One of the primary features of a blockchain is its decentralization guarantees, but decentralization is not a binary decision. BlockCypher's developer advocate will dive into the tradeoffs between running your own blockchain infrastructure and using a third-party API, using examples and use-cases from BlockCypher's APIs and customers. Josh Cincinnati, Developer Advocate

1. Bitcoin, Blockchains, and APIs
The Decentralization Spectrum
Josh Cincinnati, Developer Advocate, @acityinohio, josh@blockcypher.com

2. > whoami
Bitcoin-obsessed Developer Advocate
Skeptical in 2010, Incepted in 2012

3. Inception

4. BlockCypher: The Dream Team
We build infrastructure, you build ideas (inceptions?)

5. BlockCypher: The Biggest Little Bitcoin Company

6. curl https://api.blockcypher.com/v1/btc/main
{
"name": "BTC.main",
"height": 401197,
"hash": "00000000000000000585f3575edf5acde608c0ae17f8d6988f10aaa4cfedbcf9",
"time": "2016-03-05T00:44:11.720094856Z",
"latest_url": "https://api.blockcypher.com/v1/btc/main/blocks/00000000000000000585f3575edf5acde608c0ae17f8d6988f10aaa4cfedbcf9",
"previous_hash": "000000000000000004e1027953a537d7b30557b34c4207c7af7b2e63bcadc378",
"previous_url": "https://api.blockcypher.com/v1/btc/main/blocks/000000000000000004e1027953a537d7b30557b34c4207c7af7b2e63bcadc378",
"unconfirmed_count": 33216,
"high_fee_per_kb": 66566,
"medium_fee_per_kb": 25874,
"low_fee_per_kb": 22589,
"last_fork_height": 399886,
"last_fork_hash": "000000000000000006a553939f586b491f63d3158b3baee1fbdf06bd3c41becc"
}

7. curl https://api.blockcypher.com/v1/eth/main
{
"name": "ETH.main",
"height": 1681232,
"hash": "48015b512d94182bd3915f460a63f52ef246d0cbacd6d79156d7c6bdb6efe0e4",
"time": "2016-06-10T23:57:24.898560671Z",
"latest_url": "https://api.blockcypher.com/v1/eth/main/blocks/48015b512d94182bd3915f460a63f52ef246d0cbacd6d79156d7c6bdb6efe0e4",
"previous_hash": "10ce2f9c63b2259289b797d65627ec04164cce2792b0c7e21875c22620d1a5ec",
"previous_url": "https://api.blockcypher.com/v1/eth/main/blocks/10ce2f9c63b2259289b797d65627ec04164cce2792b0c7e21875c22620d1a5ec",
"peer_count": 71,
"unconfirmed_count": 12735,
"high_gas_price": 40000000000,
"medium_gas_price": 20000000000,
"low_gas_price": 5000000000,
"last_fork_height": 1678736,
"last_fork_hash": "91b80c1dbe1c8aa4a29f2cbfccfb5228a238eb80b2e686f16a25eb0e4f0c117f"
}
(wow)

8. curl https://api.blockcypher.com/v1/doge/main
{
"name": "DOGE.main",
"height": 1248677,
"hash": "9c598635b2095980d435df4a005954fe7f813f92dcd6fa43f83d9094fa9b622d",
"time": "2016-06-11T01:26:06.628346687Z",
"latest_url": "https://api.blockcypher.com/v1/doge/main/blocks/9c598635b2095980d435df4a005954fe7f813f92dcd6fa43f83d9094fa9b622d",
"previous_hash": "0070e475102eeed30c5267ab497f746481d16db2d5b5ddf3126ce4da83dcb5a6",
"previous_url": "https://api.blockcypher.com/v1/doge/main/blocks/0070e475102eeed30c5267ab497f746481d16db2d5b5ddf3126ce4da83dcb5a6",
"peer_count": 535,
"unconfirmed_count": 42,
"high_fee_per_kb": 72275,
"medium_fee_per_kb": 27720,
"low_fee_per_kb": 25000,
"last_fork_height": 1248054,
"last_fork_hash": "593acb70259eee108bc19b64fbd69a4c6a57e3db51a2e88c379c549da506fc4f"
}
(such wow)

9. https://api.blockcypher.com/v1/btc/main/txs/302
d18e6576a0cde20e5729a547dc782ca496923d443c33400
9f8cea0401c85e/confidence
{
"age_millis": 12405,
"receive_count": 937,
"confidence": 0.927205463977282,
"preference": "low",
"txhash": "302d18e6576a0cde20e5729a547dc782ca496923d443c334009f8cea0401c85e",
"txurl": "https://api.blockcypher.com/v1/btc/main/txs/302d18e6576a0cde20e5729a547dc782ca496923d443c334009f8cea0401c85e"
}

10. Base Protocol (Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc.)
Mining
Applications/Services
Users/Usage
Middleware
Blockchain Cake
Infrastructure

11. ...from our IaaS perch, lots of demand
2016: 2+million
API calls/day
2014: 0 calls

12. bitcoinj
C-ethereum
Why?
btcd
Bitcoin
Core
ethereum-J
Python
ethereum
Go-ethereum
● Steps: 15
● Time: 3 - 6 months
● Resources: SysAdmin, Developer,
Ops, DevOps, machines
● Cost: $44k - $700k yearly
● Step: 1
● Time: 1 hour
● Resource: Developer
● Cost: starts ~$1k yearly,
scales with you
Do It Yourself (basic set-up):

13. Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS)
Locally...

14. btcd
The Decentralization Spectrum
Bitcoin
Core
Go-ethereum
bitcoinj
Permissioned
Blockchain
A
single
bank /
lawyer
SPV

15. Centralization vs Specialization
Mobile environments
Cost/memory-restricted VPSs
Complexity simplified
Reliable bitcoin sandbox
Many Trust, some Verify
RUNNING BITCOIN
NODE
USING APIs
graciously modified from https://xkcd.com/1319/

16. How to Trust and Verify
bitcoind btcd
bitcoinj
Many Data Centers
Go/Cassandra/Redis
Custom Node

17. Some Examples from Customers

19. Q&A/Thanks!
Check out http://dev.blockcypher.com/ for more
Josh Cincinnati, josh@blockcypher.com, @acityinohio