Crypto UX is a hot topic and everyone’s favorite answer to why “mass adoption” isn’t happening as fast as we’d all like it to. The explanation for crypto’s poor UX used to be Ethereum’s 12 second block time, or its low TPS - how can anyone build a successful app if the blockchain can only fit {{insert_number_here}} interactions per second?

Today we have largely overcome these challenges. You can build on Solana, which offers 600 TPS (?), or on Ethereum’s countless L2s and L3s, which have ample available blockspace and fast block times.

In 2024, the community’s eyes are on private keys and chain-ids. Account - and chain abstraction are the big narratives when it comes to fixing crypto UX. These are good initiatives that will definitely play a big role in our space. However, I think we have overlooked something dramatically simple: web application performance.

Across the board, using onchain applications is a sluggish experience. Not only do you have to overcome needing a browser extension and signing messages and transactions, you also have to endure 5 second page loads routinely. What does it help that the block time is 200ms, if the API you use to return transaction details takes 4 seconds to return? This kills my vibe.

Ultimately, some of the bad performance undoubtedly comes from other sources, like large javascript bundles or cpu intensive code, but my hypothesis is that the biggest culprit of them all is fetching data from the blockchain. As @awkweb said on stage at Frontiers 2024:

> Apps need data

This is a simple and somewhat obvious statement, but in crypto it is also a fundamentally difficult problem. Every onchain application needs onchain data, but that data is not easy to get in a performant manner. Opening the network tab on popular onchain apps reveals a plethora of `eth_call`s, graphql-queries to one or more subgraphs, ponders and custom APIs, and usually none of these are particularly performant. Our space’s performance focus is stuck fixating on transactions per second, when it should be focused on requests per second. 

Using an onchain application shouldn’t take multiple seconds. We don’t want a spinner, we want data.

Dune’s mission is to make crypto data accessible. Traditionally this has meant building and maintaining dune.com to make the chain transparent for blockchain teams, analysts and end users alike. At Dunecon 24 we announced Echo - our real time multichain developer platform - and that our mission now extends to developers too.

We’re not only making crypto data accessible in the analytical form, but also in the operational form. We’re making crypto data performant. 

Echo launched this week with two account APIs: token balances and transactions, and they are available to try out with any dune api key today.

Our Token Balance API gives you realtime ERC20 and native balances across 30 chains in a single request, complete with token metadata (symbols, name, url, logo) and usd prices and amounts. We’ve repeatedly heard this being the single most painful operation to manage for developers. And that pain is now gone.

Our Transactions API serves realtime information about addresses outgoing and incoming transactions, with logs embedded. It features optional decoded function and event parameters, and flexible filters allowing developers to easily access an accounts data. Like all Echo APIs, it is multichain enabled by default, and returns data from up to 30 EVM chains in a single response.

Echo has:

• Near instant data availability. On average data is available in Echo’s APIs within 200 ms of a block being confirmed.
• Near instant response times. Our P90 response times are less than 300 ms, making the APIs the fastest in the industry.
• Reorg-aware data. Our APIs abstract away complexity from dealing with finality and always gives you the right view of the chain. 

We’re only getting started with Echo, and we have many more APIs to come. We’re already powering some of the best onchain apps in crypto and would love to help the rest. Get started for free with any Dune API key, and get in touch with mats@dune.com once you are ready to get serious. We offer virtually unbounded RPS and exceptionally low response times.

As @awkweb said, apps need data. My take, however, is

> Apps need data, fast

and Dune is going to give it to them.