Chainstack unveils Unstoppable RPC Endpoint at the ETHBelgrade hackathon

Petar Stoykov

June 21, 2023 in Big Ideas, Editorials, Industry, Tech

In the rapidly evolving world of blockchain technology, hackathons have become the crucibles where innovative solutions are forged. These events draw together the brightest minds in the industry, each team daring to challenge the status quo and elevate the technological landscape. Among these events, the ETHBelgrade hackathon has distinguished itself as a prestigious platform where creativity, innovation, and technological prowess converge.

This year, the event lived up to its reputation, with a remarkable array of teams from across the globe showcasing groundbreaking projects. Each project brought a unique perspective and a fresh approach to the table, attempting to address real-world problems using the transformative potential of blockchain technology.

One of the highlights of this year’s event was a game-changing solution presented by Chainstack. Led by our Product Director Vasily Rudomanov, our team was honored to be among those contributing to the vibrant tapestry of innovation. Our entry, the Unstoppable RPC Endpoint project, aimed to simplify and enhance the Web3 development process.

Tackling the problems faced by traditional RPC endpoints

Traditional RPC endpoints, such as those offered by us at Chainstack, as well as Alchemy and Infura, are limited by their infrastructure, which leads to lower uptime, higher latency, and the lack of custom logic for an RPC endpoint.

Problem

We conceived the Unstoppable RPC Endpoint project to address these issues by aggregating multiple RPC endpoints from different providers, regions, and cloud services. Based on various factors like availability, block height, latency, and serving capacity, our service intelligently redirects requests to the most suitable node.

Intelligent aggregation of multiple RPC endpoints

Our Unstoppable RPC Endpoint solution stands out by intelligently aggregating multiple RPC endpoints from various providers, regions, and cloud services. By assessing different factors like availability, block height, latency, and serving capacity, our service can determine the most optimal node for a given request. This approach ensures that our users enjoy higher uptime, lower latency, and better overall performance.

Idea

Global Load Balancer for multiple RPC endpoints with ~~blackjack and courtesans~~:

Health checks
Load checks
Block height checks
Latency checks

And get:

Instant failover
Allow list (by IP or Origin)
Caching
Universal RPC for both full and archive data behind

Optimal rerouting based on availability, latency, and serving capacity

We understand that the availability, latency, and serving capacity of nodes play a crucial role in creating a seamless Web3 experience. That’s why our Unstoppable RPC Endpoint project has been designed to dynamically reroute requests to the most suitable node based on these factors. This ensures that we maximize the performance and reliability of RPC endpoints, making them truly unstoppable.

Solution

Leverage Cloudflare Workers’ serverless functions
Run a middleware layer between an end-user and a set of RPC endpoints
Detect what RPC endpoints are eligible to participate in load-balanced proxied traffic
Provide a custom logic how to serve traffic
Extend functionality for filtering by IP-addressed and HTTP Origin
Cache requests to minimize latency and utilization of nodes even better

Enhanced security and optimization features

In addition to the innovative aggregation and rerouting mechanisms, we also prioritized advanced security and optimization features when developing our Unstoppable RPC Endpoint project. We’ve incorporated access-list capabilities to whitelist IP addresses or HTTP referrer origin values, custom rate-limiting and throttling parameters, and redirection mechanisms based on the type of data (full or archival). This focus on security and optimization raises the bar for the performance and robustness of RPC endpoints.

Architecture

Commercial white-glove offering

For those who seek a more premium, hands-off experience, we have crafted a commercial white-glove service based on our Unstoppable RPC Endpoint technology. This offering caters to users who prefer a tailored, fully managed solution without the need for in-house technical expertise.

Impact on DApp projects and EVM-compatible chains

Our primary motivation for creating the Unstoppable RPC Endpoint project was to simplify the life of Web3 developers by redesigning traditional RPC endpoints. By offering intelligent aggregation and rerouting to the most suitable nodes, we’re able to help developers focus on building innovative DApps without worrying about the complexities of managing and optimizing RPC endpoints.

Why is it different?

Figure 3: Unstoppable RPC Endpoint differentiation; Source: ETHBelgrade hackathon slides

The Unstoppable RPC Endpoint project is poised to be a game-changer for DApp projects and EVM-compatible chains. Our focus on performance, security, and resource optimization has yielded an open-source tool that promises to uplift the Web3 user experience.

