Building on Polkadot with OnFinality
OnFinality delivers easy-to-use, reliable and scalable API endpoints for the biggest projects on Polkadot and empowers web3 developers to automatically test, deploy, scale and monitor their own blockchain nodes in minutes.
OnFinality is a blockchain infrastructure platform that saves web3 builders time and makes their lives easier. We deliver easy-to-use, reliable and scalable API endpoints for the biggest blockchain networks and empowers developers to automatically test, deploy, scale and monitor their own blockchain nodes in minutes.
We also support Layer-1 ecosystems such as Avalanche and Cosmos, and are continuously expanding these mission-critical services to other ecosystems to help developers build the decentralised future, faster!
In this OnFinality Layer-1 Introduction series, we gather resources that may be useful for builders using OnFinality infrastructure to get started in Polkadot.
Summary
Polkadot is a blockchain that unites and secures a growing ecosystem of specialised blockchains called parachains.
Our Enhanced API Service has been serving over 1 Billion JSON RPC requests to its public API service every day across Polkadot and its 99.9% uptime is why most Polkadot parachain teams are relying on it.
Since our founding in 2019, we’ve served over 250 Billion requests to over 60 networks across Layer-1 chains, including some of the largest projects on Polkadot like Astar, Kusama and Moonbeam.
“We are proud and humbled that every team trusts OnFinality to be their launch partner. We’ve worked hard over the years to build our relationships with the best teams in Polkadot and we see a long future ahead. From our enhanced API service to our one-click dedicated node deployment tools, OnFinality is dedicated to providing critical infrastructure to the best blockchain teams in the world so they can focus on their core business.”
— Sam Zou, Founder and CEO at OnFinality
What Is Polkadot?
Polkadot is an open source blockchain platform and cryptocurrency. It provides interconnectivity and interoperability between blockchains, by enabling independent chains to securely exchange messages and perform transactions with each other without a trusted third-party. This allows for cross-chain transfers of data or assets, between different blockchains, and for cross-chain DApps (decentralised applications) to be built using the Polkadot Network. — Wikipedia
Polkadot is the flagship project by Web3 Foundation, a Swiss Foundation founded to facilitate a fully functional and user-friendly decentralised web. The Web3 Foundation is partnering with best-in-class entities to build Polkadot and foster development of the services and applications that will run on it. — Polkadot
Watch this video by two highly respected Polkadot veterans Bill Laboon, Head of Education and Grants at Web3 Foundation, and Dan Reecer, Chief Growth Officer at Acala and Karura, to understand everything you need to know about how blockchain came about and how Polkadot is going to change the world.
Key Concepts About Polkadot
Before you embark on your journey to change the world on Polkadot, here are some key concepts that should help you navigate the DOT universe with clarity.
Role of Relay Chains and Parachains
The Relay Chain is the central chain of Polkadot. All validators of Polkadot are staked on the Relay Chain in DOT and validate for the Relay Chain.
— Polkadot Wiki
Parachains are a unique aspect of the Polkadot ecosystem whereby different blockchains for different use cases can be created and then connected to the main ‘relay chain’ of the Polkadot network.
Role of Collators and Validators
Collators maintain parachains by collecting parachain transactions from users and producing state transition proofs for Relay Chain validators.
— Polkadot Wiki
Validators secure the Relay Chain by staking DOT, validating proofs from collators and participating in consensus with other validators.
— Polkadot Wiki
Proof-of-Stake (PoS) vs Nominated Proof-of-Stake (NPoS)
A method of selecting participation in a consensus system, in which participants are chosen based on how many tokens they have at stake (at risk of loss due to misbehaviour). Normally, Proof-of-Stake systems limit the number of participants. — Polkadot Wiki
Polkadot introduces a variant of PoS called Nominated Proof-of-Stake, with design choices based on first principles and having security, fair representation and satisfaction of users, and efficiency as driving goals.
— Web3 Foundation
Want to know more? Take a deep-dive into more Polkadot explainers below! 🤿
If you’ve only got a minute, watch this introduction on Polkadot by Bill Laboon 🏃
If you’ve got 5 minutes, here’s one of the best videos explaining parachains! 💃🏻
If you’ve got 10 minutes, check out this animated explainer video ft. a cute turtle 🐢
Last but not least, the one central source of truth to refer to when in doubt — the almighty Polkadot Wiki! ✝️📖🙏 ⬇
How to Get Started with Polkadot on OnFinality
We are proud to have supported the launch of major parachains on Polkadot from the first block (including Acala, Moonbeam, Astar, Parallel Finance, and Clover Finance).
Today, we continue to provide reliable, scalable, and high performance RPC API services to the communities of the 60+ networks we support.
If you are looking to join the Polkadot network, we can help you get started instantly, or take your game to the next level.
Integrate with our scalable API endpoints to:
- Connect to your network in seconds without having to set up or manage infrastructure
- Enjoy a global performance, automated scalability and high availability of up to 99.9% uptime per year
- Gain valuable API Insights for you to spot issues on your apps and quickly implement rectifications for a bug-free user experience
Use our on-demand node deployment service to:
- Deploy dedicated nodes without having to buy or set up hardware from scratch
- Upsize and downsize your nodes in a few clicks
- Deploy Lightning Restore for nodes to be fully-synced almost instantly instead of days
- Pay for only what you use. You no longer have to constantly pay to service your nodes just to get the data you need
- Connect to our Node Metric Endpoint for automated monitoring and alerts on your node’s health & performance
If you head over to the OnFinality app, you will see all the chains we support and be able to set up your dedicated node with all major parachains.
Sign up here to get started for free, or get in touch at sales@onfinality.io to discuss your requirements!
Build Smarter with OnFinality.
Key Resources
- Documentation: https://documentation.onfinality.io/support/
- API Status Page: https://status.onfinality.io/
- API Analytics & Stats Page: https://analytics.onfinality.io/
About OnFinality
OnFinality is a blockchain infrastructure platform that saves web3 builders time and makes their lives easier. OnFinality delivers scalable API endpoints for the biggest blockchain networks and empowers developers to automatically test, deploy, scale and monitor their own blockchain nodes in minutes. To date, OnFinality has served over 250 billion RPC requests across 60 networks including Polkadot, Kusama, Moonbeam, Astar, Avalanche and Cosmos, and is continuously expanding these mission-critical services so developers can build the decentralised future, faster!