About

API3 is a decentralized oracle project that provides data services for developers and data providers in the Web3 ecosystem. Their dAPIs (data Application Programming Interfaces) aggregate data directly from source-level data providers on native chains, eliminating the need for cross-chain bridges. This maximizes reliability and transparency, making DeFi applications safer for users. API3 also offers additional services such as a quantum mechanics-derived random number generator and Web3 APIs. The project is governed by its token holders through an on-chain voting mechanism.

History

API3 traces its origins back to 2019, when its spiritual predecessor CLG was founded to create the Honeycomb marketplace. The solution put forth was an API marketplace for oracles — a neutral platform that allowed API providers, oracle node operators and dapp developers to come together and do business. The thesis of Honeycomb was that the oracle problem is not solely technical in nature, and the main difficulty is to get a large variety of independent and competing actors to cooperate in a decentralized way to achieve business outcomes.

Although Honeycomb was a success, the team perceived that from an architectural standpoint, the third-party oracle model, where middlemen deliver data from an API provider on-chain, was unsuited for business applications. Running and maintaining an oracle node proved to be an unrealistic sell to API providers the third-party model bears significant middlemen risk. Honeycomb acted as a laboratory and an incubator for API3. It affirmed that API providers must be considered a critical component of an oracle solution, and paved the way for API3 to become the API-centric solution it is today.

The Airnode (API3's oracle node) is the result of years of experience learning about the wants and needs of API providers, and how to approach them in practice. The well-standardized API–oracle integration capabilities of Airnode were adopted directly from Honeycomb tech, and the first fully serverless oracle node was prototyped by Honeycomb.