Blockchain is a secure way to store and retrieve data partly because of its inherent self-contained nature, which means that data stored on one blockchain can be used only by that chain. This greatly limits the applications of blockchain technology in real life. That's where the blockchain oracle comes into play. Blockchain oracles connect data from all kinds of sources to the blockchain and enable the technology to have a lot more real-world applications than ever. The most well-known and widely-used oracle in the industry at the moment is Chainlink.
Chainlink is a decentralized oracle service provider that feeds off-chain data to blockchains. Being a decentralized network itself, Chainlink can make sure that the data and computation that it provides is more secure and trustless than those of centralized networks, because it eliminates the problem of one central point of weakness.
An impressive project is for sure developed by a no-less incredible team. Chainlink was established in 2017 by Sergey Nazarov and Steve Ellis, who were a teaching fellow and teaching assistant, respectively, at New York University. Before Chainlink, the dynamic duo had founded many notable blockchain-related projects and organizations, including SmartContract.com and Secure Asset Exchange. The Chainlink team even got former Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, former LinkedIn CEO, Jeff Weiner, and DocuSign co-founder, Tom Gonser, onboard as strategic advisors. With such a powerful team, it is no surprise that Chainlink prevails as the top oracle in the market.
When a blockchain that uses Chainlink oracle service requires off-chain data, it will open a Requesting Contract. Upon receiving the Requesting Contract, Chainlink puts out a Service Level Agreement Contract (SLA Contract) to signal its system to get the requested data by creating three sub-contracts as follows:
- Reputation Contract: verifying performance of data providers and ridding of those with bad track records
- Order-Matching Contract: matching the requirements of Requesting Contract with the right nodes
- Aggregating Contract: collect, validate, and reconcile data from chosen nodes
The data created by the SLA Contract will then be given to the requesting blockchain.
LINK can be used to operate smart contracts on Chainlink, as well as be earned as rewards for service providers and node operators.
LINK's total supply: 1,000,000,000
LINK's circulating supply: 470,099,970
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