Infura Brings Scale to Splunk, xDai Pop-Up Cryptocurrency
Splunk set out to demonstrate how their monitoring and analytics solution addressed this problem — by teaming up with xDai and Infura to launch Buttercup Bucks.
An enterprise needs a real-time view into every aspect of their blockchain project in order to manage it effectively. In an ideal state, all inputs would be viewable in a single interface, enabling the enterprise to quickly interpret the health of their project and turn that insight into action. Splunk set out to demonstrate how their monitoring and analytics solution addressed this problem — by teaming up with xDai and Infura to launch Buttercup Bucks.
What is Buttercup Bucks?
Buttercup Bucks (BCB) is a pop-up cryptocurrency and exchange that was built to exist for a few days. The project was developed on an xDai chain, accessed through Infura’s Developer APIs, and launched to over 10,000 people at Splunk’s annual user conference (.conf19).
At registration, every conference attendee was issued a Pony Purse; a web based Ethereum wallet containing five Buttercup Bucks and a physical poker chip. The poker chip contained a QR code loaded with five additional BCB and an ERC-721 proving they attended the conference. Throughout the event users had opportunities to earn more Buttercup Bucks, spend them at the BCB Store or donate them to a charitable cause. The project used ERC-20 and ERC-721 tokens created on xDai, a stablecoin with the value of $1 USD and low transaction fees. As tokens were traded throughout the event, Splunk’s custom dashboard aggregated the transaction data. It monitored the health of the project in real-time, providing up-to-the-minute security monitoring and analytics.
Why Did Splunk Partner With Infura?
Splunk needed infrastructure that allowed them to scale up fast — from 0 to 10,000 users in a single day — and could handle spikes in usage. BCB tokens would be given out during event registration, so the team were expecting a huge surge in adoption during the registration window. Data Engineer Stephen Luedtke describes how Splunk came to select the right infrastructure partner for the project:
“We were evaluating our options for managing scale. We liked the reliability that Infura had brought to previous projects and POA also recommended them. They’re a proven Ethereum gateway provider. Working with Infura meant that we didn’t have to set up and run infrastructure ourselves, which was a massive help. We could just focus purely on getting the product right.”
A Fast, Scalable RPC Endpoint
By using Infura, Splunk didn’t have to deploy their own scalable, xdai RPC endpoint. They re-allocated engineering resources and focussed purely on app development. This enabled the team to get the BCB platform conference-ready and meet their tight deadline.
$234K in ButterCup Bucks transacted, $38K in charitable donations
Across the event over 19,436 transactions were made. 5,716 physical products were purchased inside the BCB exchange, using 75,812 tokens: from wine tumblers to limited edition keychains and sew-on patches. Over 38,878 BCB were donated across three different charities.
Through their engagement with the platform, thousands of conference attendees interacted with the Ethereum blockchain and were actively trading a cryptocurrency — many without even knowing it. As well as adding a little fun and vibrancy to the event, Splunk was able to demonstrate how a blockchain application could be monitored end-to-end in a single interface, while providing actionable insight in real-time. Many of their enterprise customers are now asking for the same capability for their blockchain projects.
To learn more from top Web3 projects like Buttercup Bucks, or for more tips, tricks and case studies, subscribe to the Infura newsletter. Are you using Infura in awesome ways? Want to get featured? Reach out to us at inquiry@infura.io with your story. For more information on Splunk’s Blockchain solutions, you can reach out to blockchain@splunk.com.