The Graph

The Graph is a decentralized protocol for indexing and querying blockchain data. Where raw blockchains expose only append-only event logs and opaque storage slots via low-level RPC calls, The Graph processes that raw state into structured, queryable datasets accessible through standard GraphQL APIs. The result is that application developers, data analysts, AI agents, and enterprise teams can query on-chain history and real-time state without maintaining their own archive nodes or writing custom data pipelines.

Founded in mid-2018 by Yaniv Tal, Jannis Pohlmann, and Brandon Ramirez — three engineers who previously built software together at enterprise integration firm MuleSoft — The Graph launched its mainnet in December 2020 after spending two years refining its hosted service. By mid-2026 the protocol had served more than 1.27 trillion queries and reported more than 75,000 projects building on top of it, with users including Uniswap, Aave, Yearn Finance, and Polymarket.

How It Works

The Graph's core abstraction is the subgraph: a developer-defined schema and mapping that instructs Indexer nodes which contract events to watch, how to transform raw log data, and how to expose the result via a GraphQL endpoint. Anyone can write and deploy a subgraph for any smart contract; once deployed, Curators can signal quality subgraphs by depositing GRT, and Indexers allocate stake to serve those subgraphs in exchange for indexing rewards and query fees.

The protocol organizes its market participants into four roles:

• Indexers operate the infrastructure nodes that index subgraph data and respond to queries. They must self-stake a minimum of 100,000 GRT and are subject to slashing — up to a 10% cap under the current Graph Horizon protocol version — if they serve incorrect data or fail to submit a Proof of Indexing (POI) within a 28-day window.
• Curators stake GRT on specific subgraphs to signal their quality to Indexers. Higher signal attracts more indexing capacity to high-demand datasets.
• Delegators delegate GRT to Indexers to earn a proportional share of indexing rewards without running their own infrastructure. More than 160,000 delegator addresses participate as of late 2025, a notably retail-heavy base for a data infrastructure protocol.
• Data Consumers (developers and dApps) query indexed data via GraphQL, paying query fees distributed to Indexers through the GraphTally micropayment system.

Beyond subgraphs, The Graph also ships two complementary data products: Substreams, a parallel indexing technology for high-throughput, low-latency streaming pipelines; and Amp, a blockchain-first database for handling more complex analytical queries. All three products are available to developers building on supported networks.

GRT Token

GRT is the native work token of The Graph Network. Its primary function is economic security: Indexers must bond GRT to earn the right to serve queries, and misbehavior triggers slashing, aligning node operator incentives with data accuracy.

The protocol issues new GRT at a 3% annual inflation rate to fund indexing rewards. Starting from an initial supply of 10 billion tokens, circulating supply had grown to roughly 10.94 billion GRT by late 2025 due to cumulative issuance. This steady inflation is the main source of income for Indexers and Delegators who allocate stake to active subgraph deployments.

In late 2025 GRT became a Cross-Chain Token (CCT) via Chainlink's CCIP, enabling native bridging between Arbitrum, Base, and Avalanche, with Solana listed as a planned destination. Previously, GRT liquidity was concentrated on Arbitrum and Ethereum mainnet.

Solana Integration

The Graph added Solana support through its Subgraphs product, with three distinct network configurations available in the documentation: Solana Mainnet Beta, Solana Devnet, and a Solana Accounts integration. Subgraphs on Solana allow developers to define custom indexing schemas for programs deployed on the Solana runtime and query them via the same GraphQL interface used on EVM chains.

The current Solana integration supports Subgraphs only. Substreams and Firehose — the higher-throughput streaming layer — are not yet listed as available for Solana networks, making the Solana offering more comparable to the protocol's earlier EVM integration depth than its most mature chains. Developers building Solana applications who need structured historical queries or event-indexed data are the primary beneficiaries.

AI Agent Infrastructure

A significant recent development has been The Graph's positioning within the emerging stack for autonomous AI agents. In mid-2026 the protocol released Subgraph MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers that allow AI language models to query on-chain data in plain language, without developers writing custom API wrappers. The Graph frames this as one layer in a three-layer on-chain agent infrastructure stack alongside ERC-8004 and the x402 payment protocol.

GraphTally, the micropayment routing system introduced in 2025 and detailed further in 2026, underpins the pay-per-request model this architecture requires. The x402 protocol enables sub-cent payments on a per-query basis, allowing autonomous agents to consume indexed blockchain data without pre-negotiated subscriptions or trusted intermediaries.

At ETHOnline 2026, The Graph reported 354 hackathon submissions using its technology across three tracks — a signal of active developer adoption that the team called its highest hackathon usage to date.

Governance and Foundation

The Graph Foundation oversees protocol grants and ecosystem development, operating separately from the core development team. Protocol parameters — including slashing rates and inflation — are governed by the Graph Council. In mid-2026 the Foundation signaled a strategic shift toward more direct operator and builder roles, including a proposal to redirect 20% of protocol issuance toward accelerating specific growth initiatives rather than distributing it purely through market-rate indexing rewards.

Funding and Backers

The Graph raised a $2.5 million seed round led by Multicoin Capital in January 2019, followed by a $5 million SAFT round in June 2020 that included Multicoin, Framework Ventures, ParaFi Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Digital Currency Group, and DTC Capital. In January 2022 the Graph Foundation announced a $50 million strategic GRT sale from its treasury to fund ecosystem expansion and developer recruitment.

Summary

The Graph is mature, widely adopted blockchain data infrastructure with a live Solana integration via Subgraphs. Its open-market design — where Indexers compete on reliability and Curators signal quality — creates an economic structure that aims to make indexed blockchain data as accessible as a hosted API while remaining permissionless and censorship-resistant. The emerging AI agent use case, Substreams-powered real-time pipelines, and the CCT bridge expansion are the protocol's most active fronts heading into late 2026.