Invisible Infrastructure 02 | Conversation with OKX Web3 Team: Why Build APIs?
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Invisible Infrastructure 02 | Conversation with OKX Web3 Team: Why Build APIs?
Consider the significance of API development from a longer-term perspective.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsThe crypto industry's push for API development is enhancing technical interoperability and user experience, while also driving ecosystem expansion and decentralization, paving the way for mass adoption of Web3 technologies.
Jim Webber, a renowned software architect and technology expert, once said, "A good API should be like a clear conversation, not a series of commands." Thus, APIs are not only technical interfaces but also channels of communication among developers. Clear API design and documentation are therefore crucial.
As a leading all-in-one Web3 gateway, OKX Web3 Wallet is at the forefront of API development, emerging as an essential multi-chain Web3 development engine. Through its comprehensive Web3 development solution—OnchainOS—it standardizes access to blockchains and services, significantly reducing development cycles and costs, and enabling global developers to co-create seamlessly.
In practical terms, OKX Web3 Wallet’s APIs encompass core modules such as Wallet, DEX Aggregator, Marketplace, and DeFi, covering everything from transaction liquidity to on-chain data solutions. This article is the second installment in OKX Web3 Wallet’s “Invisible Infrastructure” series and the second focusing on OKX Web3 Wallet APIs, exploring through dialogue the stories behind the team’s API development efforts.
To learn more about OKX Web3 Wallet APIs, read the first installment: Invisible Infrastructure 01 | Co-creating with Global Developers: A Comprehensive Look at OKX Web3 Wallet APIs
Drivers Behind API Development
OKX Web3: We were among the first to recognize the critical importance of API development—not only for the growth of the OKX Web3 ecosystem but also for the broader industry. After deep reflection, we began investing heavily in API infrastructure, consistently delivering services to developers and the wider sector. This drive stems from multiple, interconnected factors.
From the wallet API perspective, the main driver comes from industry participants’ needs:
First, as the Web3 ecosystem flourishes, more individuals and businesses are entering Web3. Web3 offers companies new ways to engage and serve customers—for example, brands can create immersive experiences using digital assets and NFTs; retailers can build personalized on-chain incentive and loyalty programs; social platforms can strengthen community ties with creators and users via on-chain applications and token distributions. In short, Web3 enables new business models and revenue streams. More people now realize that Web3 will spawn an entire industry of decentralized applications and services, and they want to get involved early.
Second, many developers and interested institutions face significant barriers when entering Web3. The primary challenge lies in the high threshold and complexity of Web3 wallets. Specifically, Web3 wallets store users’ digital assets and facilitate transactions, featuring complex underlying systems and account structures that are difficult to understand and use. Additionally, powerful blockchain networks often operate in isolation, making cross-chain analysis and integration time-consuming and challenging.
Building secure and reliable Web3 wallet systems demands substantial time, financial investment, and specialized knowledge. Against this backdrop, the OKX Web3 Wallet API toolkit emerged to address these pain points. With OKX Wallet API, developers can securely set up a wallet in just three steps, easily connect to 60+ networks—including popular EVM and BTC chains—and support cutting-edge ecosystems like inscriptions.
Taking the OKX DEX Aggregator as another example, its API development is driven by user demand, market competition, and ecosystem growth:
From a user demand perspective: With the rapid rise of decentralized finance (DeFi), users increasingly seek efficient, secure, and scalable APIs. High-volume traders and developers, for instance, want APIs to enable flexible trading operations and automated strategies. Responding to this, OKX DEX Aggregator delivers powerful, easy-to-use APIs that meet diverse user needs in decentralized trading.
From a competitive standpoint: The DeFi space is fiercely competitive, with platforms constantly launching new features. To maintain leadership, OKX DEX Aggregator sees robust, user-friendly APIs as key to staying ahead. By building strong APIs, it can rapidly iterate and introduce new functionalities, attracting more users and developers.
For ecosystem development: APIs are not just functional extensions—they are catalysts for ecosystem growth. By opening APIs, OKX DEX encourages more developers to build innovative dApps, fostering a thriving ecosystem.
Similarly, OKX Web3 DeFi has its own unique drivers:
For developers: APIs attract more developers to the OKX Web3 platform, enriching the ecosystem. This promotes third-party app development and integration, offering users more diverse and convenient services.
For user experience: By allowing third-party apps to seamlessly leverage OKX Web3 capabilities, users enjoy easier trading, asset management, and DeFi participation. Moreover, OKX Web3 DeFi APIs enhance interoperability, enabling smoother cross-chain operations and asset transfers.
