Invisible Infrastructure Issue 02｜Dialogue with OKX Web3 Team: Why build API?

The crypto industrys promotion of API construction will not only improve technical interoperability and user experience, but will also promote the expansion and decentralization of the ecosystem, thereby achieving large-scale popularization of Web3 technology.

Jim Webber, a well-known software architect and technology expert, once said, A good API should be like a clear conversation, not a series of commands. Therefore, API is a technical interface and also a communication and dialogue between developers, so clear API design and documentation are crucial.

As the industrys leading one-stop Web3 portal, OKX Web3 Wallet continues to lead API construction and is becoming an indispensable multi-chain Web3 development engine in the industry. By providing a complete set of Web3 development solutions – OnchainOS, it has achieved standardization in the access of chains and services, greatly reducing the development cycle and investment costs, thereby connecting global developers to achieve joint creation.

From the perspective of practical application, the OKX Web3 Wallet API includes major modules such as wallets, DEX aggregators, Marketplace, DeFi, and everything from transaction liquidity to on-chain data solutions. This article is the second issue of the Invisible Infrastructure series of the OKX Web3 Wallet, and is also the second issue introducing the OKX Web3 Wallet API. Through dialogue, we will delve into the story behind the OKX Web3 team building the API.

To learn more about the OKX Web3 Wallet API, click to read the first issue: Invisible Infrastructure Issue 01 | Co-creation with global developers, a comprehensive analysis of the OKX Web3 Wallet API

The driving force behind building APIs

OKX Web3: We were the first to realize that API construction is very important, which is not only related to the development of the OKX Web3 ecosystem, but also very important for the development of the industry. After in-depth thinking, we began to invest in API construction and continue to serve developers and industry construction. In-depth research shows that the driving force behind this is not a single factor, but a comprehensive consideration.

From the perspective of wallet API, it mainly comes from the needs of industry participants:

First, with the growing prosperity of the Web3 ecosystem, more and more people are flocking to Web3 because Web3 provides companies with ways and opportunities to better attract and serve customers. For example, brands can create immersive brand experiences and interactions through digital assets and NFT collections; retailers can customize personalized on-chain incentives and loyalty programs; social service providers can use Web3s on-chain applications and token distribution to establish deeper community connections with creators and users. In short, Web3 can help companies establish new business models and generate new sources of income. More and more people realize that Web3 will generate a new industry composed of decentralized applications and services, and they hope to enter and master this technology as soon as possible.

Secondly, many developers and interested institutions face a lot of obstacles and difficulties when entering Web3. The primary challenge is the high threshold and complexity of Web3 wallets. Specifically, first, Web3 wallets store user digital assets and are the basis for matching transactions. They have a relatively complex underlying system and account system, which is difficult to understand and use. Second, the isolation of strong public chain systems makes it very difficult and time-consuming to analyze and apply different public chain systems.

In general, developing a secure and reliable Web3 wallet system requires a lot of time, money, and expertise. In this context, the OKX Web3 wallet API service tool came into being to solve the above pain points and problems. Developers can use the OKX wallet API to efficiently and securely build wallets in just 3 steps, easily access 60+ networks, including popular EVM, BTC, etc., and also support cutting-edge ecosystems such as inscriptions.

Take the OKX DEX aggregator as an example. This is related to user demand, market competition, and ecosystem development. Specifically:

User demand: With the booming development of decentralized finance (DeFi), users have an increasing demand for more efficient, secure, and scalable APIs. This is especially true for large-volume transaction users and developers. For example, they hope to use APIs to achieve more flexible transaction operations and automated strategy execution. OKX DEX aggregator responds to this demand and provides a powerful and easy-to-use API interface to help users meet their diverse needs in decentralized transactions.

Market competition: Competition in the DeFi space is extremely fierce, with major platforms launching new features and services. In order to maintain its leading position in the market, OKX DEX Aggregator recognizes that providing powerful and easy-to-use APIs is the key to maintaining competitiveness. Through API construction, OKX DEX Aggregator can quickly iterate and introduce new features to meet market demand and attract more users and developers.

Ecosystem development: API is not only a tool for expanding functions, but also a key factor in promoting ecosystem development. Through API construction, OKX DEX can attract more developers to participate and develop more innovative DApps, thereby promoting the prosperity and development of the entire ecosystem.

For example, starting from OKX Web3 DeFi, there are more differentiated driving forces:

On the developer side: API can attract more developers to the OKX Web3 platform and enrich the ecosystem. This not only promotes the development and integration of third-party applications, but also provides users with more diversified and convenient services.

