From Subgraphs to Everything: The Graph's Horizon Upgrade Is Live
The Graph launched in 2020 with infrastructure purpose-built for Subgraphs. Over the past five years, The Graph has processed trillions of queries and proven that decentralized data infrastructure works 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, transforming 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 the industry standard for how blockchain data should be accessed and paid for. Now The Graph wants to enable the mechanism for data service developers to innovate new use case optimized products to scale web3.
Horizon transforms those battle-tested components into reusable primitives that any data service can leverage. 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.
The Subgraph Service continues as before, while the protocol now enables 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" actually means. Whether building standard DeFi applications or pushing boundaries with AI analytics, high-frequency trading systems, or enterprise compliance tools, builders now have production-ready infrastructure that adapts to several use cases. Moreover, Horizon enables an entirely new innovation stream for data service developers to integrate new products into The Graph protocol.
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 their 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 needs as specified by regulators across multiple jurisdictions.
Before Horizon, each use case required separate infrastructure, creating fragmentation and development bottlenecks. Horizon changes this: One protocol offers multiple services with shared economic security and unified payments. Each service can scale independently without compromising others.
Economic scaling matters too. More services mean more GRT fees flowing through protocol. More activity leads to more token burns. Fee burns strengthen token scarcity. Issuance can be directed across multiple services to fund innovation. Every new data service increases the protocol's utility and value accrual, creating network effects that benefit all participants.
More Data Services Generate More Fees and Stronger GRT Value Accrual
Horizon unlocks new economic growth for the protocol. More services mean more GRT fees, more token burns, and stronger scarcity. 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 increases the protocol's utility and value accrual.
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, compliant onchain data that meets regulatory requirements. Each service operates independently while contributing to shared protocol growth.
Horizon represents four years of building toward this moment. The Graph proved that decentralized data infrastructure works. Now the protocol is positioned to capture the full scope of blockchain data demand as the industry matures. Where competitors fragment across single solutions, The Graph consolidates around shared infrastructure that grows stronger 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 seven of the many organizations within The Graph ecosystem.
