From Subgraphs to Everything: The Graph's Horizon Upgrade
A Modular Platform for Any Blockchain Data Service
The Graph launched in 2020 with infrastructure purpose-built for Subgraphs. Over the past five years, The Graph has processed trillions of queries and demonstrated that decentralized data infrastructure can operate at scale. But blockchain data needs have evolved. Real-time streams, analytics platforms, custom APIs, and specialized query engines now serve dozens of distinct use cases that go beyond what Subgraphs alone can provide.
Next week, Horizon mainnet launches, introducing an upgrade designed to transform The Graph into a modular platform for any type of blockchain data service. This is the upgrade The Graph has been working toward since its inception.
Building the Standard for Multi-Service Infrastructure
The Graph built the underlying protocol that makes decentralized data services possible: economic security through staking, trust-minimized peer-to-peer micropayments, and verifiable query protocols. The innovation of Subgraphs became widely adopted as an industry standard for how blockchain data should be accessed and paid for. Now The Graph seeks to enable the mechanism for data service developers to innovate new use case optimized products within the protocol framework to scale web3.
Horizon transforms those battle-tested components into reusable primitives that any data service may leverage, subject to the protocol mechanism. The experience of serving billions of Subgraph queries now becomes the foundation for an ecosystem of data services secured, powered, and paid for with GRT.
How Horizon Works: Modular Primitives for Permissionless Innovation
Horizon introduces three key innovations: a core staking protocol that provides economic security for any data service, a unified payments system that handles fees across all services, and a framework that lets anyone build new data services without rebuilding infrastructure from scratch, subject to protocol parameters.
The Subgraph Service continues as before, while the protocol now supports permission-minimized permissionless development of real-time data streams, preindexed APIs, analytics solutions, and other use case-optimized data services like:
- Real-time data streams (Firehose and Substreams)
- Token and NFT APIs
- Analytics solutions (Amp)
- Verifiability as a service
- Custom data delivery mechanisms
This is what "enabling builders to scale" is intended to mean. Whether building standard DeFi applications or pushing boundaries with AI analytics, high-frequency trading systems, or enterprise compliance-oriented tools, builders now have production-ready infrastructure designed to adapt to several use cases. Moreover, Horizon enables an entirely new innovation stream for data service developers to integrate new products into The Graph protocol, subject to governance and adoption.
The Graph Multi-Service Infrastructure for DeFi to Custom Enterprise Data Needs
Different use cases require different data services. A DeFi protocol tracking historical liquidity might use Subgraphs for its decentralized applications. The same protocol may need Substreams for real-time liquidation events and Token API for current balances and prices. Enterprises need custom data pipelines with on-premise deployment options that meet rigorous compliance and verifiability, and compliance-oriented requirements as specified by regulators across multiple jurisdictions.
Before Horizon, each use case required separate infrastructure, creating fragmentation and development bottlenecks. Horizon addresses this by providing a single protocol that supports multiple services with shared economic security and unified payments. Each service can scale independently, subject to protocol design, without compromising others.
Economic scaling matters too. More services result in additional GRT fees flowing through the protocol. Increased activity may lead to additional token burns where applicable, and issuance may be directed across multiple services through governance processes to fund innovation. Every new data service increases the protocol's functional scope and usage within the network, contributing to network effects that may benefit participants. However, there are no guarantees of value or returns.
More Data Services Generate More Fees and Stronger GRT Value Accrual
Horizon unlocks new economic growth for the protocol. More services may result in additional GRT fees, token burns as defined by protocol parameters, and expanded participation across service providers and Delegators. Service providers can earn across multiple services, while Delegators gain exposure to diverse fee streams. Protocol issuance can be directed strategically across services to fund innovation without governance bottlenecks. Every new data service expands the protocol's utility.
The Graph now supports the full spectrum of blockchain data needs. Subgraphs remain the foundation for thousands of applications that need custom APIs. Token API serves wallets and marketplaces requiring balance and transfer data. Substreams power enterprise-scale projects with parallelized data processing. Amp provides verifiable, compliance-oriented onchain data that meets regulatory requirements. Each service operates independently while contributing to shared protocol growth.
Horizon represents years of building toward this moment. The Graph proved that decentralized data infrastructure works. Now the protocol is positioned to support a wider range of blockchain data demand as the industry matures. Where competitors fragment across single solutions, The Graph consolidates around shared infrastructure designed to evolve with each new service.
About The Graph
is the leading indexing and query protocol powering the decentralized internet. Since launching in 2018, it has empowered tens of thousands of developers to effortlessly build and leverage across countless blockchains, including Ethereum, Solana, Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, Polygon, Celo, Soneium, and Avalanche. With powerful tools like Substreams and Token API, The Graph delivers high-performance, real-time access to onchain data. From low-latency indexing to rapid token data, it serves as the premier solution for building composable, data drive dapps.
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 , , , , , and . Join the community on The Graph’s , join technical discussions on The Graph’s .
oversees The Graph Network. , , , and are five of the many organizations within The Graph ecosystem.
