Ecosystem partnerships: official RPC provider announcements, foundation deals, grants, credits and startup programs
Comparison updated: 2026-09-15
Coverage: 8/15 providers have at least one directly evidenced dimension in the monitored first-party pages; 0/15 have evidence in every dimension.
> “Not publicly verified” means the captured first-party pages did not provide sufficient evidence for that cell. It does not mean the provider lacks the capability. A chain appearing in a directory is not, by itself, proof of an official foundation appointment or commercial partnership.
How to read this comparison
- Launch / provider announcement requires explicit first-party launch, live-support, or acquisition language—not merely a chain name in a directory.
- Foundation / ecosystem motion requires a named ecosystem delivery relationship, foundation program, or concrete partnership offer.
- Grant / credits / sponsorship requires a stated financial or in-kind benefit. A free tier alone does not qualify.
- Startup program requires an explicitly named startup/venture program. Generic copy saying the product is used by startups does not qualify.
| Provider | Launch / provider announcement | Foundation / ecosystem motion | Grant / credits / sponsorship | Startup program |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| QuickNode | Publicly evidenced. Site banner says Arc Mainnet launches in two days and invites buyers to arrange infrastructure. | Not publicly verified in today’s captured pages. | Not publicly verified; “API Credits” is developer navigation, not proof of promotional credits. | Publicly evidenced. Homepage navigation exposes Startups and Startup Program. |
| Alchemy | Publicly evidenced via Blast. Blast’s first-party notice says Blast was acquired by Alchemy and traffic should migrate there. | Not publicly verified as a current foundation deal in today’s captured Alchemy pages. | Publicly evidenced via Blast. Remaining Blast funds can be converted to Alchemy Credits with a 15% bonus; Pay-as-you-go required. | Publicly evidenced. Alchemy’s company navigation labels Ventures — Startup program. |
| Infura | Not publicly verified. | Not publicly verified. “Powered by Consensys” and DIN positioning do not establish a new third-party deal. | Not publicly verified. | Not publicly verified. |
| Chainstack | Publicly evidenced. First-party pages say Robinhood Chain is live on Chainstack and promote node deployment for tokenized stocks. | Not publicly verified as an exclusive or foundation-appointed relationship. | Not publicly verified. | Not publicly verified. |
| Ankr | Not publicly verified as a new launch in today’s captures. | Publicly evidenced. First-party case-study navigation says Ankr contributes to BNB Chain, powers Polygon with a multi-sided solution, and upgrades Mantle performance. | Not publicly verified. | Not publicly verified. |
| Moralis | Not publicly verified. | Not publicly verified. | Not publicly verified. | Not publicly verified; “used by startups” is customer segmentation, not a program. |
| NOWNodes | Not publicly verified. | Not publicly verified. | Not publicly verified. | Not publicly verified. |
| dRPC | Publicly evidenced. Homepage says Robinhood Chain is live; blog lists “Robinhood Mainnet and 18 More Networks Now Live.” | Not publicly verified; a Partnerships blog category alone is insufficient. | Not publicly verified. | Not publicly verified. |
| Blast API | Publicly evidenced, negative status. Blast is deprecated and directs migration to Alchemy after acquisition. | Publicly evidenced. The acquisition/migration is a concrete provider ecosystem transaction. | Publicly evidenced. 15% bonus when remaining Blast funds are converted to Alchemy Credits. | Not publicly verified. |
| Blockdaemon | Not publicly verified. | Not publicly verified. | Not publicly verified. | Not publicly verified. |
| Tatum | Not publicly verified; Robinhood appears in the chain list, but no launch/deal language was captured. | Not publicly verified. | Not publicly verified. | Not publicly verified. |
| Pocket Network / Grove | Not publicly verified as a newly appointed chain provider. | Publicly evidenced. Pocket Network Foundation’s F-Chains program offers public RPC for 60+ chains and invites foundations/dapps to fund dedicated throughput. | Publicly evidenced. Public API Sponsorship can raise throughput and daily caps; the stated nonprofit rate is $1 per 1B compute units. | Not publicly verified. |
| LlamaRPC | Not publicly verified; monitored site returned HTTP 526 and docs/status DNS failures. | Not publicly verified. | Not publicly verified. | Not publicly verified. |
| Allnodes | Not publicly verified. | Not publicly verified. | Not publicly verified. | Not publicly verified. |
| Lava Network | Not publicly verified. | Publicly evidenced at program level. Lava describes an open ecosystem of independent RPC providers and Foundation-authored incentive-pool/partnership publishing. No named new partner was captured today. | Not publicly verified. | Not publicly verified. |
Material market-status signals
- Blast API is no longer an active standalone choice. Its site is a deprecation and Alchemy-migration notice.
- Grove is winding down, while Pocket Network continues under Pocket Network Foundation stewardship. Competitive references should separate the discontinued Grove operator/business from the continuing protocol and Foundation offer.
- LlamaRPC remains unverifiable through the monitored surface because the public site returned HTTP 526 and docs/status hostnames failed DNS resolution.
Buyer implications
- Programs are concentrated, not universal. QuickNode and Alchemy visibly merchandise startup motions; most monitored providers do not expose an equivalent program in the captured public surface.
- Chain-launch banners are lead-generation devices, not proof of exclusivity. Chainstack and dRPC both market Robinhood Chain availability. GetBlock should verify whether an announcement is official, preferred, subsidized, or simply day-one support before treating it as a partnership loss.
- Foundation-funded public RPC can anchor buyer price expectations. Pocket’s F-Chains offer is explicitly framed as a public good and publishes a $1/1B-CU nonprofit rate; commercial comparisons must normalize throughput, limits, support, chain mix, and token-staking mechanics.
- Acquisition/deprecation creates migration opportunities. Blast’s shutdown and Grove’s wind-down support targeted migration campaigns with endpoint inventory, credit portability, cutover help, and continuity guarantees.
Recommended GetBlock response
- Publish a strict partnership taxonomy: official/preferred provider, day-one supported, foundation-sponsored public RPC, and commercially available.
- Package a public GetBlock for Startups offer with explicit eligibility, duration, credit value, included chains, support, and post-credit pricing.
- Create a Foundation RPC Launch Kit: sponsored public endpoints, dedicated archival/debug capacity, launch-day readiness, status/SLA reporting, faucet and developer docs.
- Run migration campaigns for Blast and Grove users without implying protocol shutdown: migration credits, endpoint compatibility checks, dual-running, and named engineering support.
- Add deal fields to CRM and monitoring: counterparty, announcement URL/date, exclusivity, funding/credits, included networks, term, support/SLA, and renewal trigger.
Evidence and limitations
Primary evidence is the 2026-09-15 direct HTTP snapshot and raw captures under monitoring/raw/2026-09-15/. This page deliberately avoids upgrading keyword matches, navigation labels, chain-list entries, or generic customer logos into formal partnership claims. Details of exclusivity, contract value, term, grant amount, and redemption rules remain unverified unless stated above.