The Graph Launches Curator Program with CoinGecko, CoinMarketCap, Messari, Delphi, Zapper & Others

With over 200 Indexers on The Graph’s Testnet, Curators are now invited to participate!


SAN FRANCISCO, SEPTEMBER 17, 2020 - Today The Graph announced the launch of its Curator Program. CoinGecko, CoinMarketCap, Messari, Delphi Digital, Zapper, Synthetix, Pool Together, LivePeer, mStable and Balancer are all preregistered to be Curators on The Graph Network.

With over 210 Indexers running Graph Nodes in Mission Control, the incentivized testnet, The Graph is in the final stages of decentralizing the query layer of DeFi and Web3. During Mission Control, Indexers have been operating servers running The Graph’s software, completing technical missions and contributing to improving The Graph Network. Now that Indexers are busy running an early version of the network, The Graph is inviting Curators to register to join them.


The Graph has enabled us at CoinGecko to easily track the DeFi markets on Ethereum and we are always on the lookout for new market data that is useful for our users. Because of that, we are really excited to be participating as curator on The Graph network to help push the frontiers of data aggregation in a decentralized setting.
TM LeeCo-founder at CoinGecko

Subgraph Curation

Developers of decentralized applications need to rely on accurate and efficient APIs but since subgraphs are open-source and can be built by anyone, it can be difficult to identify which subgraphs are high-quality. To solve this, The Graph introduces Curation, to enable information sharing in The Graph ecosystem. Curators are vital to the protocol as they signal on specific subgraphs to indicate to Indexers which data should be indexed.

Curators stake GRT on subgraphs, to mint “signal” along a bonding curve specific to that subgraph. The signal is used to dictate the distribution of curation rewards - a cut of that subgraph’s query fees that go to Curators of that subgraph. Curators are incentivized to signal on the highest quality and most used subgraphs, to ensure applications are querying the correct APIs and to earn fees for their curation work. This forms a curation market for APIs of on-chain data.


Querying on-chain data is not trivial and can be very costly. The Graph gives Zapper a nice and effective way to query the blockchain and allows us to push new protocol integrations faster. We are excited to be a Curator on The Graph Network to help signal to Indexers which subgraphs they should query.
Nodar JanashiaCo-founder at Zapper

Curators can be subgraph developers, users or community members! You don’t need to be very technical to be a Curator- all you need is an Ethereum wallet (eg. Metamask), testnet GRT to signal through our Graph Explorer dApp and knowledge of the Ethereum ecosystem and dApps.

We’re at the beginning of a revolution in how humans cooperate and organize on the internet. As more and more data becomes available through open protocols, knowledgeable Curators who make decisions about what data to surface will become increasingly important. Now is a great time to learn how The Graph works and how to contribute to this future.

Curator Missions

As part of the Curator Program, Curators will be expected to complete various missions in our Mission Control Incentivized Testnet. Missions will include but are not limited to:

  • Bootstrapping curation signal on testnet (via Graph Explorer dApp)
  • Creating content, memes and social sharing about curating on The Graph
  • Completing product testing and user studies
  • Contributing to Github repos, Wiki, docs and other communications
  • Building and publishing subgraphs

Not all missions are required to be completed but we hope Curators will contribute as much as possible to The Graph Network. Our Indexers have already gotten heavily involved in our testnet and now we’re thrilled to have Curators join The Graph community too!

Curation Grants

The Graph is allocating up to 3% of the total token supply to Curators as a grant allocation of GRT to curate on subgraphs when the network launches. Final allocations to Curators will be based on the completion of missions, contributions to the testnet and mainnet launch.

Up to $1K USD worth of GRT per Curator will be vested at network launch, and can be deposited immediately to curate on a subgraph. While allocations greater than $1K USD will be vested over 4 years following launch. With the granted GRT, Curators will be able to signal and unsignal on different subgraphs and earn query fees for their work.

Procedural Requirements

If you are interested in being a Curator and participating in this early access program, please fill out this form to register. Once registration is complete, The Graph team will be in touch to ask for required documentation to qualify as a Curator Program participant, see below:

  • Signed The Graph Curator Agreement
  • Know Your Customer (KYC) documentation

US participants, including US-based entities, will need to be accredited investors, non-US persons or non-US entities do not need to be accredited. If you do not meet this criteria, we still want to hear from you! Please sign up to our Community Registration to be on the list for future opportunities.

