Kuratering

Reading time: 11 min

Curators are critical to The Graph's decentralized economy. They use their knowledge of the web3 ecosystem to assess and signal on the subgraphs that should be indexed by The Graph Network. Through Graph Explorer, Curators view network data to make signaling decisions. In turn, The Graph Network rewards Curators who signal on good quality subgraphs with a share of the query fees those subgraphs generate. The amount of GRT signaled is one of the key considerations for indexers when determining which subgraphs to index.

Before consumers can query a subgraph, it must be indexed. This is where curation comes into play. In order for Indexers to earn substantial query fees on quality subgraphs, they need to know what subgraphs to index. When Curators signal on a subgraph, it lets Indexers know that a subgraph is in demand and of sufficient quality that it should be indexed.

Indexers can trust the signal from a Curator because upon signaling, Curators mint a curation share for the subgraph, entitling Curators to a portion of future query fees that the subgraph drives.

Curators make The Graph network efficient and signaling is the process that curators use to let Indexers know that a subgraph is good to index; where GRT is added to a bonding curve for a subgraph. Indexers can trust the signal from a curator because upon signaling, curators mint a curation share for the subgraph, entitling them to a portion of future query fees that the subgraph drives.

Curator signals are represented as ERC20 tokens called Graph Curation Shares (GCS). Those that want to earn more query fees should signal their GRT to subgraphs that they predict will generate a strong flow of fees to the network. Curators cannot be slashed for bad behavior, but there is a deposit tax on Curators to disincentivize poor decision-making that could harm the integrity of the network. Curators will also earn fewer query fees if they curate on a low-quality subgraph because there will be fewer queries to process or fewer Indexers to process them.

The Sunrise Upgrade Indexer ensures the indexing of all subgraphs, signaling GRT on a particular subgraph will draw more indexers to it. This incentivization of additional Indexers through curation aims to enhance the quality of service for queries by reducing latency and enhancing network availability.

When signaling, Curators can decide to signal on a specific version of the subgraph or to signal using auto-migrate. If they signal using auto-migrate, a curator’s shares will always be updated to the latest version published by the developer. If they decide to signal on a specific version instead, shares will always stay on this specific version.

To assist teams that are transitioning subgraphs from the hosted service to the Graph Network, curation support is now available. If you require assistance with curation to enhance the quality of service, please send a request to the Edge & Node team at [email protected] and specify the subgraphs you need assistance with.

Indexers can find subgraphs to index based on curation signals they see in Graph Explorer (screenshot below).

Within the Curator tab in Graph Explorer, curators will be able to signal and unsignal on certain subgraphs based on network stats. For a step-by-step overview of how to do this in Graph Explorer, click here.

En kurator kan välja att signalera på en specifik subgrafversion, eller så kan de välja att ha sin signal automatiskt migrerad till den nyaste produktionsversionen av den subgrafen. Båda är giltiga strategier och har sina egna för- och nackdelar.

Att signalera på en specifik version är särskilt användbart när en subgraf används av flera dApps. En dApp kan behöva regelbundet uppdatera subgrafen med nya funktioner. En annan dApp kan föredra att använda en äldre, väldokumenterad subgrafversion. Vid initial kurering åläggs en standardavgift på 1%.

Att ha din signal automatiskt migrerad till den nyaste produktionsversionen kan vara värdefullt för att säkerställa att du fortsätter att ackumulera frågeavgifter. Varje gång du signalerar åläggs en kuratoravgift på 1%. Du kommer också att betala en kuratoravgift på 0,5% vid varje migration. Subgrafutvecklare uppmanas att inte publicera nya versioner för ofta - de måste betala en kuratoravgift på 0,5% på alla automatiskt migrerade kuratorandelar.

Curators have the option to withdraw their signaled GRT at any time.

Unlike the process of delegating, if you decide to withdraw your signaled GRT you will not have to wait for a cooldown period and will receive the entire amount (minus the 1% curation tax).

Once a curator withdraws their signal, indexers may choose to keep indexing the subgraph, even if there's currently no active GRT signaled.

However, it is recommended that curators leave their signaled GRT in place not only to receive a portion of the query fees, but also to ensure reliability and uptime of the subgraph.

1. Frågemarknaden är i grunden ung på The Graph och det finns en risk att din %APY kan vara lägre än du förväntar dig på grund av tidiga marknadsmekanik.
2. Curation Fee - when a curator signals GRT on a subgraph, they incur a 1% curation tax. This fee is burned and the rest is deposited into the reserve supply of the bonding curve.
3. (Ethereum only) When curators burn their shares to withdraw GRT, the GRT valuation of the remaining shares will be reduced. Be aware that in some cases, curators may decide to burn their shares all at once. This situation may be common if a dApp developer stops versioning/improving and querying their subgraph or if a subgraph fails. As a result, remaining curators might only be able to withdraw a fraction of their initial GRT. For a network role with a lower risk profile, see Delegators.
4. En subgraf kan misslyckas på grund av en bugg. En misslyckad subgraf genererar inte frågeavgifter. Som ett resultat måste du vänta tills utvecklaren rättar felet och distribuerar en ny version.
   • Om du prenumererar på den nyaste versionen av en subgraf kommer dina andelar automatiskt att migreras till den nya versionen. Detta kommer att medföra en kuratoravgift på 0,5%.
   • If you have signaled on a specific subgraph version and it fails, you will have to manually burn your curation shares. You can then signal on the new subgraph version, thus incurring a 1% curation tax.