For innovation: Open APIs foster innovation by supporting the development of novel dApps and services. They particularly appeal to enterprises and developers seeking customized solutions, helping OKX stay competitive in the fast-evolving Web3 landscape.
In summary, these combined factors drive OKX Web3’s strategic investment in API development—enhancing platform functionality while promoting sustainable growth across the crypto ecosystem.
Development Process, Challenges, and Innovations
OKX Web3: We can discuss the development journey, challenges, and innovations across different modules.
First, the development process.
Take OKX Wallet API and OKX Market API: Their development was essentially a process of distilling core functions from diverse needs. Initially faced with vast, complex user requirements, we abstracted the most fundamental needs to meet real developer use cases.
This meant extracting representative features from various scenarios and implementing them through a limited set of interfaces. The challenge lay in simplifying without sacrificing flexibility or coverage. Through this, we delivered APIs that meet developer needs while incorporating innovative design principles—ensuring efficiency, simplicity, extensibility, and universality.
Second, innovations—especially with OKX DEX Aggregator:
1) Modular Design: To ensure scalability and flexibility, OKX DEX Aggregator adopted a modular architecture. This allows seamless integration of new modules and rapid iteration based on market needs.
2) Multi-chain Support: Supporting 20 networks—including EVM chains and heterogeneous ones like Solana and TRON—meets diverse user demands. Achieving this required high adaptability. OKX DEX overcame chain differences through unified interfaces and compatibility mechanisms.
3) Cross-chain Bridge and DEX Aggregation: By aggregating 18 cross-chain bridges and 400+ decentralized exchanges, users receive better exchange rates and quotes. This requires sophisticated transaction routing and price calculation capabilities.
4) Single-chain Swaps: By pooling liquidity from multiple DEXs and splitting trades across them, our intelligent routing provides users with optimal pricing.
Third, challenges—particularly with OKX Web3 DeFi:
1) Data Volume Challenge: API responses carry far more data than web interfaces—the first major hurdle. We had to balance depth and breadth of information while maintaining performance and response speed. We optimized data structures and transmission methods to ensure efficiency even under heavy loads.
2) Batch Interface Design: A key consideration was designing OpenAPI batch endpoints. Since many developers need to process large datasets, we focused on efficient batch processing. This reduces redundant API calls and system load. Through careful design and iterative optimization, we ensured stability even under high concurrency.
3) Integration of Platform-specific Information: Each API must deliver not just basic market data but also platform-specific details—such as OKX Web3 DeFi’s unique features and market conditions. While this increases complexity, we believe the added value justifies it. We carefully structured how this extra data is organized and transmitted for easy access.
4) Uncertain Requirements: Early on, we struggled to determine exactly which fields and functions OpenAPI users needed. With unclear market demands, we had to experiment boldly. Relying on market insights and close communication with early adopters, we gradually shaped a flexible, feature-rich API architecture. This exploratory approach proved invaluable, forming the foundation of today’s robust system.
These challenges and innovations helped us build a more complete API system and laid a solid foundation for future improvements.
Achieved Goals
OKX Web3: Our goals are dynamic, evolving with the ecosystem.
Currently, Wallet API aims to keep pace with cutting-edge technologies such as EIP-4337 (account abstraction) and MPC hierarchical wallets favored by institutional users. It also delivers rich, comprehensive, and stable data services—like asset statistics for millions of addresses and transaction data across 100+ public chains. Looking ahead, we will deepen foundational infrastructure, simplify development, and embrace open-source principles—making Web3 accessible to everyone.
OKX DEX Aggregator API aims to become the go-to solution for developers—setting industry standards—while expanding and diversifying its ecosystem. We will continuously optimize API performance and functionality, improve user satisfaction and adoption, and innovate relentlessly to maintain market leadership.
OKX Web3 DeFi aims to support more DeFi protocols, offer richer features and data fields, and scale capacity through performance enhancements—such as database upgrades—to serve growing user demand.
Market API aims to refine its functionality, increase usage, lower industry entry barriers, and help establish industry-wide standards.
Key Implemented Features
OKX Web3: Great question. Through continuous iteration, we’ve achieved several key capabilities that empower developers.
Wallet API now covers multiple core modules, meeting basic asset management and transaction needs. Key implemented features include:
Developers can use Wallet API for account management, asset management, transaction handling, common data queries, and Webhooks (real-time subscription to on-chain data). Specifically, developers can generate addresses and wallets, query on-chain assets and coin prices, manage transactions, and retrieve data such as token info, gas prices, and authorization status. The transaction module supports constructing, signing, broadcasting, tracking, and querying transaction history. It works across both EVM-style account model networks and UTXO-model networks like BTC. With OKX Wallet API, users can set up a simple asset dashboard in just three steps.
