Svyatoslav Dorofeev is the CEO of the technology company TheWatch.
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When we talk about crypto and blockchain, one of the first things that come to mind is decentralization. We love the idea of a system that works without any central authority or a single point of failure. But as it turns out, most crypto apps and wallets you know and use rely on centralized providers for their backend stack.
While blockchains themselves are praised for the decentralization they created, and many protocols are rated by how decentralized they are, most crypto apps you know and use actually have to rely on centralized providers. These services run their own nodes to connect to the blockchain and in turn provide an API (application programming interface) to their customers.
The thing is, there aren’t really any good reasons for this other than wallet apps. As crypto is getting closer than ever to consumers and finally expands into even ecommerce companies realize their backend stack now needs to work closely with the blockchain. Need to track the number of wallets in Ethereum? Need to know what happened with a specific transaction? Want to know which addresses have received money from a certain address? All of these activities might be important whether you have an online store or running an investment fund.
Why do we need centralized providers?
The only way you can directly connect to the blockchain is by running a node. A node is essentially a program running on a computer that connects to other nodes in order to send information back and forth, verify the validity of transactions sent between people, and store important information about the state of the blockchain.
Nodes are the backbone of a blockchain. They’re what connects you to the network and provide you with all the data you need to make informed decisions. But there are also many other uses for nodes than just mining and…
