Yearly Snapshot: Crypto APIs in 2023

Approaching the conclusion of 2023 prompts a reflection on the year's notable events, both for the crypto market and for us. Looking at the entire crypto and blockchain market, a distinct sign of recovery became evident in mid-December, as Bitcoin, the primary cryptocurrency, reached a 20-month high, surpassing the $44,000 USD mark per coin. This milestone underscores a historical trend, with Bitcoin's price surging nearly 3 times from the beginning of the year, when it was around $16,000 USD. In the past, during periods of market growth, there was a rising demand for blockchain infrastructure solutions. This surge was attributed to the growing number of companies and developers seeking to establish their projects.

The overall altcoin market has also experienced an upward trajectory, marked by positive indicators, which justifies our expectation for an upcoming market growth which we project to reflect the demand for our services. The resurgence in the market can be attributed to various factors widely discussed within the industry. Notably, expectations of banks easing rate hikes due to a stabilization in inflation levels contribute to this recovery. Another significant factor is the heightened institutional interest driven by enthusiasm for ETFs, motivating more businesses and organizations to explore the crypto sector. Looking ahead to the 2024 outlook, the anticipated Bitcoin halving in April may further contribute to a bullish phase in the crypto sector.

What was the 2023 journey for us?

The past year posed significant challenges for our team as we aimed to accomplish numerous milestones. We dedicated additional time and effort to continually optimize our services and expand their scope. Our primary goal was to enhance user-friendliness, integrating new blockchain networks to offer more versatile options to our clients. In pursuit of this, we introduced multiple new endpoints and enhanced and optimized our over 100+ existing endpoints to further diversify our services. Numerous service optimizations were released over regular intervals, along with a new API versioning and the integration of Stellar and Tezos protocols. 

We successfully reached all our goals for the current year and have set even more ambitious and challenging objectives for 2024. Anticipating a potential growth trend in the entire market, we expect heightened interest from businesses and developers in initiating their crypto and blockchain projects. Our mission is to meet the increasing market demand and assist as many of our business clients as possible in reducing costs, optimizing resources, scaling rapidly, introducing automation to technical processes, and freeing up more time for their technical teams to concentrate on crucial aspects of their businesses.

Tezos and Stellar integrations

We received numerous requests from our clients for the need for integrations of Tezos and Stellar blockchains into our blockchain suite, and during the spring we completed integrations with both protocols.

The Stellar blockchain utilizes a decentralized server network and the Stellar Consensus Protocol (SCP). It consists of the Consensus Layer for blockchain state agreement and the Ledger Layer for transaction history. Stellar Core software connects, validates transactions, and communicates with other nodes.

With our integration, developers can create smart contracts and dApps in the Application Layer. Another aspect that is making the Stellar network attractive to software builders is the cost-efficiency, cross-border transactions and interoperability with traditional financial systems. 

In regards to Tezos, our team successfully incorporated both the Tezos mainnet and the Tezos Ghostnet testnet networks. The inclusion of the Ghostnet testnet enables our clients to conduct various on-chain actions in a testing environment before transitioning to production. 

Tezos prioritizes providing a decentralized environment that is scalable, secure, and interoperable through the separation of network infrastructure, consensus mechanisms, transaction execution, and smart contract functionalities.

Key Management System (KMS) Version Upgrades

Our commitment to enhancing our Key Management System (KMS) is ongoing through our regular release of updated versions, with the latest being launched this summer as Version 0.7.2. This recent release specifically focuses on addressing several minor fixes, highlighting our dedication to ensure a seamless and optimized user experience.

Looking ahead, our commitment to continuous improvement means that we will persistently roll out new and updated versions of our KMS in the future. This ongoing effort is aimed at providing sustained support and incorporating valuable upgrades to meet the evolving needs of our users and maintain the highest standards of functionality and security.

API Versioning

On April 25, 2023, we introduced a new version of our API with the goal of replacing the previous 2021 version. The latest version has now been designated as the default. Notably, the release of this year's API versioning did not result in any service disruptions, allowing clients accustomed to the older API version to continue using it seamlessly. It's important to emphasize that these clients that are still using the old versioning will only gain access to the new features upon updating their API version to the latest one.

Our Crypto APIs versioning publish new APIs for the endpoints without compromising the already integrated solutions. We categorize all finalized versions as "stable." Customers can still continue using the old versions and can only switch to the new stable versions if they would like to test and are ready to switch. This procedure can be easily initiated from the client`s dashboard or tested by adding a certain header in each of the requests to interact with the new version. Note that we recommend using the latest and greatest API versioning whenever it is possible to ensure smoother experience with our services.

New Endpoints & Service Optimizations

Over the course of the year, we systematically removed outdated endpoints while introducing multiple new endpoints, enriching the resources available to our clients. This noteworthy addition complements our existing set of 100+ endpoints. In addition, we updated our technical documentation to accurately reflect all changes. 

This year we made substantial enhancements across all our products, with notable improvements in HD wallets, KMS, blockchain networks integrations and existing endpoints. Specific updates included the incorporation of Tron and Tron Nile support for selected endpoints, reinforcing our commitment to innovation. 

Furthermore, our proactive approach to service quality included the implementation of various security patches, contributing to the ongoing maintenance of a high-quality service standard. For full details on our achievements this year, please navigate to our updates page. 

Crypto APIs 2024 Commitment

Our team's objectives continue to evolve each year, and 2024 is no exception. We are committed to advancing our goals by expanding blockchain integrations, with plans to incorporate Polygon, Solana, and other networks in the coming year.

Early next year, we are set to launch Node as a Service (NaaS) after a long pause and a comprehensive overhaul. This revamped service promises a more user-friendly experience for interacting with blockchain data, marking a significant improvement.

Ongoing enhancements and optimizations will be systematically rolled out across all our services at regular intervals. Our commitment to focus on security, service quality, and user-friendly features remains unchanged.

In the first quarter, we are set to introduce a new, fair pricing model. This means clients will only pay for the services they use, aligning with our commitment for transparency and provision of great value. Additional pricing restructuring changes are currently in progress, and we anticipate announcing these exciting developments to our community very soon, so stay tuned!

To conclude the year, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to you, our platform users and clients, for being a part of our journey in 2023, and we look forward to growing even stronger together in the coming year. We wish you happy holidays from the entire Crypto APIs team!