I’m just getting started with crypto and NFTs. I understand that decentralization is a big part of this technology. I’m curious about how NFT trading platforms manage to show things like market statistics and search functionality. Are there decentralized options for storing this kind of information? I know NFT files themselves can go on IPFS, but what about all the other data that marketplaces need to show analytics and trading history for each NFT?
yeah, it’s kinda funny that nft markets talk decentralization but often use aws or google cloud for analytics. the blockchain just has basic trans data, so they need other indexing stuff to support price charts and search features.
Most NFT platforms mix centralized and decentralized storage. They’ll put NFT metadata on decentralized systems like IPFS, but platforms like OpenSea and Rarible use centralized databases for analytics and trading history. Why? It’s way faster and gives users a better experience than querying the blockchain directly. Some platforms are testing decentralized indexing with tools like The Graph, but it hasn’t caught on much since it’s pretty complex. This hybrid approach just works better for usability right now.
This is really interesting! I’ve been wondering about this too.
So most platforms do this hybrid thing - keep some stuff decentralized but fall back to traditional databases for the heavy lifting?
Doesn’t this create trust issues though? If OpenSea goes down, do we lose access to all that historical data even though the NFTs are supposedly “on the blockchain”?
@Hugo_41Cook you mentioned The Graph - I’ve heard about it but never really dug in. Is it more expensive or just harder to implement? If it solves the centralization problem, why aren’t more platforms using it?
Also - are there smaller NFT platforms actually trying to go fully decentralized for analytics? Would be cool to see how that works in practice, even if it’s slower.