What is the Graph protocol?

Imagine you're trying to find a book in a library with only a card catalog system. You'll admit that without a clear organizational indexing system, it can be difficult to find the book you need. Blockchain is revolutionizing the way we access and manage data, but with so many decentralized applications and complex data structures, it can be difficult to search and retrieve the information you need. Enter The Graph protocol. The Graph is like an advanced library search engine allowing you to quickly and easily find the information that you need from the blockchain. In this video, we will explore on a high level how The Graph protocol functions as an advanced search engine for data on blockchain networks. Before we dive into The Graph, let's first define some terms that will be important to understand as we continue. The first one is a blockchain. So what is a blockchain? A blockchain is A decentralized distributed ledger that records transactions on multiple computers so that the record cannot be altered retroactively without altering all subsequent blocks and the network's consensus. So what does this mean? The easy way to describe this would be if transactions are lined up or transactions are executed on the blockchain, it makes it hard for you to go back and change what happened in the past. So that's what it's meant by being decentralized and distributed ledger. The second one is, what is a protocol? A protocol is a set of rules and standards that define how systems or devices should communicate with each other. The third is an index. An index is a database or data structure that allows fast data search and retrieval. And finally, what is a query? A query is a request for information or data. Think of this as maybe you walk into a restaurant, you sit down, you get the staff coming to you, you give them your order. Maybe you want to order a steak. They take it back to the kitchen, they cook the steak, and they bring it to you. So that's a query. You basically give them a query. In this case, you told them I want a steak, they went back there, they made it, they brought it back to you. This will be the Kind of like a similar analogy here. Now that we have defined some basic terms, let's talk about the Graph protocol. The Graph is a decentralized protocol for indexing and querying data from blockchains. In other words, the Graph allows users to search and access data from various blockchain networks quickly and efficiently. So why do we need the Graph? Why not just access data directly from the blockchain, right? Well, one reason is that blockchains can be slow and expensive, especially when handling large amounts of data. The Graph solves this problem by indexing data from the blockchain and storing it in more efficient data structure. This makes it faster and cheaper to query the data. In addition, The Graph is decentralized, meaning that any single entity does not control it. This makes it more secure and resistant to censorship. Now, what are some possible use cases for The Graph? Well, the first one is decentralized finance applications, or DeFi. These applications rely on accurate and up-to-date data from the blockchain, which The Graph is able to provide. The second one is decentralized marketplaces, which need to query data about listings, prices, and availability efficiently. The third use case is gaming and collectibles. Gaming and collectibles may use The Graph to verify ownership and authenticity of virtual items. So let me explain it a little bit more with an example. So assume that you created a smart contract that does a specific thing and you deployed it maybe to the Ethereum blockchain, for example. You can take the smart contract or the contract itself and build a subgraph, which is basically an API from The Graph protocol. It's like an API. Like how you would think of APIs in the Web2 sense of things. But in this case, that contract, you can build a subgraph from that, and any data that's emitted from that subgraph, for example, or that contract in this case, gets tracked by The Graph and it's indexed, and people are able to query that data from that. For example, let's say you created a smart contract that mints NFTs for whatever, maybe your own, put your name there, NFT, right? In this case, your NFT will emit some data. Maybe when somebody mints the NFT, There's going to be data emitted from that, from that transaction and subsequent sales of that NFT or transfers of ownership is also being tracked. It's emitted by the contract. In this case, The Graph using the subgraph that's created for that smart contract will be able to track that data that's emitted by that contract. And then you can subsequently use that data. You query the subgraph for your smart contract and use that data to display on your decentralized application or your application so that people can use. That's just a simple example that you can use in this case. So these are just a few And The Graph can potentially be used in a wide range of applications that require fast and reliable access to blockchain data. The Graph has its own native token called GRT. The main use of GRT is to incentivize the operation and maintenance of Graph nodes. Nodes that contribute to the indexing and querying of data are rewarded with GRT. The total supply of GRT is limited, and it can be bought and sold on cryptocurrency exchanges. To sum up, The Graph is a decentralized protocol for indexing and querying data from the blockchains. It offers benefits such as faster and cheaper access to data, as well as decentralization and security. The Graph can be used in a variety of applications that require reliable access to blockchain data. In my upcoming video, I will go over how to query data from The Graph protocol using Python. So please stay tuned for updates. Thank you for watching this video on what is The Graph protocol. I hope you have a better understanding of this useful technology. Bye for now.