The Graph Network Roles

Indexers are the backbone of The Graph Ecosystem, as they are responsible for processing and indexing data from blockchains into subgraphs, which are then made available for search and use by developers. They receive rewards in the form of GRT tokens for their efforts.

Curators play a vital role in the ecosystem by signaling the relevance and quality of subgraphs, which helps indexers prioritize their efforts. Curators receive a portion of the rewards earned by indexers for creating high-quality subgraphs.

Delegators are network participants who delegate (i.e., "stake") GRT to one or more Indexers. Delegators contribute to securing the network without running a Graph Node themselves. They earn a portion of the Indexer's query fees and rewards. The amount of queries an Indexer can process depends on the Indexer's own (and delegated) stake and the price the Indexer charges for each query, so the more stake that is allocated to an Indexer, the more potential queries they can process.

Consumers are applications and dApps that use the data indexed by the network. They can access the data by making API requests to the network and paying a fee for each request.

Together, these network roles create a robust and thriving ecosystem for The Graph, providing reliable, secure, and efficient data indexing services for the web3 community. The IndexerDAO will work to support and foster growth within this ecosystem by offering education, project-based learning opportunities, and innovation support.