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Blockchain data infrastructure, explained
Guides to blockchain indexers, onchain data APIs, and the infrastructure underneath them. Written by the SQD team.
Tokenized stocks on Robinhood Chain: equities as ERC-20 tokens
Robinhood issues tokenized stocks as plain ERC-20s on its Arbitrum Orbit L2: the contracts behind TSLA, NVDA, and the SpaceX token, issuance and redemptions at the zero address, and a real after-hours trade read straight from the chain.
ERC-8056: how tokenized stocks split onchain
The scaled-UI standard behind Robinhood stock tokens: uiMultiplier, TransferWithScaledUI, and the first real multiplier changes read from the chain, including a 2:1 adjustment scheduled for a Monday market open.
Verifiable is not complete: validating onchain data beyond proofs
Cryptographic proofs verify the onchain data you have, not whether it is complete. Why proof-based validation misses whole classes of logs, shown with Polygon state-sync, and how to query the full set.
How to validate a blockchain dataset against a second source
Structural checks prove a dataset is well-formed, not complete. The reconciliation method that finds missing rows: count against an independent source, escalate granularity from days to the record. Worked live with Portal and Dune.
eth_getLogs: limits, pagination, and the logs it leaves out
eth_getLogs is the standard way to read events, and the first wall teams hit. The block-range and result caps that force pagination, the archive requirement, and a real block where eth_getLogs omits logs the receipt returns.
What is a Tron indexer?
Tron's TVM emits the same event topics as Ethereum, so decoding is identical, but the request type, the typed-transaction schema, and the energy and bandwidth model differ. The data model, a real TRC-20 query, and what carries over from EVM.
USDT on Tron: querying the largest stablecoin rail
Tron settles more USDT than any other chain. Pull TRC-20 USDT transfers from the Portal in one declarative query, read a real transfer end to end, and see why the energy and bandwidth model lets transfers settle without burning TRX.
TRC-20 vs ERC-20: one token standard, two chains
TRC-20 mirrors ERC-20: the same Transfer event, the same topic0 hash, so a decoder built for one reads the other unchanged. What actually differs is the chain envelope: address format, native token, fees, finality, and how you fetch the data.
Connect Claude or Cursor to onchain data: the Portal MCP server
Wire the SQD Portal MCP server into Claude Code, Cursor, or VS Code, then run three real onchain queries and read the rows back.
One query shape, every VM: declarative cross-chain data
The same JSON-shaped request reads EVM logs, Solana instructions, and Bitcoin inputs and outputs, with no schema, no deploy, and no sync wait.
Hyperliquid data for agents: perp analytics through one tool family
An agent answers whole-market Hyperliquid perp questions through the same analytics, OHLC, and query tools it uses for every other chain.
Following Bitcoin money through UTXOs: one declarative query
Bitcoin inputs and outputs are first-class in the same declarative query shape, so you trace UTXO flows from sender to recipient without running a node.
Videos and podcasts
Talks, interviews, and podcast episodes from the team building SQD.
More guides land every few weeks. For step-by-step tutorials, browse the documentation. For news and case studies, see the blog.