This page explores the fundamental challenges developers face when building real-time blockchain applications and how ChainStream addresses these critical needs.
“In high-frequency trading, speed is contested within milliseconds or microseconds—it’s the ultimate competitive capability. Failure to be fast enough is lethal.” — Edgar Perez, The Speed TradersHigh-performance blockchain networks with rapid block production mechanisms have opened up entirely new possibilities for real-time blockchain applications, particularly excelling in trading, payments, and gaming sectors. Today’s decentralized exchange (DEX) ecosystem processes hundreds of billions of dollars in daily trading volume across multiple blockchain networks. Leading decentralized exchanges like Uniswap V3 frequently surpass $1 billion in daily trading volume, while the total value locked (TVL) in the entire DeFi ecosystem has reached hundreds of billions of dollars. Blockchain technology is driving the development of fast, scalable on-chain trading systems. In the near future, this technology’s applications will extend beyond cryptocurrencies—it will enable on-chain trading of stocks, bonds, forex, commodities, and various other assets. Building such trading systems requires advanced infrastructure comparable to global top-tier exchanges like NASDAQ, where low latency is a non-negotiable core requirement. To succeed, developers must be able to reliably access real-time, low-latency on-chain data. This article will explore in depth the main technical approaches for obtaining ultra-low latency data to support large-scale applications. Our focus is on blockchain data reading; transaction execution-related content will be detailed in subsequent articles. Considering that blockchain validation nodes are distributed globally rather than centrally deployed, efficiently delivering real-time information faces significant challenges. Optimizing network architecture to achieve fast transmission of blockchain data is crucial for numerous applications. Let’s analyze the various technical solutions for obtaining real-time blockchain data one by one.
Traditional Approach: Self-Built Node Infrastructure
Currently, most blockchain applications still use traditional data acquisition methods: Self-Operated Nodes: Development teams need to maintain dedicated blockchain nodes for applications that require direct access to on-chain events:- Account_updates: Account state update events
- Block_notifications: New block notifications
- Transaction_events: Transaction processing events
- State_changes: Metadata for state changes
What Technical Challenges Exist?
Although this approach is comprehensive, self-built nodes mean independently operating blockchain nodes or validators. This involves continuous infrastructure operations, manual capacity scaling, node security protection, and raw data parsing—tasks that are burdensome even for technically strong teams. Data filtering capabilities are relatively basic, potentially requiring processing far more data than actually needed, thereby increasing operational costs and system complexity. In technical communities like Stack Exchange, developers frequently ask about custom data filtering, fully demonstrating the inadequacy of traditional approaches in data processing flexibility.ChainStream: Modern Data Solution
ChainStream provides an efficient real-time data streaming system through two convenient interfaces: WebSocket subscription service and Kafka message streams. Zero Infrastructure Burden: No need to operate blockchain nodes independently. Use ChainStream endpoints directly—eliminating server costs, environment configuration, and system upgrade concerns. Precise Data Filtering: Utilize GraphQL’s powerful expression filters to precisely obtain needed data (filterable by address, token type, smart contract, transaction amount, etc.). Say goodbye to processing irrelevant data. Structured Data Output: All data is pre-structured, labeled, and enriched (including USD values for tokens/transactions). Focus on feature development, not raw data parsing. Comprehensive DEX Support: Instantly access trading data from mainstream DEXes, covering 50+ blockchain networks without additional data parsing work. Historical and Real-time Integration: Query historical data and real-time event streams through unified API interfaces. Professional Operations Assurance: ChainStream handles system stability, data redundancy, and failover—keeping you away from midnight operations alerts. Rapid Deployment: Start using within minutes, not weeks of preparation time.ChainStream WebSocket Data Streams (Powerful Filtering Capabilities)
ChainStream’s WebSocket subscription service provides real-time data access with latency under 2 seconds. Query functionality is rich and supports fine filtering, allowing you to precisely obtain needed data streams down to address, smart contract, or transaction amount levels. Popular WebSocket Data Streams:- Candle Data: Real-time OHLCV candlestick data supporting multiple time periods (1s, 15s, 30s, 1m, 5m, 15m, 30m, 1h, 4h, 12h, 1d)
- Token Trades: Real-time token trading data covering all major decentralized exchanges
- Wallet Activity: Monitor specific wallet address transfers, authorizations, and protocol interactions
- PnL Series: Real-time profit/loss tracking supporting real-time P&L calculations for trading positions
