A Year in Review - 2024
Alex Stoicescu
Jan 14, 2025
6 min.
After two years of crypto winter that tested the resilience of even the most established projects, 2024 marked a turning point for both the broader Web3 ecosystem and Request Network. Since our founding in 2017, we've weathered multiple market cycles, but this past year stood out as one where the fundamentals finally aligned with our long-term vision.
While the bear market of 2022-2023 forced many projects to scale back, it also separated signal from noise in the Web3 space. Those who focused on building real utility emerged stronger, and Request Network was among them. Our commitment to decentralized financial infrastructure, particularly in payments and invoicing, proved prescient as businesses increasingly sought blockchain-based solutions for their operational needs.
Let's explore the key accomplishments that shaped 2024, quarter by quarter.
Q1 (January - March)
The first quarter set new foundations for Request Network's growth with strategic team expansion and technical advancement.
⚒ Technical Development
Deployed smart contracts on the Base chain.
Completed comprehensive infrastructure implementation updates.
Released SDK version 0.46.0 with support for Base, zkSync Era, Core, and Sepolia.
Enhanced documentation with new chain deployments and smart contract addresses.
👥 Team Growth
Mariana Rodrigues joined as a Business Developer.
Aimen Sahnoun and Stefan Stefanović strengthened the team as Senior Full-Stack Developers.
Established new development workflows and communication channels.
💰 Ecosystem Expansion
Awarded a $60k grant to intrXn for decentralized invoicing development.
Partnered with Hacken for blockchain security services.
Launched collaboration with the Backdrop Builder program.
🌐 Global Presence
Represented at ETHDenver with a stage panel participation.
Booth and speaking engagement at ETHBucharest.
Established connections at ETHSeoul.
Q2 (April - June)
The second quarter focused on enhancing developer tools and expanding protocol capabilities. The team launched the "Request Invoicing" template, significantly reducing integration time for new projects.
⚒ Technical Achievement
Launched "Request Invoicing" invoicing template.
Implemented the "Pay before Persist" feature.
Developed Request Receipts functionality.
Released Request Invoicing V2.
Introduced Meta Payment Network for multi-chain options.
Resolved critical IPFS network infrastructure issues.
🎯 Strategic Focus
Hosted first team offsite in Istanbul.
Conducted inaugural 2024 community call.
Published comprehensive vision and values documentation.
Started ad campaigns to raise market awareness.
🎮 Community Building
Organized the Request Network Summer Hackathon with DoraHacks.
Hosted Discord gaming nights for community engagement.
Led technical workshops and developer sessions.
Q3 (July - September)
The third quarter marked Request Network's transition from building tools to enabling an ecosystem. With September recording nearly 30,000 individual transactions, the protocol's growing impact became clear.
⚒ Protocol Enhancement
Launched Request Scan for network activity transparency.
Created Request Injector for streamlined integration.
Implemented Native Payments support.
Enhanced cross-product interoperability.
👥 Team Expansion
Welcomed Rodrigo Serviuc Pavezi as a senior full-stack developer.
Named among the top 100 companies to work for in Web3.
Established new technical support workflows.
🤝 Partnership Growth
Announced FraXn partnership for real estate tokenization.
Expanded ecosystem builder network.
Strengthened existing partner integrations.
Invoice factoring campaign to expand partnership reach.
Q4 (October - December)
The final months of 2024 showcased Request Network's maturity and growing influence, with October setting a new record of nearly 40,000 individual transactions.
⚒ Technical Innovation
Introduced Single Request Forwarder.
Enhanced Request Checkout with a ticketing template.
Integrated Conversion Payments on Request Invoicing.
Expanded wallet integration support.
Improved UI/UX across all products.
Showcased our infrastructure for AI agents, with demo.
Website upgrade across all pages.
Added Encrypted Requests.
Integrated Private Payments.
🎯 Community Focus
Hosted a Devcon Bangkok side event with 2000 sign-ups.
Conducted Q3 retrospective community call.
Executed a Milk Road campaign to shine a light on our templates.
Launched a marketing campaign to showcase the AI capabilities of our infrastructure.
Ran an AI-generated art contest.
Protocol Usage Growth: 2023 vs 2024
2024 by the Numbers
The metrics that defined our year of growth and how we achieved them:
🚀 Protocol Growth
Peak Monthly Individual Transactions: 39,166 (achieved in October, driven by increased adoption from ecosystem builders and a successful beta testing phase).
Total Individual Transactions: 282,151, which is a 66.3% increase compared to 2023.
Total Processed Volume: Over $900,000,000. Getting close to the magical $1,000,000,000!
Token Burns: 167,111 $REQ, which is a 67% increase compared to 2023.
New Chain Deployments: 4 (Base, zkSync Era, CORE, and Sepolia, expanding our multi-chain presence).
👥 Team & Community
Team Growth: From 4 to 8 members. Added a Business Developer (Mariana) and three Senior Developers (Aimen, Stefan, and Rodrigo).
Developer Education: 8 (conducted online, focusing on template integration and new features).
Community Calls: 3 (quarterly sessions discussing progress, roadmap, and community feedback).
Technical Documentation: Enhanced with comprehensive guides, FAQs, and integration examples.
Technical Support: Over 100 tickets were solved on Discord.
🌐 Global Impact
Major Events: 10 (including ETHDenver, ETHcc, Token2049, and Devcon).
Countries Visited: 11 (USA, Romania, South Korea, Turkey, Germany, Poland, Singapore, Japan, Belgium, Thailand, and Morocco, combining major events and team gatherings).
Hackathons Organized: 4 (online and offline).
Side Events Hosted: 3 (highlighted by our Devcon Bangkok event with 2000+ sign-ups).
What's to come in 2025?
Looking ahead to 2025, Request Network stands at an interesting intersection. We've built a robust technical infrastructure for crypto payments and invoicing while nurturing a budding community of developers and businesses. Our challenge is scaling this ecosystem while maintaining the simplicity and reliability that drove this year's growth. How are we going to achieve that? Take a look at our tech roadmap.
Join us on the Request Network Discord to participate in what comes next.