Once you receive the Curator Agreement, please carefully review all terms and conditions about testnet scores and eligibility for rewards.

We expect curator teams to communicate with us throughout the process, including but not limited to:

  • Joining The Graph Discord channel: https://thegraph.com/discord
  • Discussing data that would be valuable to have on The Graph, evaluating existing subgraphs and other data needs for applications
  • Providing qualitative and quantitative feedback about the protocol, products (eg. subgraphs, explorer dApp) and Graph ecosystem
  • Bi-weekly email updates from The Graph team

For any questions about the testnet, please email [email protected] or [email protected].


Very few projects have done more to push forward the promise of Web3 than The Graph. Its upcoming network launch represents one of our best opportunities to break free of Web 2.0 data monopolies and we couldn’t be more thrilled to participate in its launch as a Curator.
Adam SofferProduct Engineer at Livepeer

Not an Indexer or Curator? Get Involved in Other Ways!

If you don’t register as an Indexer or Curator in the testnet, there will be other ways to contribute in the future:

  • Become a Delegator and stake Graph Token (GRT) on Indexers
  • Join our upcoming Ambassador Program to grow The Graph community
  • Participate in our upcoming Bug Bounty Program

Delegators are users who want to contribute to securing the network but don’t want to run a node themselves, so they stake on existing Indexers. They will earn query fees and indexing rewards but will not be slasheable.

To keep our community flourishing, we’ll be launching an Ambassador Program that will allow key contributors to be recognized for their support. A Bug Bounty Program will also be launching later in the testnet and will run through mainnet launch.

Look out for more information on how you can participate in our Discord or on Twitter. You can also subscribe to our newsletter and read our blog for updates.

Disclaimer

Please note that the program is only open to (i) U.S. persons who are “accredited investors” or (ii) non-U.S. persons. Any U.S. person who is an accredited investor will have to comply with the requisite verification process. All registrants must meet eligibility requirements to participate.

THE COMPETITION IS NOT AND WILL NOT BE OFFERED OR SOLD, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, TO ANY PERSON WHO IS A RESIDENT, ORGANIZED, OR LOCATED IN ANY COUNTRY OR TERRITORY SUBJECT TO OFAC COMPREHENSIVE SANCTIONS PROGRAMS FROM TIME TO TIME, INCLUDING CUBA, CRIMEA REGION OF UKRAINE, DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF KOREA, IRAN, SYRIA, ANY PERSON FOUND ON THE OFAC SPECIALLY DESIGNATED NATIONALS, BLOCKED PERSONS LIST, ANY OTHER CONSOLIDATED PROHIBITED PERSONS LIST AS DETERMINED BY ANY APPLICABLE GOVERNMENTAL AUTHORITY, OR ANY PERSONS WHO ARE ORGANIZED, LOCATED, OR RESIDENTS OF NEW YORK STATE.

About The Graph

The Graph is the source of data and information for the decentralized internet. As the original decentralized data marketplace that introduced and standardized subgraphs, The Graph has become web3’s method of indexing and accessing blockchain data. Since its launch in 2018, tens of thousands of developers have built subgraphs for dapps across 40+ blockchains - including  Ethereum, Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, Polygon, Celo, Fantom, Gnosis, and Avalanche.

As demand for data in web3 continues to grow, The Graph enters a New Era with a more expansive vision including new data services and query languages, ensuring the decentralized protocol can serve any use case - now and into the future.

Discover more about how The Graph is shaping the future of decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN) and stay connected with the community. Follow The Graph on X, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Reddit, and Medium. Join the community on The Graph’s Telegram, join technical discussions on The Graph’s Discord.

The Graph Foundation oversees The Graph Network. The Graph Foundation is overseen by the Technical Council. Edge & Node, StreamingFast, Semiotic Labs, The Guild, Messari, GraphOps, Pinax and Geo are eight of the many organizations within The Graph ecosystem.


Category
Graph Protocol
Author
Tegan Kline
Published
September 17, 2020

Tegan Kline

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