User experience: By allowing third-party applications to seamlessly use the capabilities provided by the OKX Web3 platform, it helps its users to conduct transactions, manage assets, and participate in DeFi activities more conveniently, thereby improving the user experience. In addition, the OKX Web3 DeFi API also enhances the interoperability of the platform, allowing OKX Web3 DeFi to better interact with other blockchain networks and applications, and promote the convenience of cross-chain operations and asset transfers.

In terms of innovation: Another key driver is the support of innovation. Through open APIs, OKX Web3 DeFi can support and encourage the development of more innovative decentralized applications (dApps) and services, especially attracting enterprises and developers who need customized solutions, thereby maintaining competitiveness in the rapidly changing Web3 field.

In short, these factors jointly drove OKX Web3s decision to build an API, aiming to enhance platform functionality while promoting the growth and sustainable development of the crypto ecosystem.

Development process, challenges and innovations

OKX Web3: We can explain the development process, challenges and innovations from different sections.

First, about the development process.

Take the OKX Wallet API and OKX Market API as examples. The entire development process can be said to be a process of extracting core functions from requirements. At the beginning, we faced a large number of diverse customization requirements from users. These requirements were both complex and specific. In order to meet the actual needs of developers, we first abstracted the core requirements from these diverse requests.

This means that we need to extract the most representative functions from a wide range of user scenarios and implement them through a limited set of interfaces. The challenge of this process is how to provide sufficient functional coverage without losing flexibility in the process of simplification and abstraction. Through this process, we not only successfully developed an API that meets the needs of developers, but also introduced innovative thinking in the design of the API, so that the interface remains efficient and concise while still being extensible and universal.

Second, regarding innovation, the OKX DEX aggregator has gone through several key stages in its development process and made a lot of innovations.

1) Modular design: In order to ensure the scalability and flexibility of the API, the OKX DEX aggregator adopts a modular design approach. This design enables the API to easily integrate new functional modules and quickly iterate according to market demand.

2) Multi-chain support: Supports 20 networks, including EVM network and heterogeneous chains such as Solana and TRON, to meet the needs of different users. The implementation of this multi-chain support requires the API to have extremely high flexibility and adaptability. The OKX DEX aggregator overcomes the differences between different blockchains by designing a unified interface and compatibility mechanism.

3) Cross-chain bridge and DEX aggregation: Aggregate 18 cross-chain bridges and 400+ decentralized exchanges to ensure that users get better exchange quantities and quotes. The realization of this aggregation function requires the API to be able to handle complex transaction routing and price calculations.

4) Single-chain exchange: Aggregate the liquidity of various decentralized exchanges, split a single transaction into multiple DEXs, and provide users with better prices through efficient routing.

Third, about challenges. From the perspective of OKX Web3 DeFi, the main challenges are:

1) Challenge of information volume: The amount of information returned by the API interface far exceeds the content on the Web side, which is the first challenge we face. The API needs to meet the diverse needs of different developers, so when designing, we must not only consider the breadth and depth of information, but also ensure performance and response speed under large amounts of information. To achieve this goal, we optimized the data structure and transmission so that the API remains efficient when processing large amounts of data.

2) Batch interface design: Another important design consideration is the batch interface of OpenAPI. For example, many developers need to process a large amount of data at one time, so we focus on the design of batch interfaces. The development of batch interfaces not only improves user efficiency, but also helps reduce the load caused by repeated API calls. Through meticulous design and multiple rounds of optimization, we ensure that batch interfaces remain stable and reliable in high-concurrency environments.

3) Integration of platform-related information: Each interface needs to provide not only basic market data, but also more platform-related information. For example, OKX Web3 DeFi-specific features and market conditions need to be integrated into the API. This increases the complexity of the API, but we believe that this information is of great reference value to users. Therefore, we have given special consideration to how to efficiently organize and transmit this additional information in the design to ensure that it can be easily obtained and used by users.

4) Demand uncertainty: In the early stages of API development, one of the biggest challenges we faced was uncertainty about what features and fields OpenAPI users really needed. Since market and user needs were not yet clear, we needed to be bold in our design. We relied on our understanding of the market and close communication with early users to gradually explore an API architecture that could meet diverse needs. At the product design level, this exploratory development process helped us accumulate valuable experience and ultimately formed the current powerful and flexible API system.

These challenges and innovations not only help us build a more complete API system, but also lay a solid foundation for continuous improvement and optimization in the future.

Goals achieved

OKX Web3: The goal is not static, but dynamically adjusted.