Key features currently implemented in OKX DEX Aggregator API include:
1) Single-chain Swaps: Using smart order splitting and efficient routing algorithms, it aggregates liquidity from top DEXs like Uniswap, Curve, and Balancer. By splitting a single trade across multiple exchanges and calculating price, slippage, and fees, it delivers optimal pricing.
2) Cross-chain Bridges and Transactions: It aggregates premium bridges like Stargate, Across, Wormhole, and SWFT, offering multiple cross-chain paths. Its proprietary X Routing algorithm identifies the best liquidity pool on the source chain, while smart order splitting improves output. Cross-chain bridge comparison evaluates outgoing amounts, fees, slippage, and costs to provide the best overall quote.
3) Stability and High Availability: Engineered for high stability and fast response times—under 100ms—with free access to superior pricing routes.
OKX Market API plans to launch Runes and Atom APIs soon, expand functionality by supporting popular or emerging chains and protocols, and roll out push services and professional trading SDKs to boost volume and user base.
OKX Web3 DeFi API currently enables: querying all major DeFi protocols and investment products, checking user positions, executing trades, redemptions, reward claims, and estimating key metrics like expected returns and redemption values.
Reducing API Integration Complexity
OKX Web3: We recognize that ease of integration is crucial for widespread adoption, so we’ve implemented targeted measures to help developers integrate APIs quickly and efficiently.
For OKX Wallet API, we offer:
1) Comprehensive Technical Documentation and Examples
We break down Wallet API implementation step-by-step according to typical Web3 development workflows, providing thorough and practical guidance. We also include three quick-start examples for key use cases, showing how to integrate SDKs and make API calls—helping developers get started fast.
2) Responsive and Close Technical Support
We’ve built dedicated Discord and Telegram communities for developers. On Telegram, we have 5+ dedicated support staff monitoring feedback 24/7. On Discord, we maintain specialized channels for each API module to promptly answer developer questions.
3) Continuous Feedback Collection and Iteration
During internal testing, we create 1-on-1 technical support groups for users with specific development needs, guiding them through integration issues, collecting feedback, and refining the API accordingly.
4) Simple and Intuitive Developer Dashboard
We’ve built an easy-access developer portal for project and API management. We’ll continue optimizing this platform into a one-stop development suite.
For OKX DEX Aggregator, we provide:
1) Detailed Documentation: Comprehensive, easy-to-understand API docs cover everything from basics to advanced usage, including code examples, FAQs, and best practices to accelerate onboarding.
2) Developer Tools: We offer rich code samples and debugging tools to help developers identify issues and integrate features faster, reducing development time and cost.
3) Technical Support: Our team is always available to assist—whether with API usage or integration issues—ensuring a smooth and hassle-free experience.
For OKX Market API, we provide:
1) Detailed Documentation: Well-structured API docs cover all functional modules, with abundant use cases and code examples. Organized intuitively, they let developers access resources and test APIs instantly, minimizing learning curves.
2) Interface Optimization: We’ve streamlined API usability—simple call logic, minimal parameters, and consistent response formats—so developers can grasp and use features effortlessly.
3) SDKs: We offer SDKs for mainstream programming languages and frameworks, allowing developers to integrate OKX Market API without writing code from scratch. These SDKs simplify calls and include built-in utilities and error handling, further lowering integration barriers.
For OKX Web3 DeFi, we provide:
1) Extensive Documentation: We’ve invested heavily in detailed API docs, including technical specs, use cases, and FAQs. To reduce learning effort, we provide abundant sample code and real-world examples demonstrating common use cases, helping developers quickly apply the API. Content is clearly structured and layered for fast comprehension.
2) Direct Communication with Project Teams: We emphasize timely interaction, maintaining efficient two-way communication during integration. This direct channel ensures developers get prompt help, resolve issues quickly, and keep projects on track.
Training courses to help developers better understand API features and best practices.
These initiatives aim to deliver a seamless, efficient integration experience, empowering developers to fully leverage OKX Web3 APIs and succeed in building decentralized applications.
Target Users and Application Scenarios
OKX Web3:
First, OKX Wallet API serves exchange-level users managing millions of addresses, offering asset aggregation and transaction capabilities at scale. It also empowers broad Web3 application developers to access comprehensive token and blockchain data, enabling them to build their own user systems and easily implement asset management and transaction features.
