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

by
Victoria d’Este

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

by Ana

Edited and fact-checked:
November 25, 2025 at 12:43 pm

To enhance your local-language expertise, typically we make use of an auto-translation plugin. Please observe auto-translation might not be correct, so learn unique article for exact info.

Information is arguably essentially the most treasured onchain useful resource of all. Not solely should or not it’s delivered with adequate rapidity and quantity, but it surely should be equipped to decentralized purposes, whose distributed design provides complexity. Throw in the truth that dapps now routinely require the newest knowledge 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 knowledge 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 comparable is going on with Web3 knowledge supply. Irrespective of how a lot infra suppliers provide, purposes demand extra. Now, in a bid to maintain tempo with the escalating knowledge calls for of the dapps and centralized purposes 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 will probably 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 stage up Web3 knowledge whereas making it simpler for builders to create composable purposes. These will probably be geared up with countless knowledge 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 out there. Let’s unpack the way it works and the challenges Portal goals to resolve.

Addressing Web3’s Information Downside

At current, blockchain purposes function in an atmosphere the place knowledge arrives solely when requested. That labored positive when blockchains have been fewer and their knowledge necessities predictable. However as networks have scaled and real-time techniques emerged, from algorithmic buying and selling to autonomous brokers, the normal request-response mannequin has begun to pressure. SQD’s upcoming improve, Portal, is an try to resolve that pressure by shifting Web3 from “pulling” knowledge to constantly receiving it.

At current, SQD supplies builders with listed knowledge in the mean time they ask for it. Dapps make a request – say for worth updates or transaction histories – and SQD returns the newest info it has listed. Portal adjustments this sample by constantly streaming updates as they happen onchain.

The shift could sound delicate, however this streaming structure does greater than merely cut back latency. It adjustments not simply how knowledge 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 info. For a quickly increasing blockchain ecosystem, this turns high-volume, multi-source knowledge into one thing that arrives routinely and stays up-to-date with out further engineering overhead.

The primary-order advantages of this shift are simple to understand: knowledge will probably be equipped extra quickly and with better accuracy, making certain that dapps at all times have the newest info to work with, whether or not it’s the worth of BTC to energy perps markets or the newest sports activities odds to tell prediction markets. However over and above this, Portal – with assistance from the accompanying Pipes SDK which can also be bundled with the community improve – does extra. It simplifies dapp creation, enabling builders to create refined 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 newest occasions in actual time. For execution-sensitive techniques equivalent 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 varieties 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 purposes.

Portal handles the uncooked transport layer whereas Pipes provides builders the flexibility to really use that stream successfully. This setup permits builders to construct their very own knowledge 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 stay, 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 equivalent to LLM-powered sensible contracts or real-time prediction markets, this expands what’s technically possible.

After we speak about composability, what we’re really referring to is the benefit with which builders can join totally different onchain elements within the method that’s triggered DeFi to typically be described as “cash Legos.” You may 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 enables funds deposited on one chain for use on one other with out first needing to bridge them.

The simpler it’s to attach these elements – whereas making certain that the information required to maintain all the pieces working easily is at all times out there – the higher DeFi turns into. Larger utility. Larger reliability. Larger capital effectivity. Whereas SQD’s forthcoming improve doesn’t deal with all of those challenges, it solves one of the crucial important in making knowledge simpler to work with. Which suggests devs are free to create purposes the place the one limitations are their creativeness. For those who can conceive it, Portal can present the information to make it a actuality.

Why Streaming Information Is Turning into a Baseline Requirement

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

Positioned between nodes and software pipelines, Portal extracts and streams knowledge 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 techniques that stay synchronized with community exercise with out always engineering round latency and fee limits throughout totally different chains.

If Portal delivers on its targets, together with decrease latency, better accuracy, improved composability, and a cleaner developer expertise, it can give builders a extra dependable basis for crafting the following technology 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 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.

Extra articles

Victoria d’Este