release: blink rebrand + merkle redirect

benchmarks/base-rpc.yml

@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ methodology:
   - "Call-result classification: `ok` (HTTP 200 + non-empty result), `http_err`, `jsonrpc_err` (HTTP 200 carrying an error body), `stale` (more than 20 blocks behind the cross-provider tip), `timeout`. Latency without reliability is a misleading ranking signal."
   - "Archive depth: every 5 minutes we issue `eth_getBalance` at (head − depth) for depths from Geth's default pruned cap up to 5M blocks, exposing which free endpoints actually serve historical state."
   - "This page is part of the per-chain RPC cluster derived from the cross-chain [rpc-capabilities](https://openchainbench.com/benchmarks/rpc-capabilities) benchmark; the identical harness, methodology and exclusion rules apply on every chain."
-  - "Chain scope: every query on this page is pinned to chain=\"base\". Provider coverage: 5 no-key endpoints (PublicNode, dRPC, Tenderly, Nodies, Base). Merkle was delisted 2026-07: its gateway does not serve `eth_getBlockByNumber`, the anti-cache probe this cluster standardized on, so it cannot be measured on equal terms. Exclusions follow the cluster-wide rules documented on the parent benchmark."
+  - "Chain scope: every query on this page is pinned to chain=\"base\". Provider coverage: 5 no-key endpoints (PublicNode, dRPC, Tenderly, Nodies, Base). Merkle (rebranded Blink Labs) was delisted 2026-07: its gateway does not serve `eth_getBlockByNumber`, the anti-cache probe this cluster standardized on, so it cannot be measured on equal terms. Exclusions follow the cluster-wide rules documented on the parent benchmark."
 
 findings:
   - "{{best_name}} currently leads free Base RPC at {{best_p50}} (`eth_getBlockByNumber` p50, 24h) across 6 measured providers."
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ faq:
   - q: "What is the fastest free Base RPC right now?"
     a: "{{best_name}} currently leads at {{best_p50}} (`eth_getBlockByNumber` p50 over the last 24h), measured against 6 no-key providers probed every 60 seconds from us-east, eu-west and Singapore. The leaderboard re-sorts continuously against fresh Prometheus samples, so the answer on this page is the answer right now, not a quarterly snapshot. Use the region tabs to see the leader from the origin closest to your deployment."
   - q: "Which Base RPCs work without an API key?"
-    a: "The 5 providers on this page: PublicNode, dRPC, Tenderly, Nodies, Base. Merkle was delisted in July 2026 because its gateway does not serve `eth_getBlockByNumber` (JSON-RPC -32601), the anti-cache probe used across the cluster, so its latency cannot be compared on equal terms. Every (provider, chain) pair was live-verified no-key before inclusion, and anything that key-gates, region-blocks or rate-limits below our 15-second cadence is excluded rather than listed with an asterisk."
+    a: "The 5 providers on this page: PublicNode, dRPC, Tenderly, Nodies, Base. Merkle (rebranded Blink Labs) was delisted in July 2026 because its gateway does not serve `eth_getBlockByNumber` (JSON-RPC -32601), the anti-cache probe used across the cluster, so its latency cannot be compared on equal terms. Every (provider, chain) pair was live-verified no-key before inclusion, and anything that key-gates, region-blocks or rate-limits below our 15-second cadence is excluded rather than listed with an asterisk."
   - q: "Does the fastest Base RPC change by region?"
     a: "Frequently. The headline number averages three probe origins (us-east, eu-west, Singapore), but per-region leaders regularly diverge, a gateway that wins from Virginia can lose from Singapore by multiples. The region tabs at the top of the page re-scope every number on the page to a single origin; pick the one closest to where your requests actually originate."
   - q: "How is Base RPC latency measured here?"

benchmarks/bnb-rpc.yml

@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ methodology:
   - "Call-result classification: `ok` (HTTP 200 + non-empty result), `http_err`, `jsonrpc_err` (HTTP 200 carrying an error body), `stale` (more than 20 blocks behind the cross-provider tip), `timeout`. Latency without reliability is a misleading ranking signal."
   - "Archive depth: every 5 minutes we issue `eth_getBalance` at (head − depth) for depths from Geth's default pruned cap up to 5M blocks, exposing which free endpoints actually serve historical state."
   - "This page is part of the per-chain RPC cluster derived from the cross-chain [rpc-capabilities](https://openchainbench.com/benchmarks/rpc-capabilities) benchmark; the identical harness, methodology and exclusion rules apply on every chain."
-  - "Chain scope: every query on this page is pinned to chain=\"bnb\". Provider coverage: 4 no-key endpoints (PublicNode, dRPC, Nodies, Binance). Merkle was delisted 2026-07: its gateway does not serve `eth_getBlockByNumber`, the anti-cache probe this cluster standardized on, so it cannot be measured on equal terms. Exclusions follow the cluster-wide rules documented on the parent benchmark."
+  - "Chain scope: every query on this page is pinned to chain=\"bnb\". Provider coverage: 4 no-key endpoints (PublicNode, dRPC, Nodies, Binance). Merkle (rebranded Blink Labs) was delisted 2026-07: its gateway does not serve `eth_getBlockByNumber`, the anti-cache probe this cluster standardized on, so it cannot be measured on equal terms. Exclusions follow the cluster-wide rules documented on the parent benchmark."
 