Second, OKX DEX API primarily serves developers building dApps and tools, professional traders conducting high-volume or high-frequency trades, and institutional clients. It applies to decentralized trading and cross-chain transactions—enabling better prices and lower slippage via API-driven trades, or secure, efficient asset transfers across chains.
Third, OKX Market API targets aggregators, bots, GameFi projects, and primary market teams, supporting use cases like market creation, bulk trading, and market data retrieval.
Fourth, OKX Web3 DeFi API serves developers and projects looking to integrate DeFi protocols and trading products.
User Feedback
OKX Web3: The usage rate and user feedback for OKX Web3 APIs have been overwhelmingly positive, reflected in the following aspects:
In terms of usage: Since launch, OKX API adoption has steadily increased, drawing more developers thanks to its high performance, rich features, and reliability.
Regarding feedback: Users praise the comprehensive, easy-to-understand documentation and straightforward integration. Many highlight the API’s excellent performance in handling complex transactions and large datasets, significantly boosting their productivity. Some have offered constructive suggestions—such as optimizing certain interface performances or adding specific features. We take this feedback seriously and have incorporated these ideas into our roadmap to further enhance user experience and functionality.
Going forward, we will continue listening to users, refining our APIs, and adapting to evolving market and user needs to deliver greater value.
Upgrade and Maintenance Strategy
OKX Web3: OKX Web3 API employs a multi-layered strategy to respond to market changes and ensure sustainable upgrades and maintenance, keeping the API aligned with user needs and technologically competitive.
To respond to market changes:
1) Regular Research: We conduct periodic user surveys and market analysis to deeply understand real-world needs and emerging trends. This helps us capture shifts early and align API development with actual demand.
2) Agile Iteration: Using agile methodologies, we rapidly iterate based on market feedback. Short development and testing cycles allow quick deployment of new features, ensuring the API stays responsive and competitive.
3) Industry Trend Tracking: Beyond user research, we closely monitor developments in blockchain and DeFi—especially new technologies and standards. This foresight allows us to proactively support emerging protocols and maintain technological leadership.
For upgrades and maintenance:
1) Continuous Optimization: We regularly perform performance tuning and security audits to ensure efficiency and safety. Code refinement, architectural improvements, and server upgrades enhance response speed and reduce vulnerabilities.
2) User Feedback Loop: We actively collect and act on user input through multiple channels. Whether feature requests or bug reports, we respond swiftly—fixing issues and improving functionality. User insights guide our ongoing enhancements.
3) Version Management: We enforce strict version control to ensure compatibility and stability. Before releasing updates, we conduct thorough testing to prevent disruptions. Clear versioning also provides backward-compatible upgrade paths, preventing integration issues.
4) Regular Feature Rollouts: To maintain technological edge, we regularly launch new features—both user-requested and internally developed. This keeps OKX Web3 API at the forefront, delivering cutting-edge support.
Through these strategies, OKX Web3 API remains adaptable, delivering efficient, stable, and secure services. We remain committed to user-centric development, continuously enhancing functionality and performance to lead in a fast-changing market.
Roadmap
OKX Web3:
OKX Wallet API roadmap includes: (1) delivering more real-time, convenient, and comprehensive asset and transaction data—already enhanced through optimized data sources and retrieval methods to meet developers’ growing needs; (2) continuously integrating popular blockchains to lower entry barriers and enrich the wallet ecosystem; (3) rolling out MPC wallets and AA smart account solutions, offering open-source, versatile, and powerful wallet services to simplify Web3 onboarding.
OKX DEX API development plans include: expanding single-chain swap and cross-chain trading features to broaden API coverage; continuously optimizing performance for faster, more stable responses; strengthening developer support with more documentation and tools; and promoting the API through various channels to attract more users and developers.
OKX Web3 DeFi API will keep iterating based on user needs—such as adding historical APY data for protocols.
OKX Market API plans for the coming months include supporting new BTC protocols, launching push services, enhancing aggregation endpoints, releasing a trading SDK, and expanding support for heterogeneous network APIs. We plan to open more API endpoints—especially for new networks and protocols—broadening functionality and use cases to meet evolving market demands.
Disclaimer
This article is for informational purposes only. It represents the author’s views and not necessarily those of OKX. It does not constitute (i) investment advice or recommendation; (ii) an offer or solicitation to buy, sell, or hold digital assets; or (iii) financial, accounting, legal, or tax advice. We do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of the information provided. Holding digital assets—including stablecoins and NFTs—involves high risk and may result in significant price volatility. You should carefully consider whether trading or holding digital assets is suitable for your financial situation. For personal advice, consult your legal/tax/investment professionals. You are solely responsible for understanding and complying with applicable local laws and regulations.
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