Why Structured Data is Necessary for AI Models in Crypto

The integration of AI and cryptocurrency is moving quickly, transforming various aspects of the crypto industry. From market prediction and analysis to fraud detection and security enhancement (check out our previous guide for more details), AI is making its mark. A key player in these AI applications is verified structured data, which is organized, machine-readable, and easily analyzable.

Data is vital for decision-making, analytics, and building intelligent systems in the world of cryptocurrency and blockchain. Structured data, in particular, is essential for training AI models that can offer insights, predictions, and automation within the crypto space. This guide dives into what structured data is, why it's so important in the crypto industry, and how it can be used to train AI models. We’ll also provide some practical examples to bring these concepts to life.

What is Structured Data?

Structured data refers to information organized in a predefined, tabular format with rows and columns, making it easily searchable and analyzable by machines. This format, often used in relational databases, enforces a strict data model, ensuring consistency and integrity.

Characteristics of Structured Data:

• Predefined Format: Data is arranged in rows and columns.

• Ease of Access and Analysis: Easily queried using languages like SQL.

• Machine-readable: Easily parsed and processed by algorithms.

• Consistency: Data entries follow a uniform structure.

These characteristics make structured data particularly valuable for AI applications, where the consistency and organization of data directly impact the accuracy and performance of models.

Importance of Structured Data in Crypto

The crypto industry generates vast amounts of data from various sources, such as transactions, market prices, blockchain records, and social media. Structured data helps make sense of this data by enabling efficient storage, retrieval, and analysis.

Structured data plays a crucial role in AI models due to its specific and organized architecture. This architecture eases the manipulation and querying of data for machine learning (ML) algorithms. It allows for efficient training and testing of AI models, enabling them to learn patterns and make accurate predictions or decisions.

In cryptocurrency, structured data is essential for applications like tracking transactions, analyzing market trends, and monitoring network activity. With structured data, AI models can be trained to detect fraudulent activities, predict price movements, and optimize network performance, ultimately enhancing the crypto ecosystem's security, transparency, and efficiency.

Structured vs. Unstructured Data

Definitions:

• Structured Data: Highly organized data that follows a predefined format, making it easily searchable and analyzable. Examples include dates, names, and credit card numbers.

• Unstructured Data: Data that lacks a predefined format and does not fit neatly into traditional databases. Examples include text, social media posts, and IoT sensor data.

Comparison Table:

Common Structured Data Formats

JSON (JavaScript Object Notation)

A lightweight, text-based format that is language-independent and widely used for data exchange on the web. JSON is often preferred for its simplicity, efficiency, and compatibility with modern programming languages. It's widely used in cryptocurrency for API communication, data transmission, and configuration files.

Here is a sample JSON response from the GoldRush API:

json

  "contract_decimals": 6,
  "contract_name": "USD Coin",
  "contract_ticker_symbol": "USDC",
  "contract_address": "0xa0b86991c6218b36c1d19d4a2e9eb0ce3606eb48",
  "supports_erc": ["erc20"],
  "logo_url": "<https://logos.covalenthq.com/tokens/1/0xa0b86991c6218b36c1d19d4a2e9eb0ce3606eb48.png>",
  "contract_display_name": "USD Coin",
  "logo_urls": {
    "token_logo_url": "<https://logos.covalenthq.com/tokens/1/0xa0b86991c6218b36c1d19d4a2e9eb0ce3606eb48.png>",
    "protocol_logo_url": null,
    "chain_logo_url": "<https://www.datocms-assets.com/86369/1669653891-eth.svg>"
  },
  "last_transferred_at": "2024-06-20T20:09:23Z",
  "native_token": false,
  "type": "stablecoin",
  "is_spam": false,
  "balance": "1067014500",
  "balance_24h": "1067014500",
  "quote_rate": 1,
  "quote_rate_24h": 1,
  "quote": 1067.0145,
  "pretty_quote": "$1,067.01",
  "quote_24h": 1067.0145,
  "pretty_quote_24h": "$1,067.01",
  "protocol_metadata": null,
  "nft_data": null}

XML (Extensible Markup Language)

A markup language providing a structured way to represent data. It is self-descriptive and extensible, allowing for the creation of custom tags. While XML is more verbose than JSON, it offers features like namespaces, schemas, and data validation. XML has been used in various cryptocurrency projects, especially for data exchange and configuration files.

