Web3 Data Needs an Upgrade – And SQD Network’s Portal Might Be It

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Victoria d’Este

Printed: November 25, 2025 at 12:43 pm Up to date: November 25, 2025 at 12:44 pm

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November 25, 2025 at 12:43 pm

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Knowledge is arguably essentially the most valuable onchain useful resource of all. Not solely should or not it’s delivered with adequate rapidity and quantity, but it surely should be provided to decentralized functions, whose distributed design provides complexity. Throw in the truth that dapps now routinely require the most recent information not simply from their native chain, however from dozens of different blockchains and protocols – in addition to off-chain sources – and it’s straightforward to see why dependable entry to real-time information is so fascinating and but so arduous to reliably attain.

Simply because the computational calls for of computer systems processing AI workloads has prompted a GPU arms race, one thing related is going on with Web3 information supply. Irrespective of how a lot infra suppliers provide, functions demand extra. Now, in a bid to maintain tempo with the escalating information calls for of the dapps and centralized functions it serves, SQD has executed one thing daring: it’s torn up its present playbook and devised a wholly new supply framework.

Its identify is Portal and it will likely be the principal characteristic that’s applied when SQD undergoes its subsequent community improve. If Portal lives as much as its billing, it has the potential to degree up Web3 information whereas making it simpler for builders to create composable functions. These might be geared up with limitless information that isn’t delivered on demand, however is as a substitute streamed, making certain that correct pricing and different blockchain occasions are at all times obtainable. Let’s unpack the way it works and the challenges Portal goals to resolve.

Addressing Web3’s Knowledge Drawback

At current, blockchain functions function in an setting the place information arrives solely when requested. That labored high-quality when blockchains had been fewer and their information necessities predictable. However as networks have scaled and real-time methods emerged, from algorithmic buying and selling to autonomous brokers, the standard request-response mannequin has begun to pressure. SQD’s upcoming improve, Portal, is an try to resolve that pressure by shifting Web3 from “pulling” information to repeatedly receiving it.

At current, SQD gives builders with listed information in the mean time they ask for it. Dapps make a request – say for worth updates or transaction histories – and SQD returns the most recent data it has listed. Portal modifications this sample by repeatedly streaming updates as they happen onchain.

The shift could sound refined, however this streaming structure does greater than merely scale back latency. It modifications not simply how information is delivered, however what builders can realistically construct on high of it. It replaces a mannequin constructed on indexing and querying with a framework designed to ship fixed streams of on- and off-chain data. For a quickly increasing blockchain ecosystem, this turns high-volume, multi-source information into one thing that arrives routinely and stays up-to-date with out additional engineering overhead.

The primary-order advantages of this shift are straightforward to know: information might be provided extra quickly and with better accuracy, making certain that dapps at all times have the most recent data to work with, whether or not it’s the value of BTC to energy perps markets or the most recent sports activities odds to tell prediction markets. However over and above this, Portal – with the help of the accompanying Pipes SDK which can also be bundled with the community improve – does extra. It simplifies dapp creation, enabling builders to create subtle multi-chain functions.

Extra Knowledge, Extra Modularity

Portal’s streaming mannequin eliminates the round-trip inherent in RPC-style requests, permitting functions to remain synced with the most recent occasions in actual time. For execution-sensitive methods resembling perps buying and selling or onchain AI brokers, that distinction issues greater than ever.

Portal additionally arrives with a completely redesigned question engine written in Rust. This improves stability and error dealing with whereas decreasing SQD’s reliance on a centralized gateway. As an alternative, Portal types a decentralized community the place efficiency doesn’t hinge on a single bottleneck. However the second-order results that Portal engenders are simply as important, as a result of when paired with the Pipes SDK, it empowers devs to create extremely modular functions.

Portal handles the uncooked transport layer whereas Pipes offers builders the flexibility to truly use that stream successfully. This setup permits builders to construct their very own information pipelines, whereas giving groups flexibility to combine with their present structure. The result’s a mixture of velocity, management, and composability.

Smarter, Quicker

As soon as Portal goes stay, multi-chain functions that after wanted a number of indexing options can function on a consolidated stream that features each blockchain and off-chain sources. For rising classes resembling LLM-powered sensible contracts or real-time prediction markets, this expands what’s technically possible.

Once we speak about composability, what we’re truly referring to is the benefit with which builders can join totally different onchain parts within the method that’s brought on DeFi to generally be described as “cash Legos.” You’ll be able to join Uniswap’s open-source AMM with liquidity sourced from Orbs and vault optimization derived from Yearn, for instance. Or you may create a cross-chain lending software that permits funds deposited on one chain for use on one other with out first needing to bridge them.

The simpler it’s to attach these parts – whereas making certain that the info required to maintain all the things working easily is at all times obtainable – the higher DeFi turns into. Larger utility. Larger reliability. Larger capital effectivity. Whereas SQD’s forthcoming improve doesn’t handle all of those challenges, it solves probably the most vital in making information simpler to work with. Which suggests devs are free to create functions the place the one limitations are their creativeness. Should you can conceive it, Portal can present the info to make it a actuality.

Why Streaming Knowledge Is Changing into a Baseline Requirement

With the approaching launch of Portal, the times of the common-or-garden RPC could also be numbered. RPC endpoints are nonetheless the default method of interacting with blockchain nodes, however they had been by no means designed to ship high-throughput information at scale. The RPC mannequin is ok for dealing with discrete requests resembling pockets balances and transaction submissions however is inefficient for functions which might be consistently querying the latest block or exterior occasion.

Positioned between nodes and software pipelines, Portal extracts and streams information at excessive throughput through an optimized HTTP API, eradicating the necessity for recurrent polling. This reduces the load on nodes and on the developer’s infrastructure. In sensible phrases, this implies devs can construct methods that stay synchronized with community exercise with out consistently engineering round latency and fee limits throughout totally different chains.

If Portal delivers on its objectives, together with decrease latency, better accuracy, improved composability, and a cleaner developer expertise, it is going to give builders a extra dependable basis for crafting the following technology of Web3 functions. For an area now outlined by real-time logic and multi-chain coordination, that’s welcome information.

About The Writer

Victoria is a author on a wide range of know-how matters together with Web3.0, AI and cryptocurrencies. Her intensive expertise permits her to put in writing insightful articles for the broader viewers.

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Victoria d’Este