As the weather gets a bit colder in Chicago, our team has settled into remote work life quite nicely. In fact, we’ve been busier than ever adding several new features to bloXroute’s DeFi toolsuite. These features include:
- Real-Time Fee Estimator
- Tx Status
- Real-Time Fee Monitoring
- Tx Bump
- Tx Nonce Monitoring
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NewBlock Stream
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OnBlock Event Stream
- Hosted Gateway
- Multi-Gateway Support
For explanations on each new feature, visit the pricing page and hover over each title. Stay tuned for a deep-dive on Medium.
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One feature bloXroute currently offers as part of our DeFi tool kit is fast transaction propagation. bloXroute Co-Founder and Chief Architect Professor Aleksandar Kuzmanovic walked us through the math of how to convert transaction speed to dollars. Professor Kuzmanovic uses Uniswap as an example, but the math is true for any trading strategy.
The Model
- Your transaction must make it to a miner to be included in the next block (this window is called the inter-block time).
- The faster your transaction gets to a miner, the higher the chances it will be included in the next block.
- We calculate the probability that the extra speed bloXroute provides is the defining factor if a transaction makes it in the current block or the following block.
The Results
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The results show that, for example, if the latency improvement is 600 ms, this leads to 8% of scenarios where bloXroute will deterministically help the transaction reach a mining pool to be included in the current block.
An 8% improvement in one’s trading strategy can lead to huge returns and savings on fees that would have otherwise been wasted on failed transactions.
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Just How Fast Is bloXroute? ⏩
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We know bloXroute is fast, but how fast? To find out, we measured the improvement bloXroute can bring to two node infrastructure as a service provides, Alchemy and Infura.
Our test results show that if node infrastructure as a service providers, like Alchemy and Infura, use bloXroute, their users are able to send transactions faster to the Ethereum network. We saw a speed differential of up to 600ms faster for transactions that used the bloXroute BDN.
The Test
We benchmarked the performance of sending transactions via bloXroute (blxr_tx) versus sending transactions to two different node infrastructure as a service providers. We looked at two measurements:
- How many times blxr_tx was faster than the node provider without bloXroute?
- When bloXroute service was faster, by how much was it winning? That is, how long after the tx message arrived from blxr_tx did it arrive from the other service?
To perform the test, we used a transaction generator to send the transactions and a few scripts that report when the transactions were received by the nodes.
The Results
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Get Started Today: Video Tutorials 📹
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Node As A Service 2.0
If you are interested in using a blockchain infrastructure provider, bloXroute has integrated with Chainstack to deploy the BDN. This means that the Chainstack community now enjoys a complimentary bloXroute Gateway with all of their mainnet Ethereum nodes. We are also working towards integrations with additional providers, such as Infura.
Chocolatey Sweet Deal
Attendees of TruffleCon get a 20% discount on paid bloXroute plans throughout the month of November! To apply the discount:
2. Email billing@bloxroute.com with TRUFFLECON in the subject line and your account's email address in the body.
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We wrote several articles on Ethereum, using our unique position at the networking layer. Here’s a quick roundup: |
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By Co-Founder & Chief Architect, Professor Aleksandar Kuzmanovic
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The Takeaway: There is a continuous drop in the uncle rate over the last few months since the BDN has been active and the last 2 weeks show very strong results. It’s time for pools to start thinking about increasing the block size again.
- An uncle occurs when a new block is mined, but hasn’t yet been received by the entire network.
- To avoid creating an uncle, pools must: 1) receive the latest block and 2) process the block create a new block template to mine, and send it to its miners
- bloXroute has been effective in helping miners receive the latest block, but mining pools must optimize block processing.
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By Co-Founder & Chief Architect, Professor Aleksandar Kuzmanovic
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The Takeaway: The key to gas fee optimization is to have accurate and timely transactions data and services like bloXroute.
- We analyzed the fees in Ethereum by comparing two periods, a week in January 2020 and a week in August 2020.
- Over the two week period examined, fees in Ethereum increased ~10x and the ratio between the highest fee paid and the bottom 5% remained constant.
