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  • ChainLink ($LINK) guide: A key link in the DeFi space

    ChainLink ($LINK) guide: A key link in the DeFi space

    ChainLink ($LINK) has been a standout project in the cryptocurrency industry since its creation in 2017 by San Francisco based company, SmartContract. The Company is renowned for being a decentralised oracle solution, they act as a middleware agent between traditional data sources, blockchain projects and smart contracts (which drive Decentralised Finance (DeFi) projects) using their $LINK token. Partnership wise, the Company has been linked with national governments like the Chinese government and are consistently building new partnerships with major brands. Clearly, ChainLink is a company that any crypto or blockchain enthusiast should have an understanding of, so here we have compiled a complete guide to this revolutionary project.

    ChainLink has prominence because they solved the Oracle Problem. The oracle problem originates from an issue with smart contracts, which are coding instructions that would automatically execute under specific conditions on blockchain networks. Smart contracts are. also immutable, cost effective and self-executing, so technically they are perfect for automating transactions which are transparent and have zero chance of failure. These smart contracts derive their data from “Oracles” (i.e. data sources, APIs etc) , and this is where the problem lies. Smart contracts are only as “smart” as the information fed to them by the oracles. If you feed a smart contract with malicious code or bad data, the smart contract will still process it anyway because it is just code, and what comes out would be incorrect or unpredictable. This is known as the “Oracle Problem”.

    That all changed when ChainLink worked out how to retrieve and share information from the Oracles without jeopardizing the security of the blockchain. This was by creating a decentralized blockchain that bridges between the Oracles and the smart contracts. While researching this, I stumbled upon a 스포츠토토 사이트 추천, which provided insights into secure and reliable platforms for sports betting. The system is built on a collection of individual nodes that act as smart contracts on their own to gather the information and, as a result, have created a smart contract infrastructure. Now, instead of having to blindly trust a source, smart contracts can access resources like data feeds, traditional bank account payments, and web APIs.

    ChainLink infrastructure
    ChainLink infrastructure (Image credit: Data Driven Investor)

    Why is this important? It is because ChainLink believes its technology will do away with traditional legal agreements and instead the information will be stored on blockchain forever. 

    ChainLink is also relevant to the cryptocurrency industry because its Oracles also provide a solution for decentralized applications (dapps) as they too provide a bridge to the outside world.

    The $LINK token is ChainLink’s native cryptocurrency and was set up on the Ethereum network using an ERC677 token whose functionality is based on the ERC-20 token standard, it also boasts ‘transfer and call’ functionality. The $LINK token is used as staking for a bidding system for provision of information and for rewards, as will be seen in the following paragraph.

    The decentralized oracle network works through a two way system between those who wish to purchase data and those who bid to be the providers of the said data. Providers, also known as “Node Operators” stake ChainLink’s $LINK tokens to make bids to the intended data purchaser. If they win, they must provide the information required by the purchaser on chain through their APIs. The “winning” Node Operator’s payout is determined by the number of operators using the site, and the Oracles implement this decision. Payouts are in the form of the $LINK token. 

    This system has a number of benefits. When ChainLink is popular with Node Operators, then their value increases. Not only that, but Node Operators are also rewarded for accumulating $LINK tokens through easier access to larger contracts, also increasing $LINK’s value. Those who act maliciously, however, are punished by removal of $LINK tokens. 

    As you can see the $LINK token allows for self regulating governance of the ChainLink network. Some have suggested that payouts needn’t be in $LINK, but rather any other cryptocurrency would have done the job. Yet, ChainLink’s price performances in recent times have suggested the team in San Francisco were right to go down the native token route.

    The $LINK token can be traded on exchanges and is gaining in popularity too. Currently it ranks as the 8th highest market cap according to Coingecko. Available on most major exchanges like Coinbase Pro, Binance and OKEX ChainLink’s token has been a standout performer in recent months. Check out our Coinbase Pro review, Binance review and OKEX review.

    Unlike other companies who rely on PR and word of mouth to promote themselves, ChainLink has gone about it by courting various companies and governments around the world. Their CEO Sergey Nazarov has been on a charm offensive for a while and has secured numerous allies. This is because ChainLink provides businesses the benefits of decentralization, trust and immutability, all without them having to make a new system. Here’s some of ChainLink’s key partners.

