Blockchain Oracles. And why Flux may beat them all?

Gregory
4 min readNov 12, 2021

Oracles are used in a lot of blockchain applications. Oracles give the Web 3.0 ecosystem a method to connect to existing data sources, legacy systems, and sophisticated calculations.

Blockchain Oracles

Oracles enable the implementation of hybrid smart contracts, in which on-chain code and off-chain infrastructure are coupled to provide complex decentralized applications (dApps) that react to real-world events and interact with traditional systems.

They are used in a lot of blockchain applications. For example, let’s say Ben and Frank wish to wager on the outcome of a sporting event. Ben bets $10 on team A and Frank bets $10 on team B, with a smart contract holding the $20 total in escrow. How does the smart contract know whether to give the money to Ben or Frank after the game is over? The solution is that an oracle mechanism is required to get correct match outcomes off-chain and securely and reliably send them to the blockchain.

Price information, the successful completion of a payment, election results, and other data are examples of data provided by oracles to smart contracts. Other software (databases, servers, or virtually any internet data source) or hardware can provide data (sensors, barcode scanners etc.).

A hardware oracle may be thought of as a device that converts real-world occurrences into digital values that smart contracts can understand. Both sorts of oracles are incoming. Individuals with specific expertise who can check the legitimacy of information before passing it to smart contracts and who can authenticate their identity cryptographically are known as human oracles.

Outbound oracles are used to convey data from smart contracts to the outside world. For example, a smart contract that receives a payment may communicate data to a mechanism that opens a smart lock through an outbound oracle.

The blockchain oracle dilemma highlights a key restriction of smart contracts: they can’t connect with data and systems outside of their native blockchain context in any way. External resources are referred to as “off-chain,” whilst data currently recorded on the blockchain is referred to as “on-chain.”

Due to the wide range of off-chain resources available, blockchain oracles come in a variety of sizes and forms. Not only do hybrid smart contracts necessitate numerous forms of external data and processing, but they also necessitate varied delivery systems and security levels. In general, each sort of oracle comprises obtaining, verifying, calculating, and sending data to a destination.

Flux Protocol

Flux gives smart contracts and apps simple access to on-chain data sources that are economically assured.

What distinguishes Flux from other oracles? Flux is a cross-chain oracle aggregator that provides smart contracts with access to economically secure data feeds on anything. This, along with the other benefits of oracles, is it’s most notable characteristic.

Furthermore, Flux may be defined the most decentralized oracle since the Flux token holders will form the DAO and make critical choices in the protocol’s functioning: request interfaces can be added or removed, sections of the system can be upgraded, network settings can be changed, and money can be granted. The primary competitors of Flux can’t match this level of decentralization.

The differences of popular oracles are perfectly analyzed and described in the detailed article, provided by Sonny Azeez (Growth Lead) in the official Flux Protocol blog. Below is an infographic from the article, which reflects the key points:

The project was created by a professional team of developers and experienced founders.

As you can see, Flux protocol has a number of significant advantages over its competitors. And they could not remain without attention. The project has an impressive list of world-class investors:

Flux Backers

Finally, Flux is: open-sourced, transparent, decentralised and community driven project. And you can become a part of it, by participating in the ambassador program and helping the project to develop and learn about it to more people.

You can read more about Flux in my previous article.

If you’re a developer, I suggest you to learn more about and try it at the official project GitHub.

https://github.com/fluxprotocol

Read more about Flux:

Official Website https://www.fluxprotocol.org/
Discord: https://discord.com/invite/sJUveAvJHf
Twitter https: / / twitter. com/fluxprotocol
Telegram https://t.me/fluxprotocol

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