We are confident that Unstoppable RPC Endpoint has the power to redefine the future of Web3 development, boosting the efficiency, reliability, and security of RPC interactions. With our steadfast commitment to innovation and refinement, we envision a more streamlined and effective environment for the flourishing of the Web3 community.

Future plans

Intelligent distributed caching, so the solution will share cached requests between all workers in each region
Integration with block builders for private transactions implementation (avoid MEV/sandwich/snipping)
Statistics for analytic firms to show end-users location and used methods
Securing transactions by validating sender/receiver within databases of malicious actors
Checking if API methods have proper structure, so no useless/nonsense transactions

“We’re immensely proud to have been recognized at the ETHBelgrade hackathon for our Unstoppable RPC Endpoint project. Our primary motivation was to simplify the life of Web3 developers by redesigning traditional RPC endpoints. By offering intelligent aggregation and rerouting to the most suitable nodes, we’ve not only maximized performance but also enhanced security and optimization features.” Vasily Rudomanov, Product Director at Chainstack, shared.

“This open-sourced tool is a gift to every DApp project and EVM-compatible chain, geared towards enriching the Web3 user experience. Additionally, for those seeking a premium, hands-off solution, we’ve created a commercial white-glove offering based on the same innovative technology. We’re excited to facilitate a smoother, more efficient future for the Web3 community,” he concluded.

Team

Vasily Rudomanov
Product Director

Nikita Yugov
Engineering Lead

MOU Larionov
Infrastructure Lead

More about the Unstoppable RPC Endpoint

Project page

To learn more about the project, visit the hackathon page, where you’ll find detailed information on our innovative solution, the juries and the tokens staked in favor of our Unstoppable RPC Endpoint submission.

Pitch video

For a more visual perspective of the Unstoppable RPC Endpoint project, watch the pitch video, where our team passionately demonstrates the benefits and capabilities of our solution, as well as its impact on the future of Web3.

GitHub repo

Interested in taking a deep dive into the technical details of our project? Then dig into the GitHub repo and discover how you can start leveraging the magic of the Unstoppable RPC Endpoint to supercharge your Web3 project operations.

ETHBelgrade hackathon media

Bringing it all together

As we look ahead, we’re confident that our Unstoppable RPC Endpoint will have a significant influence on the way Web3 is developed and experienced. By simplifying the development process and offering more robust, secure, and optimized RPC endpoints, our project is set to become an essential tool for developers working on DApp projects and EVM-compatible chains.

The ETHBelgrade hackathon has once again showcased its ability to serve as a catalyst for blockchain innovation, bringing together some of the brightest minds in the field to create groundbreaking projects. We are honored to have made our mark with our Unstoppable RPC Endpoint, and we remain committed to driving innovation and developing state-of-the-art solutions that revolutionize the Web3 community.

Project highlights

Intelligent aggregation: Chainstack’s Unstoppable RPC Endpoint intelligently aggregates multiple RPC endpoints from different providers, regions, and cloud services, ensuring high availability and performance.
Open-source accessibility: Reflecting our commitment to the Web3 community, we have made Unstoppable RPC Endpoint an open-source tool. This allows developers, DApp projects, and EVM-compatible chains to not only benefit from its advanced features but also contribute to its further development.
Optimized Web3 development: By simplifying infrastructure-related concerns and offering custom logic options, this solution greatly enhances the Web3 development process, leading to improved user experiences.
Advanced security features: Incorporating IP address whitelisting and HTTP referrer origin value checks, Chainstack’s solution prioritizes security and reduces potential points of failure.
Resource utilization optimization: Unstoppable RPC Endpoint intelligently reroutes requests to the best-performing and least congested node, ensuring a more efficient and reliable RPC experience.
Premium commercial offering: For users seeking a seamless, hands-off experience, we offer a commercial white-glove service based on our Unstoppable RPC Endpoint technology. This service provides a tailored, fully-managed solution without requiring in-house technical expertise.
Enhanced blockchain ecosystem: This open-sourced project has the potential to significantly impact the way DApp projects and EVM-compatible chains are developed, promoting a more user-friendly and efficient Web3 community.
Potential future impact: We believe Unstoppable RPC Endpoint could shape the future of Web3 development by improving the performance, reliability, and security of RPC interactions. We are committed to ongoing innovation and refinement to facilitate a smoother and more efficient landscape for the Web3 community.