    Other Cryptocurrencies- Bitcoin and Hyperledger

    In terms of the cryptocurrency field, ChainLink’s oracle services are available on other blockchains such as Bitcoin and Hyperledger. This openness has also opened up the door for a number of high profile partnerships with other blockchain projects that have made commentators and traders take notice of the Company.

    Synthetix Network

    In March 2019, ChainLink and Synthetix announced a partnership with the aim of improving the Synthetix platform’s price feeds. SNX, the company’s native token, receives data feeds using Chainlink’s decentralized oracle network. 

    Celer Network

    ChainLink has been used by Celer to bring accurate real world data to their layer-2 scaling solution. Now, payments executed off chain can be registered on chain making the real world and blockchain more cohesive. Their joint statement described their union as, “a combination of off-chain conditional state transition with an on-chain oracle dependency. Or put it simply, introducing the capability to combine real-world information and layer-2 scalability.”

    ChainLink and their oracles are not just reserved for the cryptocurrency industry. The use cases and partnerships stretch to major internet companies like Google. The search engine company integrated ChainLink’s oracles for its blockchain cloud service. According to a blog post, the oracles will help with data communication between Big Query and other blockchains on the cloud.  

    Chinese Government Blockchain Service Network (BSN)

    In June, the Chinese state backed Blockchain Service Network (BSN) announced its intentions to bring ChainLink in on a consultancy and application basis to help develop the BSN. Reports at the time suggested ChainLink will foster the creation of a “service hub” which would form the bedrock of its “internet of blockchains.” For a full breakdown of the partnership which also involved Cosmos, click here. 

    SWIFT 

    SWIFT is a major financial institution/telecommunications company which connects the banking world. They have brought ChainLink on board and are regularly using their technology. SWIFT began using ChainLink’s technology as now any real-world money transfer can be sent into the blockchain from SWIFT via Chainlink. So ChainLink now allows cohesion between traditional banking and the crypto sphere. 

    Other partnerships

    The partnerships don’t stop there. ChainLink has teamed up with betting company, BetProtocol to provide decentralized Esports and Sports Oracles on their website. DocuSign, an online contract company has also brought them onboard. 

    Overall, it is clear that ChainLink is an important figure within the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry. Quite how important the oracle technology proves to be will be easier to judge as the world understands and develops blockchain technology. Though currently, all signs point towards a more optimistic outlook

    As for the $LINK token, they are clearly a standout which has risen rapidly in the past few months, having gone from $3.72 in early May 2020 to reach a new all-time high of over $14. In fact, as a Forbes report noted in July 2020, the $LINK token has “soared 1,000% in just over 12 months”. One factor in the token’s recent success is the increase in partnerships since 2019. Another reason is definitely the recent DeFi fever, especially since ChainLink and the DeFi space are so interlinked as ChainLink provides oracles for the smart contracts that power various DeFi projects.

    We can also see that people also have positive thoughts on the project, a huge majority of users on Coingecko voting positively.

    Zeus Capital, purportedly an asset management and research firm published a report on 15th July 2020 accusing Chainlink of being a classic “pump and dump”. The Report alleges ChainLink of using techniques such as inside trading, artificial transactions, overhyping the project, and questioning whether ChainLink actually has partnerships with companies like Google and Oracle. According to Zeus Capital, this was to drive up the price of $LINK prior to the team dumping the coin onto innocent investors. They concluded their Report saying that “Based on our findings we have opened a short position in LINK and recommend you doing the same with a target price of USD0.07 and potential upside of nearly 100%.”

    In addition to promoting the Report through advertisements on Twitter, screenshots have also been circulating saying that Zeus Capital was offering Twitter cryptocurrency influencers rewards of up to 5 Bitcoin to post price analysis indicating that LINK prices would fall.

    Twitter user @iceberg trolls Zeus Capital asking for 5 BTC to post bad chart and Zeus Capital actually seems to accept the offer.

    Supporters of ChainLink retaliated, accusing Zeus Capital of spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD). On the day the Report was published, prices for LINK went up to $8.73. Meanwhile, the real Zeus Capital, a prominent investment banking operation based in London came forward on 20th July 2020 to say it did not produce the Reports.

    Zeus Capital then doubled down on their allegations against ChainLink by publishing a follow-up report on 31st July 2020 titled “Exposing Chainlink’s Pump and Dump Scheme”. They also doubled down on their stance in the Report: “The current tokenomics and lack of commercial applications cannot justify LINK’s price. As a result, we recommend short selling LINK with a target price of 7 US cents”. The Follow-up Report also concludes with a disclosure that they hold a short position on $LINK.

