token holders, enhances the confidence of long-term investors and participants in staking, and reinforces the overall sustainability of the ecosystem.
By examining the historical staking data of $API3, it is evident that since 2021, the staked amount of the token has remained consistently stable without experiencing significant fluctuations. Even during recent substantial price increases of $API3, the staking quantity has remained overall stable, indicating the effectiveness of API3’s staking mechanism and the absence of widespread selling. This serves as indirect proof of the efficiency of API3’s staking mechanism.
API3’s collateral mechanism can be viewed as an on-chain oracle service insurance product. This function is achieved by providing quantifiable security, and this security is manifested in the form of Service Coverage.
The entire process can be summarized into the following key steps:
Essentially, this process is akin to purchasing insurance, albeit without the need for traditional insurance policies. Once the protocol confirms a malfunction in the functionality of dAPI, users will receive compensation from the collateral pool. Moreover, API3 supports various types of cryptocurrencies (e.g., ETH), showcasing the diversification of its service and collateral mechanisms.
Crucially, API3’s collateral model is designed to introduce a negative feedback loop as a self-regulating mechanism, preventing the system from over-expanding and potential self-destructive behavior. Specifically, as API3 DAO expands and attracts new dAPI users, the increased risk of dAPI malfunctions triggering payouts also rises. Therefore, the potential demand for payouts provides API3 DAO with motivation during the governance process not to excessively increase the load, ensuring API3 does not undertake unnecessary risks for short-term gains. This approach aids in encouraging and promoting responsible and sustainable growth and development of API3 DAO.
Through this approach, the incentives of dAPI users and other token stakers become aligned as they share a common goal of preventing system malfunctions. Stakers have the incentive to supervise and maintain the healthy operation of dAPI due to the potential insurance payouts, while users benefit from the stability and reliability of the system. Moreover, since claimants of Service Coverage must stake tokens to make claims, it raises the cost of making claims, reducing the probability of false or abusive claims. This mechanism prevents the system from being exploited by individuals who might misuse the coverage mechanism for personal gain rather than the health of the system. Ultimately, the self-adjusting mechanism of the negative feedback loop contributes to curbing drastic fluctuations in the token’s value. In token economics, stability is crucial for attracting long-term investors and users. By suppressing excessive risks and failure rates, this loop helps establish confidence in $API3 as a token for long-term value storage.
In API3 DAO, the only way to obtain governance voting rights is by staking $API3 tokens. Consequently, governance participants bear all the risks and rewards associated with API3. As mentioned earlier, if governance participants do not actively engage, leading to a surge in claims, they will incur losses, and the tokens they staked will re-enter the market for purchase by new governance participants. Conversely, effective governance can reduce the supply of $API3 tokens in the market due to scarcity, potentially causing an increase in token prices, resulting in higher returns for governance participants. This mechanism enables continuous self-improvement and recovery from failures, achieving true decentralization for API3 DAO.
Overall, API3’s tokenomics is a carefully designed and complex model. The $API3 token serves multiple purposes, including staking, acting as collateral, participating in the insurance pool, holding governance voting rights, and accessing dAPI services. The model combats potential token inflation by setting reward lock-up periods and incorporating a token-burning mechanism, thereby reducing selling pressure. Importantly, the economic model intertwines $API3 token value (supply) deeply with the operation and risks of the project. In this context, governance becomes a pivotal tool for participants to implement incentives, maximizing the motivation for token stakers to actively participate in governance and mitigate their own risks. API3 thus tightly links the long-term development of the project with stakeholders, ensuring the project’s stable and sustained growth. This approach significantly promotes the realization of true decentralization.
In recent years, the oracle landscape has witnessed significant growth and development due to its unique technical capabilities and widespread use cases. According to CoinGecko, the total market cap of the oracle landscape has exceeded $13 billion. As an indispensable component of blockchain technology, oracles bridge the information gap between the crypto and real worlds, providing smart contracts with a means of accessing external data.
Historically, Chainlink has been the absolute leader in the oracle race. According to DefiLlama, Chainlink currently serves over 50 different networks and 360 protocols, with a Total Value Secured (TVS) exceeding $17 billion, significantly higher than its competitors. However, this market dominance does not imply an absence of challenges and competitors. API3, positioning itself as a first-party oracle solution, emphasizes direct data feeds from data providers to the blockchain. It aims to reduce dependency and potential failure points associated with third-party oracles like Chainlink, providing a competitive advantage in data accuracy and latency.