CSV (Comma-Separated Values)

A simple file format representing tabular data in plain text. It is widely used for exchanging and storing structured data due to its simplicity and compatibility with spreadsheet applications. In cryptocurrency, CSV files are commonly used for storing and exchanging transaction data, wallet addresses, and other tabular information.

Bibliographic Formats and Standards

Specific standards and formats used for representing and exchanging bibliographic data, such as MARC (Machine-Readable Cataloging) and Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI).

Data Sources in Crypto

The cryptocurrency space relies on diverse data sources to support various operational and analytical functions. These data sources can be categorized based on the type of information they provide, which is vital for developing AI models, conducting analyses, and supporting decision-making processes within the cryptocurrency industry.

Time-Series Data Providers

Examples: CoinMarketCap, CoinGecko

Data Provided: These platforms aggregate data directly from exchange APIs and other firsthand sources. They offer extensive time-series datasets for many cryptocurrencies, including price, volume, market capitalization, and historical data. This data is critical for training AI models focused on price prediction, market sentiment analysis, and trend forecasting.

Source: CoinMarketCap.

Source: CoinGecko.

Transactional Data Sources / Blockchain Explorers

Examples: Etherscan (Ethereum), Blockchain.com Explorer (Bitcoin)

Data Provided: These services provide direct and transparent access to blockchain transaction data. They allow users to explore and search the blockchain for transactions, addresses, blocks, and other specific data. Such detailed transactional data is instrumental for AI models that perform anomaly detection, blockchain monitoring, and transaction pattern analysis.

Order Book Data Providers / Cryptocurrency Exchanges and Trading Platforms

Examples: Binance, Coinbase Pro API

Data Provided: These exchanges offer APIs to access real-time and historical trading data, including order books, executed trades, and market depth. This information is essential for AI models engaged in high-frequency trading strategies, market making, and liquidity analysis.

Enriched Blockchain Data Platforms / Blockchain Data Aggregators

Examples: GoldRush, The Graph

Data Provided: These platforms index and aggregate data directly from blockchain networks. They provide enriched, queryable databases and APIs that simplify accessing detailed blockchain data. This can power AI applications in decentralized finance (DeFi) analytics, smart contract interaction patterns, and network health diagnostics.

GoldRush as a Provider of Verifiable Structured Blockchain Data

GoldRush offers a rich API that supplies comprehensive blockchain data across multiple networks. It systematically indexes blockchains and offers a queryable dataset that can be leveraged to build AI models and analytics. GoldRush allows AI systems to make historical and real-time data analyses by simplifying the decentralized data-gathering process, thereby enhancing decision-making processes in cryptocurrency.

GoldRush’s Role in Data Provision

GoldRush provides verifiable, structured data, a pivotal bridge between blockchain technology and AI. This capability is crucial for developing and fine-tuning large language models (LLMs). The advancement of LLMs is heavily dependent on ingesting high-quality, structured data, where GoldRush plays a significant role. The network hosts the most expansive dataset of on-chain structured data, a critical resource that powers Web3 innovations.

Types of Data Provided

GoldRush offers a comprehensive range of structured blockchain data, including:

• Token balances

• Historical transaction data

• Log events

• NFT (ERC721 & ERC1155) data

• DeFi protocol data

• DEX trades and liquidity data

• Block data and timestamps

• Spot prices and market data

• Blockchain metadata

Check out our API reference section for all the endpoints GoldRush offers. These data types enable various applications, from portfolio tracking to detailed blockchain analytics and more.

Enhancing AI Development with Verifiable Data

GoldRush decodes over 100 billion transactions semantically to support AI integrity, demonstrating their commitment to quality data provision. This effort is vital for supporting complex AI training and development needs, ensuring data is both extensive and trustworthy.

GoldRush’s ongoing efforts to expand its dataset and ensure the availability of historical data demonstrate its dedication to serving current AI needs and fostering future advancements in AI technology through robust, scalable data solutions.