By signalling on a subgraph, you will earn a share of all the query fees that the subgraph generates. 10% of all query fees go to the Curators pro-rata to their curation shares. This 10% is subject to governance.

Att hitta högkvalitativa subgrafer är en komplex uppgift, men den kan närmas på många olika sätt. Som kurator vill du leta efter pålitliga subgrafer som genererar frågevolym. En pålitlig subgraf kan vara värdefull om den är komplett, korrekt och stöder en dApps datamässiga behov. En dåligt utformad subgraf kan behöva revideras eller publiceras på nytt och kan också misslyckas. Det är avgörande för kuratorer att granska en subgrafs arkitektur eller kod för att bedöma om en subgraf är värdefull. Som ett resultat:

• Kuratorer kan använda sin förståelse för nätverket för att försöka förutsäga hur en enskild subgraf kan generera en högre eller lägre frågevolym i framtiden
• Curators should also understand the metrics that are available through Graph Explorer. Metrics like past query volume and who the subgraph developer is can help determine whether or not a subgraph is worth signalling on.

Migrating your curation shares to a new subgraph version incurs a curation tax of 1%. Curators can choose to subscribe to the newest version of a subgraph. When curator shares get auto-migrated to a new version, Curators will also pay half curation tax, ie. 0.5%, because upgrading subgraphs is an on-chain action that costs gas.

Det föreslås att du inte uppdaterar dina subgrafer för ofta. Se frågan ovan för mer information.

Curation shares cannot be "bought" or "sold" like other ERC20 tokens that you may be familiar with. They can only be minted (created) or burned (destroyed) along the bonding curve for a particular subgraph. The amount of GRT needed to mint a new signal, and the amount of GRT you receive when you burn your existing signal are determined by that bonding curve:

• As a Curator on Ethereum, you need to know that when you burn your curation shares to withdraw GRT, you can end up with more or less GRT than you initially deposited.
• As a Curator on Arbitrum, you are guaranteed to get back the GRT you initially deposited (minus the tax).

Curation grants are determined individually on a case-by-case basis. If you need assistance with curation, please send a request to [email protected].

The behavior of the curation mechanism differs depending on the protocol chain deployment, notably, how the price of a subgraph share is calculated.

The Graph Network's original deployment on Ethereum uses bonding curves to determine what the price of shares is: the price of each subgraph share increases with each token invested and the price of each share decreases with each token sold. This means that curating puts your principal at risk, since it's not guaranteed you can sell your shares and get back your original investment.

On Arbitrum, curating subgraphs becomes significantly simpler. The bonding curves are "flattened", their effect is nullified meaning no Curator will be able to realize gains at the expense of others. This allows Curators to signal or unsignal on subgraphs at any given time, at a consistent cost, and with very limited risk.

If you are interested in curating on Ethereum and want to understand the details of bonding curves and their effects see Bonding Curve 101. Please do your diligence to make sure you curate on subgraphs you trust. Creating a subgraph is permissionless, so people can create subgraphs and call them any name they'd like. For more guidance on curation risks, check out The Graph Academy's Curation Guide.

Each subgraph has a bonding curve on which curation shares are minted when a user adds signal into the curve. Each subgraph’s bonding curve is unique. The bonding curves are architected so that the price to mint a curation share on a subgraph increases linearly, over the number of shares minted.

Som ett resultat ökar priset linjärt, vilket innebär att det blir dyrare att köpa en andel över tiden. Här är ett exempel på vad vi menar, se bindningskurvan nedan:

Låt oss säga att vi har två kuratorer som präglar andelar för en subgraf:

• Kurator A är den första att signalera på subgrafen. Genom att lägga till 120 000 GRT i kurvan kan de prägla 2000 andelar.
• Curator B’s signal is on the subgraph later at some point. To receive the same amount of shares as Curator A, they would have to add 360,000 GRT into the curve.
• Eftersom båda kuratorerna har hälften av det totala antalet kuratorandelar skulle de få lika mycket kuratorersättning.
• Now, if any of the curators were to burn their 2000 curation shares, they would receive 360,000 GRT.
• Den återstående kuratorn skulle nu få all kuratorersättning för den subgrafen. Om de brände sina andelar för att ta ut GRT skulle de få 120 000 GRT.
• TLDR: GRT-värderingen av kuratorandelar bestäms av bindningskurvan och kan vara volatil. Det finns potential att ådra sig stora förluster. Att signalera tidigt innebär att du satsar mindre GRT för varje andel. Detta innebär i förlängningen att du tjänar mer kuratorersättning per GRT än senare kuratorer för samma subgraf.

In general, a bonding curve is a mathematical curve that defines the relationship between token supply and asset price. In the specific case of subgraph curation, the price of each subgraph share increases with each token invested and the price of each share decreases with each token sold.

I fallet med The Graph används Bancors implementation av en bindningskurvformel.

Fortfarande förvirrad? Kolla in vår videohandledning om kurering nedan: