Decentralized oracleoracle network provider Chainlink (LINK) today published a list of price reference data for 25 oracle networks, marking a rapid increase from the seven networks available in October.
Chainlink recently topped a poll of blockchain projects expected to make the most technical progress in 2020. The platform allows developers to securely launch a smart contract by implementing off-chain price data into their on-chain applications, verified by a decentralized oracle network.
With the number of oracle networks available increasing, Chainlink is creating a vast and valuable public resource, Sergey Nazarov, CEO of platform developer SmartContract, told Decrypt.
A data rich environment of inputs
“There's been explosive growth in the amount of oracle networks available,” Nazarov said, adding that this “data rich environment of inputs that people can easily use,” will help boost the development of DeFi applications.
Key to this aspiration are the projects that have integrated Chainlink to date. They include non-collateral loan provider Aave; Loopring, an open protocol for non-custodial exchanges, and Synthetix, a platform which hosts on-chain synthetic assets, or “synths,”—ERC20 tokens that track the value of assets like gold, stocks and indices in the real world.
Users such as Synthetix bring new oracle networks to the platform, said Nazarov. The feeds that Synthetix requested (XAU/USD onchain price for instance) can now be accessed by any other dappdapp for a small fee, leading to greater utility and lower costs for everyone.
Out of all the cryptocurrency projects that made rapid progress in 2019, Chainlink (LINK) has emerged as one of the clear leaders.
Not only has the decentralized oracle provider outperformed the entire altcoin market, it’s even outpaced Bitcoin on a number of occasions, and many investors are confident that 2020 will bring further gains.
But that’s not the news that most excites Chainlink CEO Sergey Nazarov. Speaking to Decrypt, he highlighted three key reasons why Chainlink will continue to...
He explained that it’s cheaper to use a Chainlink oracle network, with seven to 21 nodes, than to broadcast from one node.
“Using our local networks costs people much less than it does for them to broadcast the data themselves, and they get multiples more security by using us,” said Nazarov.
The new resource also has a user friendly interface for information about the infrastructure, functionality, and current or historical data of the oracle networks which secure the prices, an accompanying blog post explains.
“We're making a public good that people need, and, as enough people use the public good, it becomes its own economically sustainable public resource,” he said.
Demand for Chainlink’s oracles is growing
In October, market intelligence firm Glassnode published data showing that demand for Chainlink oracles has grown at a steady pace.
The onchain data tool for crypto investors notes that 80% of all daily LINK transfers were for an ETH/USD reference data contract. With many more popular pairs now added—including BTC/ETH, BTC/USD, USD/GBP—developers have added scope. And “plenty more oracles are in the works,” according to Nazarov.
“The fact that we're launching so many of these oracle networks so rapidly is really a function of demand,” he said. “There’s been so much demand for all these different networks, I wouldn't be surprised if we doubled that number sometime this year.”
Did we mention that Nazarov was sounding a little bullish these days? But he still doesn’t talk about the effect on Chainlink's token, LINK. It's up more than 60% this month. That speaks for itself.
Daily Debrief Newsletter
Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.
Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have teamed up with Bitcoin mining heavyweight Hut 8 to launch American Bitcoin, a new industrial-scale mining firm that plans to become the “world’s largest and most efficient Bitcoin miner.”
Announced on March 31, the venture was born out of a strategic deal in which Bitcoin mining company Hut 8 contributed the majority of its mining hardware to American Data Centers Inc., a company backed by the Trump sons.
The firm was then rebranded as American Bitcoin—a majo...
Smoke from Nicaraguan cigars choked out the room as a heavy-set Bitcoin miner from the Deep South explained how the industry was expanding at an exponential rate.
"You have no idea," he said at this year's Mining Disrupt pre-party in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, before following up with the common Bitcoiner maxim—repeated by President Trump on the campaign trail—that you should never sell your stash.
Having been involved in the space since the early days, he recalled buying a Ferrari with orange c...
Elon Musk’s favorite cryptocurrency made a comeback at the end of last year as retail investors flooded back into the market to snap up Dogecoin. The coin was launched as a joke in 2013, but has persisted over the years and remained prominent.
But just how serious is the business of mining the O.G. meme coin? People are actively buying the machines to do so, according to vendors at this year’s Mining Disrupt conference in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Though the conference was heavily focused on th...