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Ramping Up POKT Network’s Gateway Strategy with the Announcement of 3 New Gateways
Announcing 3 new Gateways to POKT Network, doubling the number of gateways and ramping up demand-side decentralization.
News
Apr 9, 2024
Recently, Pocket Network’s Eric Ullrich joined an AMA with Moonbeam Network, one of the latest additions to the Pocket roster of supported blockchains, and Polka Häus, a key community in the DotSama ecosystem. Discover more about Pocket’s origins and involvement with Moonbeam from this latest chat.
1000+ Listeners Gathered to Learn More About Pocket and Moonbeam
More than 1,000 listeners joined our recent Twitter Space with Moonbeam, one of the latest additions to our 50+ supported blockchains, to explore how Pocket is bridging the gap between DApps and blockchain data.Eric started the chat off by giving a quick summary of what Pocket Network is. As he put it, Pocket is a “decentralized RPC service (we’re, in fact, a Layer 1 blockchain), where node runners worldwide can support this network while developers can leverage these RPC nodes for their applications, working as a 2-sided marketplace.”
The Beginnings of Pocket
Pocket’s idea goes back to 2017, with development starting in 2018.
“Bear markets are for building, and Pocket is one of those cases.”
At that time, people depended on one major centralized RPC provider, open to single points of failure and downtime issues. This situation presented an opportunity for a decentralized solution to Web3 infrastructure challenges.Web3 users “could not afford to have networks go down and suffer a domino effect of all applications going down.” This need for a better solution, one that was more in the true spirit of Web3, gave the initial inspiration for Pocket.
Pocket’s Truly Decentralized Solution
Pocket is the glue for the entire Web3 ecosystem. Currently, there are tens of thousands of nodes operating in the network, boosting its decentralization while also improving latency, since node runners are closer to the source where relays are requested.The focus on a decentralized and global network sets Pocket apart from other solutions, while the pricing model, user-owned approach, and tokenomics also make the protocol structure uniquely beneficial for both developers and node runners.
From Mainnet Launch to a Record of 1.4 Billion Daily Relays
The first question for the Pocket team was simple: “Will this work?”The platform launched in July 2020 with great results from the get-go, leading to the next fundamental question: "Will it work at scale?"The answer has been a resounding yes. In mid-2020, Pocket was servicing 1 million RPC requests per day. In less than six months (January 2021), the network hit 5 million daily relays, and in 2022 Pocket has surpassed 1 billion relays per day, with its daily record at 1.4 billion - all while providing constant uptime and optimized performance.
Integrating with Moonbeam while Supporting the Wider Ecosystem
Alex from Polka Häus joined the chat, showing how Pocket is working with the community to expand its efforts. Alex co-founded Polka Häus, an online and offline community around the Polkadot ecosystem.He also co-founded Mission Control, which supports Polka Häus, and runs nodes for the DotSama ecosystem with Pocket. Alex facilitated Pocket’s entrance into the Polkadot world, starting with Moonbeam (citing Moonbeam’s world-class support as a main driver for that decision), with more plans to support the entire ecosystem.
“Moonbeam is the juggernaut of the Polkadot ecosystem.”
Currently, Pocket is servicing over 200,000 daily relays from Moonbeam, intending to grow adoption in the network, announce more projects, and sponsor more applications working within the ecosystem.Make sure to reach out to Pocket to explore partnerships if you’re building on Moonbeam and need RPC endpoints!
The Multi-chain Future of Web3 Is Blossoming
For Pocket, going multi-chain is the right approach for Web3. Our expansion always goes in that direction, with Pocket looking to integrate 100 blockchains by year-end.Adoption efforts are not only focused on cross-chain integrations, but also on security and simplicity of use to boost the awareness and popularity of Web3 amongst everyday users.
Become Part of the Network with Pocket’s User-Owned Infrastructure
Pocket is suited for any application, “from gaming, traditionally heavy with RPC calls, to DeFi applications, and more.”Applications can enjoy 1 million daily relays for free, and access relays far beyond the free tier via “user-owned infrastructure accessed by buying and staking POKT,” far different from a traditional SaaS model. Pocket’s protocol ensures that quality of service is a primary focus, with future “v1” upgrades improving that quality and efficiency even more.The chat ended with the roadmap for Pocket before opening to questions from the community. We encourage you to listen to the full conversation and learn more about how Pocket is streamlining the entire Web3 ecosystem.
