APIs are very important for websites and applications today and have also become indispensable for blockchain applications. But few people understand what they are and why they are essential for both users and businesses.
There is nothing conceptually complicated about an API, including a blockchain API. The term stands for Application Programming Interface and represents a tool that hides complexity from developers, giving users the ability to interact with an application or website without problems.
Reusable application components, send data to and from the application and extend application systems to partners.
Some Examples of APIs
APIs are one of the most convenient ways to programmatically interact with a given software component or resource.
API not only helps users interact with applications but also allows two or more applications to interact with each other. Now that you are more familiar with the general concept, a blockchain API is nothing more than an API linked to a blockchain infrastructure or application.
For a better and first-hand experience, I would like to share about my recent project- Newsdata.io which is a news API platform. With the help of news API, users can fetch worldwide news data from the Newsdata.io news database.
To better understand what an API is, imagine you are in a restaurant and have a menu in front of you. The kitchen, in this case, would be part of the application or system that will prepare your order, how can you communicate with him? Fortunately, there is the server, which acts as an API. It is the messenger who registers your request, forwards it to the kitchen, and then delivers the food or the answer to you.
Likewise, a blockchain exchange API can help you access cryptocurrency price and performance data from the platform.
Here’s another real API example: Imagine there are no travel restrictions related to COVID19 and you want to go on vacation. When you search for flights online, you will find many different options regarding destinations, departure and return dates and times, prices, and more.
If you use an online travel service like Expedia, you will be able to analyze all of the options from a variety of airline databases. This is done through the API.
An example of a similar blockchain API would be CoinMarketCap. It is one of the most popular and trusted cryptocurrency data providers. The website gets all of its data from APIs of different exchanges like Binance, Coinbase, Kraken, Bistamp, etc. The API for each exchange sends information back and forth.
Developing blockchain software is quite difficult and involves several sophisticated elements. One of the most essential components is the blockchain API interface.
You can think of them as services that allow blockchain users and developers to interact with the app in different ways.
Here are some examples of blockchain API services:
● An easy-to-use Bitcoin-related API that allows any website, for example, an online store, to receive payments in Bitcoin;
● API for payment transactions from digital wallets;
● API for querying blockchain data relating to blocks, transactions, etc.
Note that decentralized applications (dApps) are nothing more than applications that interact with native blockchains, such as Ethereum or Algorand, via the API. This is why the latter is so important for the blockchain space.
APIs may be created by others and sold or provided free of charge. Since APIs are essential for dApps and other blockchain use cases, having a decentralized API marketplace is very important. In a way, using blockchain for API management would be a great approach.
Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence Can Leverage Data Through APIs
APIs are about data. Many APIs revolve around blockchains or software data that can be categorized, distributed, compared, and analyzed in different ways.
When it comes to huge amounts of data, the best way to analyze it is with artificial intelligence (AI) systems. A combination that includes blockchain and AI would certainly do the trick. It can enable a decentralized API marketplace for data sharing and processing.
Although not focused on the blockchain industry, the platform can be used by third-party AI creators who develop systems and data models based on blockchain APIs.
But above all, artificial intelligence encourages businesses and organizations to harness data and derive maximum benefit from it. Most companies are concerned about sharing data for privacy or regulatory reasons. However, wasting such valuable data is not a reasonable approach.
AI engineers can develop models based on data shared by consumers of different products and services. Customers can find relevant models in the market. All models are accessible through simple APIs.
Platforms rely on blockchain and smart contracts to automate various data processes. AI-based platforms use blockchain for API trading, which helps clients to buy and use market-relevant data APIs.
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