 findings:
   - "{{best_name}} currently leads free BNB Chain RPC at {{best_p50}} (`eth_getBlockByNumber` p50, 24h) across 5 measured providers."
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ faq:
   - q: "What is the fastest free BNB Chain RPC right now?"
     a: "{{best_name}} currently leads at {{best_p50}} (`eth_getBlockByNumber` p50 over the last 24h), measured against 5 no-key providers probed every 60 seconds from us-east, eu-west and Singapore. The leaderboard re-sorts continuously against fresh Prometheus samples, so the answer on this page is the answer right now, not a quarterly snapshot. Use the region tabs to see the leader from the origin closest to your deployment."
   - q: "Which BNB Chain RPCs work without an API key?"
-    a: "The 4 providers on this page: PublicNode, dRPC, Nodies, Binance. Merkle was delisted in July 2026 because its gateway does not serve `eth_getBlockByNumber` (JSON-RPC -32601), the anti-cache probe used across the cluster, so its latency cannot be compared on equal terms. Every (provider, chain) pair was live-verified no-key before inclusion, and anything that key-gates, region-blocks or rate-limits below our 15-second cadence is excluded rather than listed with an asterisk."
+    a: "The 4 providers on this page: PublicNode, dRPC, Nodies, Binance. Merkle (rebranded Blink Labs) was delisted in July 2026 because its gateway does not serve `eth_getBlockByNumber` (JSON-RPC -32601), the anti-cache probe used across the cluster, so its latency cannot be compared on equal terms. Every (provider, chain) pair was live-verified no-key before inclusion, and anything that key-gates, region-blocks or rate-limits below our 15-second cadence is excluded rather than listed with an asterisk."
   - q: "Does the fastest BNB Chain RPC change by region?"
     a: "Frequently. The headline number averages three probe origins (us-east, eu-west, Singapore), but per-region leaders regularly diverge, a gateway that wins from Virginia can lose from Singapore by multiples. The region tabs at the top of the page re-scope every number on the page to a single origin; pick the one closest to where your requests actually originate."
   - q: "How is BNB Chain RPC latency measured here?"

benchmarks/rpc-capabilities.yml

@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ methodology:
   - "Success gating: because failed probes record no latency, a mostly failing endpoint can post a fast p50 from its rare successes. The ledger pairs every latency figure with a Success column computed as ok calls over total calls in the same 24h window; read rows below 50 percent success as degraded. Providers with under 5 percent success lose their latency series to Prometheus staleness and are pinned below the table as unresponsive instead of being ranked."
   - "Archive depth: every 5 minutes we issue `eth_getBalance` at (head, depth) for `depth` in {300, 7200, 216_000, 1_296_000, 5_000_000}. Gauge `rpc_archive_depth_supported{depth}` is 1 when the response is non-pruned, 0 otherwise. The 300/7200 thresholds cover Geth's default pruned-cap range; 216k ≈ 1 month; 1.3M ≈ 6 months; 5M ≈ genesis-era full archive."
   - "Chain coverage: 10 EVM chains. Ethereum (9 providers), Arbitrum (8), Base (6), Optimism (6), Avalanche (6), BNB (5), Polygon (5), Linea (4), Scroll (4), Mantle (4). Provider matrix per chain is documented in `miniapps/rpc-capabilities/cmd/script/config.go`."
-  - "Excluded: 1RPC (delisted 2026-07-09, under 13% success even at two chains and one probe per minute), Ankr (key-gated), gateway.fm (29 req/IP budget too tight for 15s polling), LlamaRPC + BlockPI + OmniaTech (Cloudflare 521 region-blocked), Alchemy demo (rate-limited dead), NodeReal + GetBlock + Chainstack (key-gated). Merkle (no eth_getBlockByNumber, the cluster anti-cache probe) + Lava and MeowRPC outside ETH/Arb excluded. Every (provider, chain) was live-verified no-key before inclusion."
+  - "Excluded: 1RPC (delisted 2026-07-09, under 13% success even at two chains and one probe per minute), Ankr (key-gated), gateway.fm (29 req/IP budget too tight for 15s polling), LlamaRPC + BlockPI + OmniaTech (Cloudflare 521 region-blocked), Alchemy demo (rate-limited dead), NodeReal + GetBlock + Chainstack (key-gated). Merkle, now Blink Labs (no public eth_getBlockByNumber) + Lava and MeowRPC outside ETH/Arb excluded. Every (provider, chain) was live-verified no-key before inclusion."
 