At present, the goal of Wallet API is to keep up with the most cutting-edge technologies in the industry, including EIP-4337 and other cutting-edge technologies that simplify the wallet account system, and the MPC layered wallet solution favored by institutional users. At the same time, it provides the richest, most comprehensive and most stable data services, such as asset statistics capabilities for millions of addresses, and asset and transaction data for 100+ public chains. In the future, we will continue to deepen the underlying infrastructure, simplify the difficulty of technical development, open source, and allow more people to enter Web3, which is no longer a difficult task.

The goal of the OKX DEX Aggregator API is to become the developers first choice and industry standard by providing industry-leading API solutions, while promoting the expansion and diversification of the OKX DEX Aggregator ecosystem. In the future, we will continue to optimize API functions and performance, improve user satisfaction and usage, and continue to innovate, provide the latest technologies and functions, and maintain market competitiveness.

The goal of OKX Web3 DeFi is to support more DeFi protocols, provide developers with more functions and fields, etc., and through continuous performance optimization, such as database upgrades, so as to be able to accommodate more users and provide good services to the industry.

The goal of Market API is to increase API usage by continuously improving API functionality, while continuously lowering industry barriers and promoting the establishment of industry standards.

Key implementation functions

OKX Web3: This is a very good question. Through continuous iteration, we have realized many key functions and provided strong technical support for developers.

Currently, the wallet API functions cover multiple core modules, meeting the basic asset management and transaction needs of users. The key functions that have been implemented include:

For example, developers can use the wallet API to perform account management, asset management, transaction management, common information query, and Webhook (real-time subscription to on-chain data). Specifically, developers can use the wallet API to generate addresses and wallets, query on-chain assets and coin price information, manage transactions, and query other common data such as currency information, Gas price, and address authorization information. Among them, the transaction management module provides a wide range of services such as building, signing, broadcasting, tracking transactions, querying transaction history, supporting transactions on account model networks such as EVM, and supporting transactions on UTXO model networks such as BTC. With the OKX Wallet API, users can quickly build a simple asset dashboard in just three steps.

The key features currently implemented by the OKX DEX Aggregator API include:

1) Single-chain exchange: Through efficient routing and intelligent order splitting algorithms, as well as aggregating the liquidity of multiple decentralized exchanges such as Uniswap, Curve, Balancer, etc., a single transaction is split into multiple DEXs, and the price, slippage and transaction costs are comprehensively calculated to provide users with better prices.

2) Cross-chain bridges and cross-chain transactions: On the one hand, by aggregating high-quality cross-chain bridges such as Stargate, Across, Wormhole, and SWFT, multiple cross-chain path options are provided. On the other hand, the self-developed X Routing algorithm is used to automatically find the best liquidity pool when trading on the source chain, and a better exchange quantity is obtained through the intelligent order splitting algorithm. Finally, through the cross-chain bridge price comparison, the cross-out quantity, cross-chain bridge fee, slippage and transaction cost are comprehensively calculated to obtain the best cross-chain quotation.

3) Stability and high availability: High stability and response speed ensure that the API response time is within 100 milliseconds and provide a better inquiry path for free.

Currently, OKX Market API plans to launch Runes and Atom APIs in the short term, and enrich API functions by supporting popular chains or new protocols. In addition, it plans to launch push services and professional trading SDKs to increase trading volume and user volume.

In addition, the key functions that the current OKX Web3 DeFi API plans to implement include: querying information on defi protocols and investment products across the entire network, querying users own holdings, conducting transactions, redeeming, collecting rewards, calculating subscription and redemption estimates, etc.

Reduce the difficulty of API integration

OKX Web3: We consider that the ease of API integration is very important for broad developer adoption, and have taken a series of targeted measures to ensure that developers can easily and efficiently integrate APIs into their projects.

Taking OKX Wallet API as an example, we provide:

1) Rich and comprehensive technical documentation and examples

We follow the general steps and content of Web3 application development to deconstruct and sort out the technical implementation and content of Wallet API in detail, striving to provide users with comprehensive and practical capabilities and data. In addition, we also use three quick start examples of key application scenarios to show developers how to integrate and use SDK and API calls, so as to quickly get started and understand the key content of API use.

2) Close and responsive technical support

We have built Discord and TG communities for developers. In the TG community, we have 5+ operation liaison personnel, who pay attention to API group feedback and respond to technical support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In the Discord community, we have designed special channels for each API module to respond to corresponding developer questions and inquiries.

3) Continue to listen to feedback from the technical community, iterate and optimize API integration difficulties and obstacles

During the internal testing period, we will establish various 1 v 1 special technical docking groups for users with clear development needs, accompany developers, solve various access problems and feedback, collect feedback issues, and perform targeted API optimization.