In August 2020, nine operators of Chainlink nodes fell victim to an attack. As Chainlink nodes operate by responding to smart contract requests, fetching and verifying real-world data, and delivering this data to smart contracts, the process incurs Ethereum gas fees to cover the execution of these operations. The attacker initiated the attack by sending a significant number of seemingly valid price feed requests to Chainlink nodes. This led to a sudden surge in Ethereum gas fees for node operators. Subsequently, the attacker leveraged $Chi, developed by 1inch as a gas token, to hedge against gas price fluctuations. After minting, the attacker sold these tokens for $ETH, effectively draining $ETH from the node wallets and causing a loss of approximately 700 $ETH.
Despite taking timely remedial measures following the incident, Chainlink has consistently worked to enhance its protocol to improve network security and reliability. However, considering the significant importance of oracles in on-chain ecosystems, risks associated with oracles will remain a crucial and unavoidable consideration. For instance, Mango Markets and Bonq DAO later suffered substantial losses due to oracle attacks. Notably, attackers exploited the mechanism of third-party oracles to carry out these attacks. In contrast, first-party oracles present a different solution.
Traditional third-party oracles are nodes hosted by intermediaries who aggregate external data and feed it into smart contracts. This mechanism introduces additional trust layers and potential costs for data consumers who must trust both data providers and intermediaries. It may raise concerns about central failure points, data manipulation risks, transparency, and trust. To incentivize honest behavior from third-party nodes, these oracles often incur middleman tax, an additional cost not present in the first-party oracle model. In a sense, the mechanism of third-party oracles may not be considered truly decentralized. In contrast, API3, as a first-party oracle, allows API providers to operate oracle nodes, providing a more secure and cost-effective way of decentralization while enhancing data reliability and integrity.
When discussing first-party oracles, it’s essential to mention the recently popular Pyth Network protocol. The following analysis will compare API3 and Pyth Network.
It is evident that both projects have made significant contributions to the Web3.0 ecosystem by addressing the crucial need for reliable, decentralized data sources. API3’s main advantages include a broader range of data applications, fully decentralized DAO governance, low operational complexity, cost-effectiveness, high transparency, and a robust tokenomic model.
From the data, it’s evident that Pyth Network has a greater advantage in terms of integration depth and coverage. However, this doesn’t imply a lack of competitiveness for API3. The current fewer integrated protocols provide API3 an opportunity to focus on delivering high-quality services and deepening its presence on the serviced blockchains. With continuous blockchain technology development and growing application scenarios, API3 can expand its market share by increasing integration services, protocol support, and enhancing its value proposition. Additionally, API3’s relatively smaller market size may bring flexibility, enabling rapid adaptation to market changes and user needs, offering significant growth and expansion potential. In the future, we anticipate that API3, through innovation and optimization, will continuously elevate its position within the industry.
Therefore, there are still reasons to maintain an optimistic outlook on the development prospects of API3. Coupled with the introduction of the OEV Network discussed earlier, envisioning the combination of dAPI architecture with OEV Network and ZK-Rollup, governed by a fully decentralized DAO, suggests that API3’s future might extend beyond being just an intermediary component providing oracle services. It could potentially evolve into foundational infrastructure for the development of on-chain ecosystems and dApp projects, even harboring the potential to disrupt the current market dominance by third-party oracles.
While API3 brings high expectations with its various advantages, like any blockchain project, it faces a unique set of risks. The primary risks associated with API3 may include:
In addition to its innovative approaches and mechanisms, API3’s success will depend on factors such as technical execution, market adoption, competitive differentiation, regulatory environment, and more. Like all investments in the cryptocurrency space, thorough understanding of the project’s strengths and risks is crucial before making investment decisions.
In summary, API3 presents a groundbreaking approach in the oracle landscape, directly connecting data providers and blockchain networks through first-party oracles and dAPI. This enhances security, transparency, and efficiency while reducing risks associated with data manipulation and data feed costs. API3 boasts a well-designed and robust tokenomic model, allowing smart contract platforms to leverage dAPI in a truly decentralized and trust-minimized manner to build meaningful dApps. With the launch of its OEV Network, there is reason to anticipate that API3 will be adopted by more blockchain networks and dApp protocols in the future, potentially becoming foundational infrastructure for the development and innovation of decentralized applications.