- However, while users are paying more gas fees in absolute terms, some users are paying less in relative terms (i.e. not overpaying as much).
- The key is to have accurate and timely transactions data and services like bloXroute
- Knowing the latest block fast can help you optimize fees for the following block and knowing transactions as they occur can further help users optimize their fees.
- bloXroute provides a set of transaction APIs that help users optimize their fees by providing sending and receiving blocks and transactions fast.
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By Co-Founder & Chief Architect, Professor Aleksandar Kuzmanovic
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The Takeaway: It is important in a P2P network to connect to a few good peers, and bloXroute is the best peer one could find.
- Ethereum is a distributed system with tens of thousands nodes that connect to one another to propagate information.
- Each node has a limit of typically 25 to 50 nodes that it peers with, depending on the type of client the node runs.
- When a node generates a transaction or mines a block, the origin node sends data to its immediate peer nodes. Then, these immediate peers send the same data to their own peers, and so on.
- Thus, the less number of hops you are from the origin node, the faster you’ll hear about blocks and transactions.
- bloXroute directly peers with mining pools and with transaction generators, thus enables everyone who connects to bloXroute, to send and receive data faster.
- It’s important to remember that picking a few good peers does not undermine decentralization or replace the p2p network. Albeit, one really good peer is sufficient to achieve the desired performance gains.
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Tell us a bit about your background. Where’d you grow up, go to school, etc.
I grew up in Israel and moved to the US six years ago, and it has been quite the journey so far! Not necessarily an easy journey, but a major period in my life just the same. The first Chicago winter was tough, but Einstein was right - everything is relative! When it gets super cold and then warms up even a tiny bit, it doesn’t feel as cold to me anymore.
What got you interested in blockchain tech initially?
I love the world of micropayments that blockchain is opening. Whether it's cars that automatically pay the meter when they're parked, replacing the ad-based model of social media with users paying tiny amounts whenever they'd like, or being able to rent an umbrella to walk a few blocks - micropayments open a whole new world of services.
Tell us what your role is and what you do at bloXroute?
I’m the HR Manager and I take care of all employee-related issues. I handle recruiting (screening, interviewing, and hiring), as well as employee relations and wellbeing, payroll, and benefits. I also do the administrative functions for the company, as well as some legal.
In short, I work at a startup so I do many different things. :)
What are your interests outside of work?
I love crafts and baking. Although lately I haven't found the time to do either, I know I will get back to both, soon!
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What brought you to the bloXroute family and made you want to be a part of the team?
bloXroute needed a website to be up and running in less than two week, so Eyal, the COO, asked me to help take care of the project. Since then, I've helped with many different things on top of taking care of the HR functions.
Why do you like working at bloXroute?
That’s an easy one - the team! I love our diverse team and our teamwork spirit! I truly believe each one of us brings something unique to the team - not just our technical abilities, but also our passions, the values we hold dear, and our own little quirks.
What excites you most about solving the blockchain scalability bottleneck?
The entire blockchain / crypto domain is an unfulfilled promise, unless it works at scale. Yes, there’s a lot of money betting it will succeed - but it would not fulfill this promise without being usable for millions of people around the globe.
What are 2 things at the top of your bucket list?
COVID-19 really changed my bucket list. Right now, my top two are visiting my mom in Israel and taking a winter trip somewhere warm in the US.
What has been your favorite moment at bloXroute so far?
There's been so many great moments, but my favorite was last Halloween when we all brought fun snacks, put on costumes, and watched a scary movie.
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More Content From Our Blog |
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By Co-Founder & COO, Eyal Markovich
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By Co-Founder & Chief Architect, Professor Aleksandar Kuzmanovic
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By Head of Strategy & Operations, Eleni Steinman
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By Head of Strategy & Operations, Eleni Steinman
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By Co-Founder & CEO, Dr. Uri Klarman
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October 18, 2020
Workshop: How to use bloXroute's DeFi kit to trade faster on Uniswap - Co-Founder & CEO, Dr. Uri Klarman
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November 6-7, 2020
Presentation from Co-Founder & Chief Architect, Professor Aleksandar Kuzmanovic
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