How does The Graph work?

Nodes in the Graph platform create consensus through the Proof-of-Stake algorithm and are divided into four job titles to ensure effectiveness in the efforts of indexing and querying data.

1.Indexers — provide indexing and querying related-duties after staking their GRT tokens. They are awarded through fees and rewards.

2.Curators — deviates subgraphs, after staking their coins, to signal subgraphs and progress of their work. The earlier they signal changes of the subgraph, the more they will be rewarded.

3.Delegators — nodes that select or delegate an Indexer to support. They will receive a portion of query fees provided to Indexers.

4.Consumers — end-users, possibly DApp developers that entried their request into the Graph platform and distribute various fees and rewards to the other nodes.

Other than query fees and such, users in the Indexer and Delegator groups are also able to receive Indexing Rewards in return for their duties of querying and indexing.

The platform will distribute such fees in accordance with the predetermined epochs of the blocks and the quality of the nodes’ work.

Furthermore, Indexers can also have their stake GRT coins slashed in response to the system identifying malicious acts as a defensive mechanism.

As for Curators and Delegators, they would be faced with additional fees to disincentivize wrongful doings on their part. Also, Curators receive lessened fees in accordance with low-quality subgraph curation.