    Despite these damning reports, prices for LINK continued to remain strong. This meant that those who were shorting LINK, i.e. counting on prices to drop, were getting squeezed out of their positions. This all came to a head on the morning of 8th August 2020 when prices for LINK crossed over the USD $11 threshold. During that time, data showed that millions worth of Chainlink short positions were partially or fully liquidated. A notable example of this was a short position worth around USD$20 million which seems to have been entirely liquidated, leaving the wallet pretty dry with only USD $299.66 remaining.

    It is noted that there is no conclusive evidence to say that any of these liquidated accounts belonged to Zeus Capital. However one thing is certain- ChainLink, helped by its supporters i.e. the Link Marines were able to successfully shake off the FUD. And as at the time of this update, LINK prices had peaked at USD$14.34, almost double the prices when the first Report was published.

    2020 has been a favorable year for Chainlink ($LINK). It has been one of the best performing coins and secured its spot in the top10 assets ranking by mcap. It is now sitting at n°9 with a market cap close to $8 billion dollars.

    Chainlink is widely recognized as the most used oracle in crypto and has been a backbone for Defi’s explosion. Many are the collaborations announced, over 300, not only on the Ethereum blockchain. Chainlink is also expanding to other chains such as Polkadot and Tezos. Results have exceeded expectations and the company has also been recognized, among 6 other blockchain companies (Lightning Labs, MakerDAO, Elliptic, Bitmark, Ripio, Veridium Labs) by the World Economic Forum among the 100 most promising Technology Pioneers of 2020.

    The team has allegedly doubled its size and acquired important strategic pieces. Ari Juels, now Chief Scientist at Chainlink Labs, was one of the 2 writers of the first Proof of Work paper. He has also developed Deco, a privacy-preserving technology now acquired by Chainlink, at Cornell University together with other researchers.

    “Deco allows oracles to attest to the validity of information in trusted databases/systems without exposing it to the public or even the oracle itself using … Zero-Knowledge Proofs. Essentially, the oracle can join a user-initiated web session to attest to some requested information— possibly to verify someone’s identity, approve their financial information, or check key government records”.

    The data will never leave the selected database so the info will remain stored in trusted locations, enhancing the privacy and usability of the blockchain. An important possible application could be transactions that can meet KYC (Know Your Customer) or AML (Ant Money Laundering) requirements without exposing sensitive information on-chain.

    2021 looks certainly promising. The company will continue with its focus on security while bringing as much data as possible on-chain, from different sectors. This will provide huge improvements and development to the whole crypto space.


    Sources: Decrypt, Maxbit

    Decentralised Finance (DeFi) series: tutorials, guides and more

    With content for both beginners and more advanced users, check out our YouTube DeFi series containing tutorials on the ESSENTIAL TOOLS you need for trading in the DeFi space e.g. MetaMask and Uniswap. As well as a deep dive into popular DeFi topics such as decentralized exchanges, borrowing-lending platforms and NFT marketplaces

    The DeFi series on this website also covers topics not explored on YouTube. For an introduction on what is DeFi, check out Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Overview: A guide to the HOTTEST trend in cryptocurrency

    Tutorials and guides for the ESSENTIAL DEFI TOOLS:

    More videos and articles are coming soon as part of our DeFi series, so be sure to SUBSCRIBE to our Youtube channel so you can be notified as soon as they come out!

    Disclaimer: Cryptocurrency trading involves significant risks and may result in the loss of your capital. You should carefully consider whether trading cryptocurrencies is right for you in light of your financial condition and ability to bear financial risks. Cryptocurrency prices are highly volatile and can fluctuate widely in a short period of time. As such, trading cryptocurrencies may not be suitable for everyone. Additionally, storing cryptocurrencies on a centralized exchange carries inherent risks, including the potential for loss due to hacking, exchange collapse, or other security breaches. We strongly advise that you seek independent professional advice before engaging in any cryptocurrency trading activities and carefully consider the security measures in place when choosing or storing your cryptocurrencies on a cryptocurrency exchange.

  • Cardano Enters Goguen Era of Smart Contracts: The Alonzo Hard Fork

    Cardano Enters Goguen Era of Smart Contracts: The Alonzo Hard Fork

    This is an update of our previous article on Cardano.