The Role of Structured Data in the Development of AI in the Crypto Space

Structured data is critical in developing AI models within the crypto space. Its predefined, organized format makes it ideal for the rigorous demands of AI training, enabling precise, efficient, and insightful analytics. This section explores the pivotal role of structured data in AI development, examining how it underpins various applications, enhances model performance, and addresses unique challenges in the cryptocurrency domain.

Enhancing Data Quality and Consistency

For AI models to perform optimally, they require high-quality, consistent, and verified data. Structured data ensures information is uniformly formatted, which is crucial for maintaining data integrity.

Verified structured data adds an extra layer of reliability, ensuring the data has been checked for accuracy and authenticity. This consistency and verification simplify the preprocessing steps necessary to prepare data for AI training, reducing the likelihood of errors and improving model accuracy.

Facilitating Feature Engineering

Feature engineering, the process of using domain knowledge to create features that make machine learning algorithms work, is significantly more straightforward with verified structured data. Structured data allows for the easy extraction and creation of meaningful features that can enhance model performance, with the added confidence that the features are based on accurate data.

Improving Model Interpretability

Verified structured data aids in the interpretability of AI models in the crypto space, where transparency and trust are paramount. This data type allows for precise tracking and explanation of how inputs are transformed into outputs, facilitating easier debugging and refinement of AI models and ensuring stakeholders can trust the results.

Enabling Real-Time Data Processing

The crypto market operates 24/7, necessitating real-time data processing for effective decision-making. Structured data is well-suited for real-time applications because it is organized and authenticated. It facilitates quick and efficient data processing and analysis, ensuring that AI models act on accurate and trustworthy information.

For example, AI-driven trading bots use verified structured GoldRush data to make trading decisions quickly. They rely on these real-time data feeds that provide structured information on market conditions, enabling the bots to execute trades effectively using predefined strategies or adaptive algorithms, maintaining accuracy and efficiency.

Supporting Advanced Analytics and Predictive Modeling

Verified structured data is the foundation for advanced analytics and predictive modeling in crypto. By providing a clean, organized, and authenticated dataset, verified structured data allows for applying complex algorithms and statistical techniques to uncover insights and make predictions.

Techniques such as time series analysis, regression models, and neural networks can be applied to verified datasets to generate accurate price forecasts and predict future price movements.

Overcoming Challenges with Structured Data in Crypto

While structured data provides numerous advantages, it also presents specific challenges that must be addressed to maximize its potential in AI development.

1. Data Integration: Integrating data from multiple sources, such as different exchanges or blockchain networks, can be challenging due to data formats and standards variations. Ensuring consistent and accurate data integration is crucial for reliable AI models.

2. Data Privacy and Security: Handling sensitive financial and personal data requires stringent privacy and security measures. Structured data must be anonymized and securely stored to protect against breaches and ensure compliance with regulations.

3. Data Scalability: The volume of data in the crypto space is vast and continuously growing. Efficiently processing and storing structured data at scale requires robust infrastructure and optimized algorithms.

4. Data Quality and Integrity: Ensuring the quality and integrity of structured data is essential for AI systems to make accurate predictions and decisions. Inaccurate or biased data can lead to flawed outcomes, making maintaining high data quality standards crucial.

How GoldRush Solves These Challenges

GoldRush’s infrastructure plays a pivotal role in ensuring the authenticity and integrity of data, which is crucial for developing fair and equitable AI systems in the crypto space. Here’s a detailed look into how GoldRush achieves this:

1. Cryptographic Proofs and Verifiability: GoldRush employs a proof-based system to guarantee data verifiability. Cryptographic proof accompanies every data or transformation within the GoldRush Network, ensuring network operators provide accurate and honest data. This data type is critical for maintaining the integrity of AI models built using this data.

2. Decentralized Data Storage: The Covalent Network decentralizes data storage by capturing and indexing blockchain data across multiple points. This decentralized approach mitigates the risk of a single point of failure and enhances the data's robustness and security. This system ensures that even if one part of the network is compromised, the data remains secure and accessible.

