Google Is Working With Solana to Revive the Blockchain Node Engine

The Solana blockchain is currently undergoing validation by Google Cloud. Google also said on Saturday that it would soon introduce capabilities to make it easier for node runners and programmers to use Solana. In response to the announcement, Solana (SOL) gained 12% and was trading at about $36.80 at the time of writing.

The Blockchain Node Engine Revival

Google Cloud said in a Twitter thread that, in addition to operating a Solana validator “to engage in and authenticate the system,” it has plans to introduce its Blockchain Node Engine to the Solana chain in 2023. The company’s “fully-managed node hosting solution,” called the Blockchain Node Engine, already works with the Ethereum network.

At the Solana Breakpoint conference in Lisbon, Google Web3 product manager Nalin Mittal stated that the company wants to make running a Solana node simple and affordable.

Solana Data Indexing

The Solana developer ecosystem will now have greater accessibility to previous data according to Google Cloud’s announcement that it has begun indexing Solana data and integrating it into its BigQuery data warehouse. According to Mittal, the capability will become life in the first quarter of 2023.

According to Mittal, Google Cloud will offer up to $100,000 in Cloud Credits through its incentives scheme to ‘chosen entrepreneurs in the Solana ecosystem.’

Anatoly Yakovenko, the creator of Solana, praised the ‘quite massive boost from Google’ in integrating Solana with BigQuery on stage at Breakpoint.

Yakovenko mentioned improving SDKs to hasten the creation of programs and tackling the ‘unsolved difficulty’ of retaining seed phrases when questioned about how Google can help with ‘hard engineering problems.’ He further stated:

“There has been a significant amount of research on how to store secrets properly so that Google isn’t even aware of them, and you have slight improvement of the keys between both the user and a service provider like Google that can validate your identity.”

The Node Engine Makes Work Easier

Currently, mechanically setting up a node takes a lot of time and entails launching an Ethereum client (such as geth), creating a computation environment, and waiting for the node to synchronise with the system. It can take many days to sync a full node from the first block (also known as ‘genesis’). Programmers can install a new node with a single process using Google Cloud’s Blockchain Node Engine, choosing the desired area and network in the process (mainnet, testnet).

Google Clouds and Coinbase Work Together To Promote Web3 Innovations

When it comes to Web3, Google Cloud looks to be fully committed. It worked with Coinbase on October 11th, 2022, to create cutting-edge exchange and data services. Coinbase would employ the robust computational framework of Google Cloud to analyse blockchain data at scale. It would also expand the reach of its cryptocurrency services by utilising Google’s first-rate fibre-optic network. To offer Coinbase customers machine learning-driven cryptocurrency insights, Coinbase would also construct its global data platform on Google Cloud’s secure infrastructure and use its industry-leading data and analytics capabilities.

Through this alliance, Google’s BigQuery crypto public datasets spanning the most popular blockchains will also be accessible to Web3 developers. Coinbase Cloud Nodes will back these datasets. Without the necessity for costly and complicated infrastructure, the incorporation will let developers manage Web3-based services quickly and efficiently.