Open node a high level overview

By Abhishek Punia, Blockchain Lead
What we want to do with OPEN is create an ecosystem of people that are unfamiliar with the technical implementation details of blockchain technology, but want to integrate some aspect of it into their products. To do so, we have created a decentralized and open source platform that anyone can leverage. Outside of the on-chain architecture, we have the OPEN API that abstracts away technical details from the developers and makes creating a Scaffold as easy as an API call.
But to really spark this ecosystem, OPEN has a mission to create an open source set of tools that anyone can choose to use in order to handle pain points a developer may have. By no means is using an OPEN service a necessity in utilizing our base architecture as that is antithetical to our primary ethos of bringing together the blockchain community, as opposed to dividing it even more. However, we do want to provide a set of tools anyone can turn to without having to trust a 3rd party.
The first of these tools is the OPEN Node and revolves around solving underlying security issues. As mentioned in our whitepaper, synchronizing on-chain data with off-chain databases is a notoriously difficult job, and too many ICOs take an approach that is either incredibly insecure, or forces the off-chain application to totally replace their existing database structure. Both of which provide a massive barrier to adoption. OPEN’s architecture does not necessitate an entire backend overhaul and is largely independent of the data management system an application chooses to use as it doesn’t push on-chain data off-chain, rather relies on off-chain databases pulling on-chain information.This implementation is much more secure as it ultimately puts control in the hands of the application owner. Security vulnerabilities are orders of magnitude lower than alternative architectures and can easily be mitigated.
In order to dial into the blockchain, you either need to run your own full node, make API calls to existing (3rd party) full nodes, or both. API calls to 3rd party nodes are typically unreliable as they often accidentally provide false information, mostly because a lack of real incentive to be rigorous in their messages. In order to combat this, OPEN provides a full node service, dubbed the OPEN Node, that developers can interact with in order to get reliable on-chain information. We are incentivized to provide the most accurate information because we want to support our platform and ecosystem as best we can, and that includes helping developers address important security concerns. In order to synchronize within the existing OPEN ecosystem, the OPEN Node accepts payments in OPN — adding further utility to our token.
The OPEN Node is the first and most obvious step in securely bridging on-chain and off-chain data, but is only the beginning. As more people begin utilizing the OPEN platform, we aim to build an even more comprehensive toolbox of solutions that developers can use in adapting their products to the decentralized world of the future.