3. Long-Term Data Availability: GoldRush is committed to solving the long-term data availability challenge, which is particularly important as blockchain networks like Ethereum adopt new protocol improvements. GoldRush ensures developers access comprehensive historical and real-time data across various blockchains by providing a decentralized, cryptographically secure data availability network, which is crucial for AI applications that rely on vast amounts of historical data for training and analysis.

4. GoldRush API for Seamless Access: GoldRush simplifies access to on-chain data through its API, which aggregates and normalizes data from over 200 blockchains. This API allows developers to query extensive datasets, ensuring they can build and train AI models on reliable, structured data without handling the underlying complexities of different blockchain protocols (GoldRush) (GoldRush).

5. Merkle Patricia Tries (MPTs): MPTs are cryptographic structures that allow for efficient and secure data verification. Each piece of data is hashed and organized in a tree structure, making it easy to detect tampering. This method ensures that the data remains unaltered and trustworthy. Identifying changes by hashing data and organizing them in a tree structure like MPT is simpler. If any part of the data is altered, the hash values will not match, signaling tampering.

6. Enterprise-Grade Reliability: GoldRush’s infrastructure is designed to meet enterprise-grade reliability standards. It maintains active developer relations and supports the smooth integration and operation of its services. This level of support and reliability is essential for scalability and developing enterprises' AI solutions that require consistent and high-quality data feeds.

7. Scalable Infrastructure: GoldRush infrastructure is designed to handle vast amounts of data efficiently. It includes optimized algorithms and robust hardware to process and store large datasets without compromising performance. The infrastructure can scale elastically to accommodate the growing volume of blockchain data, ensuring that performance remains consistent even as data demands increase.

Building AI Models with Structured Data

Model Selection

Selecting the appropriate AI model is critical for developing practical applications in the crypto space. Different types of AI models serve various purposes, and common types include regression models, classification models, and clustering models.

• Regression Models: Used for predicting continuous values, such as future cryptocurrency prices based on historical data. Linear regression and polynomial regression are examples of models that can be used for this purpose.

• Classification Models: Used to categorize data into predefined classes. For instance, they can identify buy or sell signals based on market data. Examples of classification models include decision trees, support vector machines, and neural networks.

• Clustering Models: These are used to group similar data points into clusters. This technique is helpful for market segmentation, where the goal is to identify groups of assets with similar characteristics. K-means clustering and hierarchical clustering are standard methods used for this purpose.

Training and Validation

Training an AI model involves splitting the data into training, validation, and test sets. This process ensures that the model can generalize well to new data. Key steps include:

The training set is used to train the model, while the validation set is used to tune model parameters and prevent overfitting. The test set evaluates the model's performance on unseen data.

Cross-validation techniques, such as k-fold validation, are used to ensure robust model evaluation. In k-fold validation, the dataset is divided into k subsets, and the model is trained and validated k times, each time using a different subset as the validation set and the remaining data as the training set. This technique provides a more reliable estimate of the model's performance.

Model Evaluation

Evaluating the performance of AI models is essential to ensure their effectiveness in real-world applications. It involves using various metrics and techniques to assess their performance. Standard evaluation metrics include accuracy, precision, recall, and the F1 score:

• Accuracy: Measure the proportion of correct predictions.

• Precision and Recall: Precision measures the proportion of positive predictions that are actually positive, While recall measures the proportion of actual positives that are correctly predicted,

• F1 score: This is the harmonic mean of precision and recall.

Model tuning and optimization techniques include hyperparameter tuning, grid search, and random search. Hyperparameter tuning involves adjusting the model's parameters to achieve the best performance. Grid search systematically explores a predefined set of hyperparameters, while random search randomly samples from a range of hyperparameters.

Conclusion

Integrating AI with cryptocurrency is transforming the industry, with verifiable structured data playing a crucial role. This type of data forms the foundation for developing accurate and efficient AI models, enabling precise analytics, decision-making, and innovative solutions in the crypto space.

Platforms like GoldRush show the importance of verifiable structured data in maintaining data integrity and facilitating advanced AI applications. As the crypto industry evolves, the reliance on high-quality structured data will continue to grow, shaping the future of AI in this field.