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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Information is arguably essentially the most valuable onchain useful resource of all. Not solely should it’s delivered with ample rapidity and quantity, however it have to be equipped to decentralized purposes, 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 simple to see why dependable entry to real-time information is so fascinating and but so laborious 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 happening with Web3 information supply. Regardless of how a lot infra suppliers provide, purposes demand extra. Now, in a bid to maintain tempo with the escalating information calls for of the dapps and centralized purposes it serves, SQD has completed one thing daring: it’s torn up its present playbook and devised a wholly new supply framework.

Its title is Portal and it is going to be the principal characteristic that’s carried out 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 purposes. These can be geared up with limitless information that isn’t delivered on demand, however is as a substitute streamed, guaranteeing that correct pricing and different blockchain occasions are all the time out there. Let’s unpack the way it works and the challenges Portal goals to resolve.

Addressing Web3’s Information Drawback

At current, blockchain purposes function in an surroundings the place information arrives solely when requested. That labored high quality when blockchains have been fewer and their information necessities predictable. However as networks have scaled and real-time programs 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 rigidity by transferring Web3 from “pulling” information to repeatedly receiving it.

At current, SQD gives builders with listed information in the intervening time they ask for it. Dapps make a request – say for value 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 delicate, 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 prime 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 mechanically and stays up-to-date with out further engineering overhead.

The primary-order advantages of this shift are simple to know: information can be equipped extra quickly and with larger accuracy, guaranteeing that dapps all the time have the most recent data to work with, whether or not it’s the worth 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 be bundled with the community improve – does extra. It simplifies dapp creation, enabling builders to create subtle multi-chain purposes.

Extra Information, Extra Modularity

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

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

Portal handles the uncooked transport layer whereas Pipes offers builders the power to really 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, Sooner

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

Once we discuss composability, what we’re truly referring to is the convenience with which builders can join completely different onchain parts within the method that’s triggered DeFi to typically 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 possibly can create a cross-chain lending utility that permits funds deposited on one chain for use on one other with out first needing to bridge them.

The better it’s to attach these parts – whereas guaranteeing that the info required to maintain every thing working easily is all the time out there – the higher DeFi turns into. Larger utility. Larger reliability. Larger capital effectivity. Whereas SQD’s forthcoming improve doesn’t tackle all of those challenges, it solves probably the most crucial in making information simpler to work with. Which suggests devs are free to create purposes 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 Information Is Changing into a Baseline Requirement

With the approaching launch of Portal, the times of the standard RPC could also be numbered. RPC endpoints are nonetheless the default manner of interacting with blockchain nodes, however they have been by no means designed to ship high-throughput information at scale. The RPC mannequin is okay for dealing with discrete requests similar to pockets balances and transaction submissions however is inefficient for purposes which might be continually querying the most recent block or exterior occasion.

Positioned between nodes and utility 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 programs that stay synchronized with community exercise with out continually engineering round latency and fee limits throughout completely different chains.

If Portal delivers on its objectives, together with decrease latency, larger accuracy, improved composability, and a cleaner developer expertise, it can give builders a extra dependable basis for crafting the subsequent era of Web3 purposes. 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 quite a lot of know-how matters together with Web3.0, AI and cryptocurrencies. Her in depth expertise permits her to write down insightful articles for the broader viewers.

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Victoria d’Este