Recently, I started researching about RPC, and the truth is that it is a technology more important than many think. The meaning of RPC basically is that it allows a program to request a service from another application on a network without needing to understand all the technical details of how that network works. It sounds simple, but it is the foundation of almost everything we use today.

What’s interesting is that this is not something new. Bruce Jay Nelson already formalized the concept back in 1981, but only in recent years have we seen how it has become absolutely critical. Google released gRPC based on HTTP/2, Microsoft has DCOM, and more and more cloud computing companies rely on this so their distributed services across different data centers run smoothly.

Specifically in blockchain, JSON-RPC has become fundamental. It’s what allows network nodes to communicate with each other, and without it, decentralized applications simply wouldn’t work. Every time you query blockchain data or execute a smart contract, RPC is doing the work behind the scenes.

Beyond crypto, you see this everywhere. Financial services use RPC to synchronize transactions in real-time across multiple databases. Telecommunications use it to manage infrastructure from remote locations. Even in telemedicine, it enables patient data to be shared securely among providers.

What catches my attention is that the adoption of these technologies has driven a huge change in how modern applications are built. We moved from monolithic systems to microservices architectures precisely because RPC makes it possible for all of that to work at scale. And investment in RPC frameworks continues to grow because it’s clear that it’s critical infrastructure.

If you understand well the meaning of RPC and how it works, you practically understand how modern internet is built. It’s one of those concepts that seems technical but is actually at the core of almost everything we do online.