As we prepare to turn the calendar to 2024, we thought it would be a perfect time to reflect on a defining year at Validation Cloud. The accomplishments, accolades, and milestones we have achieved in the last 12 months are a testament to our team, which works tirelessly in pursuit of infrastructure excellence in Web3. Those efforts have propelled Validation Cloud from a new entrant to a category leader in institutional blockchain and set the stage for a transformative year ahead. In retrospect, 2023 was a year defined by “laying foundations” across several domains at Validation Cloud — platform, thought leadership, team, and more. Let’s take a closer look at a curated selection of accomplishments that we are most proud of.

January 2023: Appchain Thought Leadership Series

We kicked off the year by penning our Appchain Series, demonstrating Validation Cloud’s capability and domain expertise in enterprise infrastructure for Web3. To that end, we believe that appchains will accelerate enterprise adoption of blockchain technologies based on their unique combination of open-source technology and privacy controls. The series starts with a brief primer on appchains and quickly diagnoses the infrastructure implications for enabling widespread appchain adoption.

February 2023: Staking — Enabling First Withdrawals on ETH Testnet Launch

In February, Validation Cloud’s staking team, led by Mo Husseini, launched the first withdrawal functionality on ETH via Zhejiang Testnet. This allowed the Ethereum community to test staking and withdrawals via Validation Cloud’s platform, and added to Validation Cloud’s bona fides in ETH staking and related product velocity. As we will highlight later, this would set the foundation for the company’s further breakthrough innovations in ETH staking.

March 2023: #1 Performance Ranking

In March, we took the top spot for infrastructure performance based on Comparenodes industry-leading benchmarking. This is just three months after launching our Node API product. We continue to hold the #1 spot both on a global and regional basis. To try our best-in-class infrastructure, you can create an endpoint here: https://www.validationcloud.io/

April 2023: Expanded Support for Aptos with Node API Integration

In April, we fully added support for Aptos mainnet via Validation Cloud’s node API. This integration marked an expansion of Validation Cloud’s existing partnership with Aptos to bring lightning fast node support to the Aptos ecosystem which is designed for speed and scalability.

May 2023: Celebrating Our Team — Profiles Series

Our people are our most important asset, and we take great pride in the talent that has come to define Validation Cloud. In May, we launched our Team Profiles Series to showcase and to celebrate the exceptional people that drive our company’s success. These profiles not only highlight the invaluable contributions of our team, but also display the culture that defines Validation Cloud.

June 2023: Node Educational Series & Enterprise Buyer’s Guide

In June, we launched our Node Series to educate institutions about the fundamentals of Web3 infrastructure and to provide much needed guidance to buyers of enterprise-grade infrastructure. Throughout the series, we identify and reinforce the critical importance of performance, scalability, and compliance in facilitating institutional adoption of blockchain.

July 2023: Expanded Support for Casper and Staking Educational Series & Buyer’s Guide

In July, we added our high-performance Node API support for Casper. Validation Cloud’s impact on the Casper ecosystem was immediate, with high-throughput applications taking advantage of Validation Cloud’s enterprise-grade capabilities.

In addition to broadening our partnership with Casper, we also penned a staking educational series and buyer’s guide based on the popularity of our node series. In the staking series, we highlight the raw innovations achieved by Validation Cloud in the domain of ETH staking — namely, the ability to deliver validators on-demand, to facilitate automatic rewards splitting, and to ensure unparalleled security and compliance. Again, we see these innovations as not only novel but as required for institutional adoption.

August 2023: Hedera Integration & Partnership

In August, we announced our integration with Hedera testnet and mainnet, providing Hedera users access to Mirror Node-as-a-Service and JSON RPC relay services. This integration gives users building applications on Hedera access to Validation Cloud’s lightning-fast node infrastructure and helps drive EVM equivalence for the network.

September 2023: Obol Alpha Mainnet & Aleo Testnet Validator Participation

In September, Validation Cloud joined Obol Network as a Mainnet Alpha Distributed Validator. Additionally, Obol and Validation Cloud published an article to educate the community more on DVT — a critical innovation in staking security. As a pioneer in PoS, Validation Cloud has been an integral player in shaping new innovations in the Web3 infrastructure realm. In our view, DVT, while still in its early days, has the opportunity to radically change how consensus layer infrastructure is deployed and managed.

Validation Coud was among the less than 1%of infrastructure providers selected as an Aleo Testnet validator. Aleo is a layer 1 that leverages the power of Zero-Knowledge to bring decentralization, scalability, and privacy to applications. Validation Cloud’s participation in Aleo testnet further exemplifies our commitment to new primitives. Validation Cloud is the only provider to submit a full-stack solution to ZK network infrastructure. Validation Cloud’s Principal Product Engineer Dan Kazenoff shares more about that here.

October 2023: Achieved SOC 2 Compliance

In October, Validation Cloud successfully achieved SOC 2 certification, a major milestone in our pursuit of the highest standards of security and compliance. SOC2 is the gold standard in Web2, and Validation Cloud is the only Web3 infrastructure company that is SOC2-compliant platform-wide.

Validation Cloud also participated in several conferences held by our partner ecosystems such as Chainlink Smartcon and Stellar Meridian. CTO Andrew McFarlane shared his insights at SmartCon and Stellar Meridian, to share Validation Cloud’s industry expertise on the global stage and help drive enterprise adoption. We are not only strengthening our partnerships but also playing a crucial role in fostering adoption and innovation within these dynamic ecosystems.

November 2023: Staking Product Launch, Staking Summit, Eigenlayer participation, and Validation Cloud x Hedera in NYC

In November, we launched our highly anticipated Staking platform, which revolutionized staking for institutions with on-chain rewards management powered by smart contracts and one-click validator deployments. Validation Cloud has streamlined the process of staking ETH, making it as smooth and operationally consistent as staking other digital assets. The platform enables institutions to deploy validators in large quantities, instantly, within dedicated environments. Additionally, our platform simplifies reward management through on-chain smart contracts.

December 2023: New VP of Sales and BD Joins Validation Cloud

Validation Cloud CTO Andrew McFarlane was interviewed by Bitcoin.com to discuss Validation Cloud’s innovative staking platform and explain the importance of institutional investors choosing staking platforms with robust security.

Additionally,​​ Alec Korba joined Validation Cloud as the Vice President of Global Sales and Business Development, bringing a wealth of invaluable experience from esteemed organizations such as Binance and Flipside. With a proven track record, Alec is poised to spearhead our go-to-market efforts and expansion at Validation Cloud.

Looking Ahead

2023 has been one of continuous growth and innovation, fueled by the dedication of our team, the leadership of our executive team, and the trust of our users and partners. These milestones are not just reflections of our success but also stepping stones toward an even more exciting and transformative future for Validation Cloud. As we look forward to 2024, we anticipate even greater success and are thrilled to commence the new year with an exciting announcement. Stay tuned.

About Validation Cloud

Validation Cloud is a Web3 data streaming and infrastructure company that connects organizations into Web3 through a fast, scalable, and intelligent platform. Headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, Validation Cloud offers highly performant and customizable products in staking, node, and data-as-a-service. Learn more at validationcloud.io| LinkedIn | X