- Transfers: Real-time token transfer data (including fungible tokens and NFTs), filterable by address, amount, or specific smart contracts
- Balance Updates: Monitor wallet balance changes, identifying smart contracts that trigger changes
- DEXPools: Real-time tracking of liquidity additions/removals and fund pool analysis data
- Instructions: Smart contract instruction parsing streams—suitable for custom application monitoring and token launch tracking
- TokenSupplyUpdates: Real-time observation of token minting, burning, and supply changes
- Transactions: Real-time data streams for network-wide transactions
- Blocks: Real-time reception of information for each newly generated block
- Monitor specified wallet addresses for whale tracking and large transaction alerts
- Custom token data streams filtered by specific smart contracts, transaction amounts, or trading pairs
- Focus computing resources on relevant data processing, effectively reducing costs and system complexity
ChainStream Kafka Message Streams
ChainStream’s Kafka streams are professional products for obtaining ultra-low latency data directly from blockchain. Based on high-performance Kafka architecture, supporting millions of messages per second processing, providing sub-second event latency and reliable message delivery guarantees. Core Technical Features- Ultra-Low Latency: Millisecond-level data push supporting high-frequency trading and real-time decisions
- High Reliability: Kafka-based distributed architecture ensuring no message loss
- Optimized Format: Protobuf binary format maximizing transmission efficiency and processing performance
- Cross-Chain Standardization: Unified data structure simplifying multi-chain application development
- Flexible Access: Supporting Kafka native consumption, WebSocket subscriptions, and other integration methods
- 24-Hour Message Retention: Supporting data backtracking and failure recovery
- Built-in Deduplication: Avoiding duplicate event processing
- Structured Tags: Each event contains rich metadata and behavioral tags
- Real-time Validation: Ensuring data integrity and type safety
- sol.dex.trades.proto - DEX trading data stream. Real-time capture of all DEX trading activities on Solana chain, including token swaps, liquidity pool changes, and other key market data
- sol.tokens.created.proto - Token creation event stream. Monitors real-time creation events of new tokens, supporting new token discovery and early investment opportunity identification
- sol.tokens.proto - Token update data stream. Tracks state changes and metadata updates of existing tokens
- sol.token-supplies.proto - Token supply change stream. Real-time monitoring of token total supply changes, providing basic data for market cap calculation
- sol.dex.pools.proto - Liquidity pool management stream. Tracks liquidity pool creation, injection, and extraction events
- sol.balances.proto - Balance change tracking stream. Real-time monitoring of wallet address token balance changes
- sol.transfers.proto - Transfer record data stream. Records all token events, supporting fund flow analysis
- sol.token-completed-events.proto - Token graduation event stream. Tracks token “graduation” events from internal platforms to mainstream DEXes
- sol.trade-stats.proto - Trading statistics data stream. Real-time aggregation of token trading statistics, supporting multi-timeframe analysis
Technical Solution Comparison Analysis
| Technical Feature | Geyser Plugin | ChainStream WebSocket | ChainStream Kafka Streams |
|---|---|---|---|
| Node/Infrastructure Requirements | Required (Self-managed nodes) | Not required (Cloud-hosted) | Not required (Cloud-hosted) |
| Deployment Time | Long (Node deployment, sync, maintenance) | Very short (Register and use) | Short (Register, integrate Kafka client) |
| Data Format | Raw format, binary or gRPC | Structured JSON | Structured Protocol Buffers |
| Filtering Capability | Basic (Simple filters) | Advanced (Rule engine/GraphQL-level filtering) | Stream/topic and data schema filtering |
| Data Coverage | Raw on-chain data | Fully parsed on-chain data (DEX, pools, etc.) | Fully parsed on-chain data (DEX, pools, etc.) |
| Unconfirmed Transaction Support | Limited support | Full support | Full support (Unconfirmed transactions) |
| Historical Data Query | Not supported | Supported (Queryable) | Not supported (Real-time streams only) |
| Data Latency | Low (Depends on infrastructure configuration) | <2 seconds (Cloud-optimized) | Sub-second, ultra-low latency |
| Scalability | Manual scaling/monitoring infrastructure required | Auto-scaling (SaaS model) | Enterprise-grade, auto-scaling |
| Operational Cost | High (Updates, patches, stability maintenance) | Zero (Fully managed) | Zero (Fully managed) |
| Data Parsing | Developers must parse raw data themselves | Pre-parsed and enhanced (Including USD values, etc.) | Pre-parsed and enhanced |
| DEX/Protocol Compatibility | Each DEX/protocol requires separate parsing | Out-of-the-box | Out-of-the-box |
| Reliability/Disaster Recovery | Developer responsibility | Professional managed service | Kafka built-in fault tolerance + professional management |
| Use Cases | Deep custom infrastructure, need complete control | Rapid prototyping, dashboards, trading bots | High-frequency trading, enterprise, large-scale real-time applications |