4) Easy and simple developer workbench

At the same time, we have built a quick-access developer workbench to facilitate users to manage projects and APIs. In the future, we will continue to optimize and reconstruct the developer management platform to make it a one-stop development tool.

In terms of OKX DEX aggregator, we provide:

1) Detailed documentation: We provide comprehensive and easy-to-understand API documentation, covering everything from basic concepts to advanced usage. These documents not only include detailed API call examples, but also FAQs and best practice guidance to help developers get started quickly.

2) Developer Tools: To simplify the development process, we provide a wealth of code examples and debugging tools. These tools can help developers quickly locate problems and easily integrate API functions, reducing development time and costs.

3) Technical support: Our technical team is always available to help developers. Whether it is a problem with the use of the API or a problem during the integration process, our technical support team can respond promptly to ensure that developers have a smooth and worry-free integration experience.

In terms of OKX Market API, we provide:

1) Detailed documentation: We have written detailed API documentation that covers all functional modules of the API and provides rich use cases and code examples. These documents are carefully organized so that developers can easily access all the required resources and conduct API testing and debugging immediately, reducing the learning and development curve.

2) Interface optimization: In API design, we focus on optimizing the usability of the interface to ensure that the API call logic is simple and clear. Through streamlined parameter design and consistent response format, developers can more easily understand and use API functions.

3) SDK provision: We provide dedicated SDKs for mainstream programming languages and frameworks, allowing developers to quickly integrate the OKX Market API without having to write code from scratch. The SDK not only simplifies the calling process, but also has many built-in common functions and error handling mechanisms, further reducing the difficulty of integration.

In terms of OKX Web3 DeFi, we provide:

1) We have invested a lot of resources to improve the API documentation, which not only covers the technical details of the API, but also includes use cases and FAQs. To further reduce the learning cost of developers, we provide a wealth of sample code and practical use cases. These examples directly show the common usage scenarios of the API, allowing developers to quickly understand and apply them to their own projects. The document content is clearly structured and well-organized, aiming to help developers quickly understand and master the use of the API.

2) Timely communication with project parties: We emphasize timely communication with project parties and maintain efficient interaction during the API integration process. This direct communication channel enables developers to quickly get help, solve problems encountered during integration in a timely manner, and ensure smooth progress of the project.

Training courses to help developers better understand API functionality and best practices.

These measures are designed to provide developers with a seamless and efficient integration experience, ensuring they can fully leverage the capabilities of the OKX Web3 API to succeed in their decentralized applications.

Applicable groups and application scenarios

OKX Web3:

First, the OKX Wallet API can serve users with millions of addresses at the exchange level, and has the ability to count and trade assets of millions of addresses. At the same time, it can also serve a wide range of Web3 application developers, obtain the most comprehensive currency and public chain data, and construct their own user system, making it easy to manage assets and build transactions.

Second, the OKX DEX API mainly serves developers of decentralized applications (dApps) and tools, professional traders who conduct large-value and high-frequency transactions, as well as financial institutions and large corporate users. It is suitable for major scenarios such as decentralized transactions and cross-chain transactions. For example, various decentralized trading operations can be performed through the API to ensure better prices and lower slippage; or asset conversions between different chains can be realized through the API to ensure the efficiency and security of cross-chain transactions.

Third, the OKX Market API mainly serves user groups such as aggregators, bots, GameFi projects, and primary market project parties. Its application scenarios cover trading market creation, batch trading, market data acquisition, and other aspects.

Fourth, OKX Web3 DeFi API is mainly aimed at developers and project owners who need to access DeFi protocols and trading products.

Using Feedback

OKX Web3: The overall usage and user feedback of the OKX Web3 API are excellent, as shown in the following aspects:

In terms of usage rate, the usage rate of OKX API has steadily increased since its release. Its high performance, rich functions and stability have attracted more and more developers.

In terms of user feedback, users have given positive feedback, generally believing that the documentation is detailed and easy to understand, and the integration process is relatively simple. Many users particularly pointed out that the API performs well in dealing with complex transaction scenarios and large amounts of data, greatly improving their work efficiency. In addition, some users have put forward constructive suggestions for improvement, such as optimizing the performance of certain interfaces or adding specific functions. We attach great importance to these feedbacks and have incorporated these suggestions into subsequent development plans to further enhance the user experience and functionality of the API.

In the future, we will continue to listen to users’ voices and continuously optimize API functions to ensure that we meet the ever-changing needs of the market and users and bring value to more users.