 findings:
   - "Per-chain leaders, not a cross-chain crown. On Ethereum the current leader is {{best_name:chain:ethereum}} at {{best_p50:chain:ethereum}} (p50, 24 h) across 9 measured providers, the largest cohort in this bench. Ethereum is also the chain where Cloudflare-eth's `jsonrpc_err` traps the lazy reader."

src/app/products/[slug]/page.tsx

@@ -68,6 +68,13 @@ export async function generateMetadata({
   // <head> injection — return the canonical + redirect-safe metadata so
   // crawlers that peek at the response before the 308 fires still see the
   // right canonical target.
+  // Merkle rebranded to Blink Labs and went keyed-only; the provider was
+  // fully delisted 2026-07-10 so this page has no data left. 301 to the
+  // capabilities bench (whose exclusion note explains both names) instead
+  // of 404ing away the page's accumulated link equity.
+  if (slug === "merkle") {
+    permanentRedirect("/benchmarks/rpc-capabilities");
+  }
   if (await isHlBuilderWithHistory(slug)) {
     const canonicalUrl = `${SITE.url}/hyperliquid/${slug}`;
     return {

src/components/chain-rpc-section.tsx

@@ -1,23 +1,24 @@
 import Link from "next/link";
 import { ArrowUpRight } from "lucide-react";
+import { ProviderLogo } from "@/components/provider-logo";
 import {
   fetchRpcHub,
   getRpcChainRow,
   RPC_REGION_KEYS,
   type RpcRegionKey,
+  type RpcRegionBest,
 } from "@/lib/rpc-hub-stats";
 
 /**
- * Compact RPC summary panel for /chains/<slug>: the chain centric cut of
- * the rpc-hub cohort snapshot (the provider centric cut lives in
- * RpcProviderChainsSection on product pages). Shows the 24h p50 leader,
- * the best provider per probe region, and links out to the full
- * <chain>-rpc bench page for the complete leaderboard.
+ * RPC summary panel for /chains/<slug>: the chain centric cut of the
+ * rpc-hub cohort snapshot (the provider centric cut lives in
+ * RpcProviderChainsSection on product pages). A leader card plus one
+ * card per probe region, in the same card language as the Live KPIs
+ * strip above it, then a link out to the full <chain>-rpc bench.
  *
  * Server component, snapshot only (fetchRpcHub reads the worker written
  * cohort blob via unstable_cache; zero Prometheus traffic). Returns null
- * when the chain has no rpc-hub row, so the page can render it
- * unconditionally, though the chain page gates the pill upfront via
+ * when the chain has no rpc-hub row; the page gates the pill upfront via
  * getRpcChainRow (same cached read, no extra roundtrip).
  */
 
@@ -49,10 +50,27 @@ export async function ChainRpcSection({ chainSlug }: { chainSlug: string }) {
 
