Problem: Web3 is being ushered into importance by the acceptance of stablecoins, blockchain, and crypto. With it, Web3 brings a wide array of applications that must be built on different network protocols like the Ethereum blockchain. There must be a platform layer in between the protocol and App development to enable users to take advantage of the new Web3 system. These Web3 apps include decentralized exchanges, NFT apps, decentralized autonomous organizations, liquid staking apps, and many more.
Solution: Alchemy is the company building the platform layer for apps to leverage blockchain technology. To explain, Windows is a platform layer that enables developers to use hardware like RAM and CPUs to build apps like Excel and Word. Amazon Web Services is a platform layer that enables developers to leverage protocols like HTTP and FTP to build apps like YouTube and DoorDash. Alchemy is a platform layer that enables developers to leverage protocols like Ethereum and Solana blockchain to develop apps like Uniswap and Lido. The footprint that Alchemy has is massive, and its list of features is exhaustive. On Alchemy, one has the features to build DeFi apps, fintech apps, NFT apps, and on-chain agents. They offer wallets, webhooks, and a variety of APIs that are crucial to developing Web3 apps. They even offer a variety of chains instead of just Ethereum, including layer 2 chains like Arbitrum and separate chains like Solana. Another important feature their platform offers is rollups, which bundle contract actions on a layer 2 blockchain and then send the bundle onto the main layer chain to reduce congestion and friction. Finally, Alchemy offers functions to seamlessly integrate external blockchain data into an app that a developer is creating
Founders: Nikil Viswanathn and Joe Lau founded the company in 2017 and made their platform public in 2020. This is on the mature side for startups, but I thought the importance of their platform was enough to permit a slight rule bend. They are both Stanford graduates, recognized on Forbes, and cofounders of Down to Lunch.
Implications: The importance of Alchemy is clear, and I hope the comparison to Windows and AWS made the function of the company tangible. As for implications, the next large scaling of the web will be built on Web3 using Alchemy (or similar products). This means developers have new skills to learn, but also new opportunities to take advantage of. Learning to use Alchemy will be an invaluable skill for the future generation of founders. At a grander level, coding finance platforms now has a much lower barrier. People will be able to implement their own ideas into new DeFi protocols using Alchemy. This will lead to much more niche financial services that are tailored towards certain consumers that people would have never gotten with traditional financial services. I also have to imagine that in-house software will be much more common to handle specific financial protocols. This incentive will lead people to adopt crypto even faster than they are now. With fully built protocols like Ethereum and mature platforms like Alchemy, crypto is poised for the last 1-mile of development, which means dApps and blockchain companies will be coming out like hot cakes in the coming months, and seeing what those apps are capable of will be game-changing.
Conclusion: If you have ever wondered what makes the internet work or how a couple of silicon devices become a functioning computer? The tools that work in the shadows of technology are really what make the world keep going around. For Web3, the primary tool could very well be Alchemy, giving it huge growth upside and a good reason for developers to become familiar with the tools it provides.