Three Forces Reshaping the Future of Web3 Infrastructure: An Interview with Quicknode

Modern Web3 projects have become significantly more complicated as developers explore artificial intelligence and real-world assets. Quicknode, established in 2017, has adapted to these evolving demands by transitioning from basic node provision to offering comprehensive data streaming and indexing solutions across over 75 blockchains. In this interview, co-founder Dmitry Shklovsky discusses the major forces shaping infrastructure, defines “enterprise-grade” performance, and shares insights on ensuring reliable on-chain data access.

Key Takeaways

Developer Momentum: Innovations from ecosystems like Solana and Ethereum continue to push forward even in tough markets.
Real-Time Requirements: Modern applications demand swift and accurate data delivery, driving infrastructure evolution.
Modularity Growth: A wide variety of chains and components is emerging, necessitating simpler ways for developers to interact with them.
Quicknode’s Evolution: The company has transformed into a full data platform to meet real-time operational needs.
Enterprise-Grade Performance: Today's infrastructure must demonstrate consistent performance, reliability, and compliance, catering to institutional clients.
Future Vision: The aim is for infrastructure to become seamless, allowing developers to focus entirely on building without concerning themselves with underlying complexities.

Three forces reshaping the future of Web3 infra — Interview with Quicknode

Interview with Quicknode Co-Founder Dmitry Shklovsky

Cointelegraph: What forces do you believe will change on-chain infrastructure within the next three to five years?

Dmitry Shklovsky: In the upcoming three to five years, three key forces will redefine on-chain infrastructure:

Developer Momentum: Even amid challenging market conditions, ecosystems like Solana and Ethereum are thriving because developers continue to create and innovate. As they tackle more ambitious projects, they shape what features should be highlighted, simplified, or abstracted.
Real-Time Needs: Modern applications—like AI agents, marketplaces, and payment systems—require immediate data updates. This need drives infrastructure towards offering streaming access and enhanced performance guarantees.
Increasing Modularity: As the number of chains, execution layers, and components rises, developers seek a unified approach to navigate these systems. This demand necessitates infrastructure that can handle varying differences, allowing the product experience to remain user-friendly.

These combined forces elevate the expectations for platform capabilities, and that is what Quicknode aims to achieve.

Developers, Enterprise, Data, RWA

Cointelegraph: How has Quicknode transitioned from an RPC provider to a complete data platform?

Shklovsky: Initially, Quicknode focused on providing developers with the quickest and most reliable access to blockchain networks. As the necessity for real-time interaction in applications grew, we expanded to encompass a full data platform. Developers now require event streams, advanced query capabilities, and reliable performance at scale.

We support these needs with services that deliver data tailored to developers: real-time updates through Streams and Webhooks, high-performance access on networks like Solana with Yellowstone gRPC, and dedicated clusters for substantial workloads. Currently, we process billions of requests across more than 77 chains and 130 networks while maintaining consistently high uptime, thus ensuring that modern applications receive the reliability they require.

Cointelegraph: What does "enterprise-grade" performance signify in the context of RWAs and regulated entities entering the Web3 space?

Shklovsky: Previously, “enterprise-grade” usually referred to large servers and service level agreements (SLAs). Nowadays, it describes infrastructure that maintains consistent performance under real workloads, meets compliance standards, and scales globally without interruption. When institutions transfer assets or transactions on-chain, they demand clear assurances concerning uptime, support, and data integrity.

At Quicknode, we utilize globally distributed clusters, prioritize performance, and provide 24/7 monitoring to guarantee reliability—all essential for enterprise operations. Companies like Circle and Coinbase rely on us to ensure stable performance at scale and expect infrastructure and services that exceed industry benchmarks.

Cointelegraph: Can you elaborate on how Quicknode measures reliability and uptime for client assurance?

Shklovsky: Reliability is only valuable if it can be quantified. That’s why we created Quicklee, which displays live latency and uptime data across the major networks we support. This transparency allows everyone to assess performance in real-time.

We boast 99.99% uptime, with average response times significantly below 80ms across over 130 networks. For enterprise customers, we implement regional failover capabilities, continuous monitoring, and SLA-backed support. If any data center experiences downtime, traffic automatically redirects, ensuring customers remain unaffected.

Quicknode Performance

Cointelegraph: With the increasing complexity of on-chain data, how is Quicknode innovating data access for developers?

Shklovsky: As the volume of on-chain data escalates, much of it becomes challenging to manipulate. It can be fragmented, noisy, and often requires significant processing to be useful. Developers shouldn’t need extensive data engineering skills just to create on-chain products.

We are reimagining access by providing developers with cleaner, more structured data. Our Streams deliver real-time updates, while Filters allow users to subscribe to only the data they specifically need. Additionally, we offer valuable tools, such as Blockbook, to streamline interactions within networks that are typically harder to navigate, like Bitcoin.

Our objective is to transform raw blockchain data into easily usable formats, enabling developers to focus on building rather than becoming bogged down with intricate parsing needs.

Cointelegraph: How do you envision Quicknode evolving as AI, RWAs, and modular blockchains converge?

Shklovsky: As AI, RWAs, and modular blockchains develop, the key challenge will be facilitating real-time data flow among them. These systems require verifiable data and consistent performance. Quicknode is constructing the foundational infrastructure to link these components, ensuring that applications can consistently access a steady stream of information across networks.

An initiative like x402 aims to optimize how infrastructure adapts to changing workloads efficiently. Our long-term goal is straightforward: maintain a data layer that is fast, reliable, and easy for developers to build upon as new use cases arise.

Future of Quicknode

Cointelegraph: Looking towards the future, what milestones will indicate that on-chain infrastructure has progressed to its next phase?

Shklovsky: We will recognize that on-chain infrastructure has matured when developers no longer need to focus on it. Just as cloud infrastructure has abstracted hardware and networking complexities, the next phase of Web3 will simplify most of the complexities associated with blockchains. When any developer or AI agent can seamlessly read and write data instantly and reliably, without the worry of latency or outages, we will know that the transition is complete.

Our mission is to facilitate this process by ensuring that the data layer remains fast, stable, and easy to navigate for all builders.