   return (
     <section className="mt-6">
-      <h2 className="text-[11px] font-medium uppercase tracking-[0.18em] text-ink-muted">
+      <p
+        className="label-mono text-[10px] text-ink-faint mb-3"
+        style={{ fontFamily: "var(--font-mono, monospace)" }}
+      >
         Fastest public RPC on {row.name}
-      </h2>
-      <p className="mt-2 text-sm text-ink-soft leading-snug max-w-2xl">
+      </p>
+
+      <div className="grid grid-cols-2 lg:grid-cols-4 gap-3">
+        <LeaderCard best={row.best} providerCount={row.providerCount} />
+        {RPC_REGION_KEYS.map((region) => (
+          <RegionCard
+            key={region}
+            label={REGION_LABELS[region]}
+            best={row.regions[region] ?? null}
+          />
+        ))}
+      </div>
+
+      {/* Quotable one liner kept as plain server rendered text: this is
+          the sentence answer engines lift, cards alone do not quote. */}
+      <p className="mt-3 text-[12.5px] text-ink-soft leading-snug max-w-2xl">
         The fastest public RPC endpoint on {row.name} right now is{" "}
         <span className="font-medium text-ink">{row.best.providerName}</span>{" "}
         at{" "}
@@ -63,32 +81,7 @@ export async function ChainRpcSection({ chainSlug }: { chainSlug: string }) {
         {row.providerCount} live provider
         {row.providerCount === 1 ? "" : "s"} measured from 3 probe regions.
       </p>
-      <dl className="mt-4 grid grid-cols-1 sm:grid-cols-3 border-y border-rule divide-y sm:divide-y-0 sm:divide-x divide-rule">
-        {RPC_REGION_KEYS.map((region) => {
-          const best = row.regions[region];
-          return (
-            <div key={region} className="py-3 sm:px-4 sm:first:pl-0">
-              <dt className="text-[10px] font-medium uppercase tracking-[0.16em] text-ink-muted">
-                {REGION_LABELS[region]}
-              </dt>
-              <dd className="mt-1 text-[12.5px]">
-                {best ? (
-                  <>
-                    <span className="font-medium text-ink">
-                      {best.providerName}
-                    </span>{" "}
-                    <span className="text-ink-soft tabular-nums">
-                      {fmtMs(best.p50Ms)}
-                    </span>
-                  </>
-                ) : (
-                  <span className="text-ink-faint">no data</span>
-                )}
-              </dd>
-            </div>
-          );
-        })}
-      </dl>
+
       <div className="mt-3 flex flex-wrap items-baseline gap-x-4 gap-y-1">
         <Link
           href={`/benchmarks/${row.slug}`}
@@ -98,9 +91,88 @@ export async function ChainRpcSection({ chainSlug }: { chainSlug: string }) {
           <ArrowUpRight size={14} strokeWidth={2} />
         </Link>
         {asOf && (
-          <span className="text-[10.5px] text-ink-faint">Data as of {asOf}</span>
+          <span className="text-[10.5px] text-ink-faint">
+            Data as of {asOf}
+          </span>
         )}
       </div>
     </section>
   );
 }
+
+function LeaderCard({
+  best,
+  providerCount,
+}: {
+  best: RpcRegionBest;
+  providerCount: number;
+}) {
+  return (
+    <div
+      className="card-soft rounded-lg p-3 sm:p-4 border border-ink/15 flex flex-col"
+      title="Lowest p50 latency across all probe regions over the last 24 hours, successful calls only."
+      style={{ minHeight: 118 }}
+    >
+      <p
+        className="label-mono text-[10px] text-ink-faint uppercase tracking-wide leading-snug"
+        style={{ fontFamily: "var(--font-mono, monospace)" }}
+      >
+        Fastest · 24h p50
+      </p>
+      <div className="mt-2 flex items-center gap-2 min-w-0">
+        <ProviderLogo slug={best.provider} name={best.providerName} size={20} />
+        <span className="font-medium text-ink text-sm truncate">
+          {best.providerName}
+        </span>
+      </div>
+      <p className="mt-1 text-2xl font-semibold text-ink tabular-nums leading-none">
+        {fmtMs(best.p50Ms)}
+      </p>
+      <p className="mt-auto pt-2 text-[10.5px] text-ink-faint">
+        {providerCount} live provider{providerCount === 1 ? "" : "s"} measured
+      </p>
+    </div>
+  );
+}
+
+function RegionCard({
+  label,
+  best,
+}: {
+  label: string;
+  best: RpcRegionBest | null;
+}) {
+  return (
+    <div
+      className="card-soft rounded-lg p-3 sm:p-4 border border-ink/15 flex flex-col"
+      title={`Fastest provider probed from ${label}, p50 over the last 24 hours.`}
+      style={{ minHeight: 118 }}
+    >
+      <p
+        className="label-mono text-[10px] text-ink-faint uppercase tracking-wide leading-snug"
+        style={{ fontFamily: "var(--font-mono, monospace)" }}
+      >
+        {label}
+      </p>
+      {best ? (
+        <>
+          <div className="mt-2 flex items-center gap-2 min-w-0">
+            <ProviderLogo
+              slug={best.provider}
+              name={best.providerName}
+              size={20}
+            />
+            <span className="font-medium text-ink text-sm truncate">
+              {best.providerName}
+            </span>
+          </div>
+          <p className="mt-1 text-xl font-semibold text-ink-soft tabular-nums leading-none">
+            {fmtMs(best.p50Ms)}
+          </p>
+        </>
+      ) : (
+        <p className="mt-2 text-sm text-ink-faint italic">no data</p>
+      )}
+    </div>
+  );
+}