Reference → dAPIs → Understanding dAPIs

Sponsor wallets ​

Funds from sponsor wallets are used to pay the gas cost when updating the on-chain value of a self-funded dAPI's sourced beacon value. Sponsor wallets are only relevant when using self-funded dAPIs.

Self-funded dAPI sponsor wallets are important in that the community (dApp owners) must fund the sponsor wallets of the dAPIs they wish to use. This is done by using the API3 Market➚ UI which allows you to find a dAPI, fund its sponsor wallet, and obtain its proxy contract address.

dApp access:

A dApp uses a proxy contract address to read() the value of the dAPI. The dAPI is defined, and its value retrieved, by the Api3ServerV1.sol contract.

Data feed updates:

Airnode monitors the value of an API provider's API endpoint based on its updateInterval parameter. If the on-chain value deviates by 1% from the API provider value, the dAPI's beacon is updated on-chain.

Managed dAPIs ​

Forthcoming managed dAPIs do not use sponsor wallets. The gas costs for managed dAPIs are managed by API3 using the fees when self-funded dAPIs are upgraded to managed dAPIs. The fees are deposited into a common wallet that Airnodes uses to cover gas costs when updating data feeds.