Dear GetBlockians,
March 2025 was a big month for GetBlock.
Our team focused on upgrading our dedicated node service which is one of the most critical phases of our major Q1 2025 infrastructure overhaul.
We also rolled out UX/UI improvements, added support for new blockchains, and made significant progress toward implementing Compute Units.
TL;DR: What we achieved in March 2025?
- Completed the Dedicated Node upgrade and introduced a new pricing model.
- Compute Units on Shared Nodes: 90% complete, with release expected in early April.
- Replaced Google’s reCAPTCHA with Cloudflare’s Turnstile for better DDoS protection.
- Quickly mitigated an availability issue in Europe (Why won’t this happen again? See below!)
- Enhanced the statistics dashboard for smoother operations.
- Added support for Bittensor, an innovative project at the intersection of blockchain and AI.
Ready for the details? Let’s dive in.
New pricing scheme for Dedicated Nodes is finally here
March 2025 put the spotlight on a major upgrade to our Dedicated Node service. As mentioned in our introduction, GetBlock has rolled out several key improvements to enhance our premium offering:
- Better hardware. Top-tier data centers, advanced failover protection, and enhanced reliability.
- New geo-zones. For the first time, Dedicated Nodes are now deployed in Asia and the USA, ensuring the lowest possible latency for clients in these regions.
- Larger support team. We've onboarded our first tech and customer support experts in Latin America, Central Asia, and the APAC region, providing 24/7 coverage across all time zones.
As part of this upgrade, we’ve introduced a streamlined pricing model for Dedicated Nodes:
- Full node - $1,000 per month
- Archive node - $1,500 per month
- Flexible renewals - Subscriptions can now be renewed at any time.
Even with these improvements, our pricing remains 30–50% more affordable than major competitors. Additionally, data-heavy nodes like Arbitrum or NEAR are available at custom pricing.
Special offer: Renew your subscription before May 1, 2025, to lock in the old pricing!
Meanwhile, our Compute Unit (CU) release for Shared Nodes is in the final stages. Engineers are making the last refinements, and we expect it to go live in early April.
Better UX: Enhanced DDoS protection and statistics updates
To enhance security while minimizing friction for our users, we’ve replaced Google reCAPTCHA with Cloudflare’s Turnstile.
Previously, some users—especially those connecting via VPN—were incorrectly blocked from signing in due to Google’s overly strict security measures.
With this upgrade, mis-blocking is no longer an issue, ensuring a smoother login experience without compromising security.
Additionally, we’ve optimized the statistics dashboard in GetBlock Accounts. Usage statistics now update every 10 minutes, striking the perfect balance between speed and accuracy.
March 12 security certificate issue mitigation
On March 12, 2025, GetBlock experienced availability issues due to a misconfiguration in its SSL certificate status alerting system.
As a result, nodes in the EU region, along with dashboard functionalities (e.g., endpoint creation, payments), became unavailable for 94 minutes.
While a full incident report was promptly communicated to all affected users, we would like to provide a more detailed explanation of the event.
Incident mitigation timeline
All timestamps are in CET (p.m.) on March 12, 2025.
- 3:02 – The SSL security certificate for */getblock.io expires. Due to a misconfiguration in the automated certificate update alerts, no warning is triggered.
- 3:13 – The issue is first detected when the Vault certificate management mechanism, which has a 10-minute TTL cache, stops functioning. Initial user reports of service unavailability appear.
- 3:15 – A public announcement regarding availability issues is made via Discord and Telegram.
- 3:23 – The root cause (expired certificate) is identified.
- 3:30 – The certificate update process is initiated manually.
- 3:50 – The certificate is successfully updated. Engineers begin a step-by-step infrastructure restart.
- 4:10 – The issue and update process are detailed on GetBlock’s Status page.
- 4:26 – All key services are operational. Some services/hosts do not recognize the new certificate, requiring engineers to reboot them manually to clear cached data.
- 4:56 – Full service restoration is confirmed.
All affected clients were informed about the issue roots and resolution within 1–1.5 hours.
Preventive measures implemented
To prevent similar incidents in the future, the GetBlock team has taken the following measures:
- Completely reworked the monitoring system for certificate-related issues.
- Reduced the volume of data copied during the certificate update process.
- Disabled strict mode for certificates, ensuring Vault remains operational even if a certificate expires.
- Implemented a black-box monitoring system for certificate checks.
- Designed and approved a new mass-incident resolution protocol for customer support agents.
Additionally, the GetBlock team is currently developing an emergency communication tool for Telegram and Slack.
Network upgrades: Bittensor RPC debut, Cosmos Gaia v23, NEAR re-sharding
In March 2025, GetBlock continued expanding its supported node stack and implemented key updates across existing blockchain clients
Bittensor RPC node is live
Last month, we introduced support for Bittensor RPC nodes. Bittensor is among the first mainstream AI-driven blockchain protocols, enabling interconnected subnets to co-exist while serving as a decentralized platform for AI-powered applications.
Developers can now leverage Bittensor RPC nodes to access truly decentralized, open-source LLMs for the next generation of AI applications.
Blockchain node clients updated: Cosmos, NEAR, and more
Our DevOps team was laser-focused on rolling out major updates across multiple blockchain networks
Cosmos RPC Nodes: The Gaia v23 release lays the groundwork for the IBC Eureka product, enabling secure, affordable cross-chain connectivity between the Cosmos Hub and Ethereum mainnet. Future integrations will extend to Solana, Arbitrum, and Base.
NEAR RPC Nodes: The Near Core v2.5.0 upgrade introduces new shards as part of the re-sharding process and launches a cross-shard bandwidth scheduler to improve stability and accessibility.
Also, some minor upgrades were released for Polygon’s testnet, Ethereum’s testnet, and so on.
In April 2025, we’ll be working on Compute Units release, archive shared nodes (sic!) activation, internal audits, and UX/UI changes.
Best regards,
GetBlock Team