Upgrade and maintenance strategy

OKX Web3: The construction of OKX Web3 API has adopted multi-level and multi-angle measures in responding to changes in market demand and upgrading and maintenance strategies to ensure that the API can continue to meet user needs and maintain technological leadership and market adaptability.

Responding to changes in market demand

1) Regular surveys: We conduct regular user surveys and market analysis to gain an in-depth understanding of users’ actual needs and the latest trends in industry development. These surveys help us capture market dynamics in a timely manner, ensure that the functional design of the API is always consistent with user needs, and promote the continuous optimization of API functions and services.

2) Flexible iteration: We adopt agile development methods and iterate quickly according to changes in market demand. We quickly introduce new features and improvements through short-cycle development and testing processes, so that the API can adapt to market changes in a timely manner and maintain its competitiveness. This flexible iteration method ensures that we can respond quickly to user needs and launch new features and enhancements that meet market expectations.

3) Industry trend tracking: In addition to user research, we also pay close attention to industry trends, especially new technologies and standards in the field of blockchain and decentralized finance (DeFi). By tracking and analyzing these trends, we can plan ahead to ensure that the API can support the latest technical standards and market needs.

Upgrade and maintenance strategy

1) Continuous optimization: We regularly perform performance optimization and security checks on the OKX Web3 API to ensure that the API remains efficient and secure. By optimizing code, improving architecture, and enhancing server performance, we are able to increase API response speed while reducing potential security risks.

2) User feedback: We attach great importance to user feedback and collect and process this feedback in a timely manner through various channels. Whether it is a feature suggestion or a problem report, we will respond quickly, fix the problem and make functional improvements. User opinions are an important basis for us to continuously improve the API, ensuring that we can quickly adjust and optimize the API to meet the actual needs of users.

3) Version management: In order to ensure the compatibility and stability of the API, we have adopted a strict version management strategy. Before releasing a new version, we conduct comprehensive testing and verification to ensure that the introduction of new features will not affect the stability of existing features. Through clear version management, we are also able to provide users with a backward-compatible upgrade path to ensure that they will not encounter compatibility issues when using the new version.

4) Regularly launch new features: In order to maintain technological leadership, we regularly launch new features and updates. These updates include not only functional requirements from users, but also innovative features developed independently. By continuously introducing new features, we ensure that OKX Web3 API is always at the forefront of the market and provide users with more advanced technical support.

Through these countermeasures and upgrade maintenance strategies, OKX Web3 API can flexibly adapt to changes in market demand and continue to provide efficient, stable and secure services. We will continue to be user-oriented and continuously improve the functionality and performance of the API to ensure that it always stays ahead in the rapidly changing market environment.

Construction Planning

OKX Web3:

The construction plan of OKX Wallet API includes: (1) Providing more real-time, convenient and comprehensive asset and transaction data. At present, the data source and data acquisition method have been optimized to ensure that the needs of developers for continuous expansion are met. (2) Continue to connect to popular public chains, simplify the entry threshold for accessing popular public chains, and enrich the diverse wallet ecosystem with everyone. (3) Continue to provide the capabilities and solutions of MPC wallets and AA smart wallet accounts, provide wallet services with diverse scenarios and powerful functions through open source, and simplify the entry process of Web3 wallets.

The OKX DEX API construction plan includes the following aspects: adding more single-chain exchange and cross-chain transaction functions to improve the comprehensiveness of the API; continuously optimizing the performance of the API to improve response speed and stability; enhancing developer support and providing more documentation and tools; and promoting the API through various channels to attract more users and developers.

OKX Web3 DeFi API will continue to follow up on user needs, such as protocol apy historical data, and carry out continuous iterations.

OKX Market API plans for the next few months include supporting new BTC protocols, building push services, improving aggregation interface functions, launching trading SDKs, and supporting more heterogeneous network APIs. We plan to open more API interfaces in the future, especially for new networks and protocols, and continue to expand API functions and application scenarios to meet market and user needs.

Disclaimer

This article is for reference only. This article only represents the authors views and does not represent the position of OKX. This article is not intended to provide (i) investment advice or investment recommendations; (ii) an offer or solicitation to buy, sell or hold digital assets; (iii) financial, accounting, legal or tax advice. We do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of such information. Holding digital assets (including stablecoins and NFTs) involves high risks and may fluctuate significantly. You should carefully consider whether trading or holding digital assets is suitable for you based on your financial situation. Please consult your legal/tax/investment professionals for your specific situation. Please be responsible for understanding and complying with local applicable laws and regulations.

This article is sourced from the internet: Invisible Infrastructure Issue 02｜Dialogue with OKX Web3 Team: Why build API?

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