Over the past month, our Frontend, Backend, and Blockchain teams continued to deliver the functionality needed for our first transaction in September.
Finding a Data Provider
Since Arkis Protocol mechanics rely on whitelisted protocols and DEXs Curve and Uniswap, we need data provider to provide aggregated portfolios of margin accounts to Arkis Margin Engine. Initially, we’ve been relying on The Graph and other external data providers but faced several issues:
- Graph nodes are unreliable and not always available for Convex and Curve.
- The Graph no longer supports Uniswap V2 because of the liquidity shift to V3. This is concerning for future upgrades; when V4 launches, we worry that V3 would not longer be available.
Testing for User-acceptance
Testing the functionality of our smart contracts before Arkis is live is paramount. But, testing on Ethereum Mainnet is expensive, while implementing everything needed for Curve and whitelisted tokens on Ethereum Goerly/Sepolia Testnets requires a huge amount of work.
Thus, we’ve decided to run a private Ethereum client. We set up our own local chain which is a fork of Ethereum Mainnet and acts as a private blockchain. There we can test everything we need in the same context as Mainnet. Meet “Private Chain.”
In Private Chain, we can test scenarios and make transactions on behalf of other wallets without signing transactions. For example: Imagine Curve’s Founder Michael Egorov opened a leveraged LP position on Uniswap V3 using CRV tokens as collateral.
Blending the two: Finding a Data Provider for Private Chain
Existing data providers are unreliable and pull data from Ethereum Mainnet, not our local blockchain. That is why we decided to create an abstraction layer for onchain data provider.
Now, Arkis Margin Engine listens to Arkis Oncnain Portfolio Monitor without needing to understand what happens under the hood. It simply needs to implement the way it acts and processes the incoming data.
On the other hand, Arkis Onchain Data Provider is responsible for:
- Collecting required onchain data (DEX transactions, currently available positions, etc.)
- Enriching the data with other information for more convenient processing (value of LP position in borrowed token, number of tokens in LP positions, etc.)
- Providing information about new events emitted by Arkis Protocol (new margin account opened, closed/liquidated margin accounts, etc).
With private chain and Arkis Onchain Portfolio Monitor (Abstract Provider), we are ready to stress-test and simulate various scenarios without the need burn gas on configuring sophisticated system of smart contracts on Testnet.
We are another month closer to launching Arkis on Ethreum Mainnet.
About Arkis
Arkis — DeFi Prime Broker offers multichain, undercollateralized leverage powered by portfolio margin. Author Oleksandr Proskurin is the Co-founder and Chief Product Officer.
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