    On September 12th, 2021, Cardano’s Alonzo hard fork upgrade went live on the mainnet. As a result, users can now create and deploy smart contracts on the Cardano blockchain.

    For an overview of what is Cardano, its features, and advantages and disadvantages, check out our video below:

    In an official blog post by the development company behind Cardano, IOHK disclosed that the Alonzo hard fork would enable new capabilities through the integration of Plutus scripts on the blockchain. Plutus is a purpose-built smart contract development language and execution platform using the functional programming language Haskell.

    The integration of Plutus will enable a host of new use cases for decentralized finance (DeFi) and decentralized apps (dApps) on the Cardano network. Interestingly, during my research on blockchain advancements, I came across a guide on 온라인 슬롯, which detailed the benefits of integrating blockchain technology into online gambling. This integration will also allow dApps to be built within the ecosystem and facilitate more complex computational programs. This is expected to bring Cardano to the same level as other smart contract-enabled blockchains such as Ethereum, while facilitating energy and cost-effective blockchain operations.

    The update is an important development in Cardano’s roadmap, which is divided into five stages — Byron, Shelley, Goguen, Basho, and Voltaire. The Byron era focused on development, while the Shelley era introduced staking and helped Cardano transition from a centralized federated system to a fully delegated proof-of-stake system. Cardano’s entry into the Goguen era is marked by the launch of its smart contracts. 

    The official website of Cardano states that the Goguen era will also feature the addition of a multi-currency ledger, enabling users to create new native tokens. This will lead to the creation of fungible and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), as well as the creation of new cryptocurrencies on Cardano and tokenization of many types of digital and physical assets.

    Cardano creator Charles Hoskinson described the Alonzo upgrade as a game-changing moment for the platform. “This upgrade is the culmination of six years of incredibly hard work with some of the brightest minds in blockchain and beyond,” he said. “The focus is now on improving the platform further, and ensuring that Cardano is adopted by corporations and governments. With this launch, commercialisation is as much in the hands of the community as it is the system architects, and they are already delivering – in less than 24 hours, over 100 smart contracts have already been run on the network.”

    Cardano hosted a hybrid-virtual summit across all continents on September 25th & 26th, 2021. During the 2-day event, IOHK announced their plans to integrate with Chainlink Labs to obtain real-time market data that will help developers build smart contracts for DeFi applications on the network.

    Access to real-world databases will be supplied through Chainlink’s decentralized ‘oracle’ networks which provide tamper-proof, high-quality external data to blockchains. This collaboration between IOHK and Chainlink Labs will give access to a wealth of secure data, helping DeFi achieve its promise of building a less costly and more inclusive global economic system. 

    Initially, information feeds for real-time market prices will be linked to Cardano. Over time, additional data feeds on sports and weather will follow, for use with insurance, gaming, and NFTs.

    Hydra: Cardano’s Layer 2 Scalability Solution

    During the Cardano Summit 2021, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson revealed that a new venture called “Hydra” is in development on the new Alonzo hard fork to improve aspects of scalability and storage.

    David Orr of IOHK explained that although there are plans to improve Cardano fees in order to balance user costs, stake pool operator rewards and network security, the fees likely won’t be low enough for “real world use cases,” which is what Hydra intends to address.

    Hydra is a layer-2 scalability solution that seeks to address these concerns by providing more efficient means of processing transaction off-chain for a set of users while using the main chain as a secure settlement layer. Orr also says that Hydra can lower the barrier to entry for customers wanting to build things on the Cardano network like wallets or applications.

    According to a blog post by IOHK, Hydra could make transactions on Cardano’s blockchain take less than one second to complete.

    “Terms like ‘one million TPS (transactions per second)’ have been used before. It is a bold number, and while this remains as an aspirational target, the ultimate goal of any system is the flexibility to grow capability with demand,” says Orr. “ In principle, by adding increasing numbers of Hydra heads to the system, arbitrarily high throughput can be achieved by the system as a whole.”

    Cardano Introduces the Plutus dAppStore

    Cardano has revealed that it’s building a storefront for certified decentralized applications (dApps).

    In a blog post, IOHK published a preview of its new “integrated approach” to the development of the Cardano ecosystem ahead of Cardano Summit 2021. The centerpiece of the announcement is the upcoming launch of the Plutus dAppStore, a storefront where developers can upload their decentralized applications running on Cardano and make them easier for discovery.

    According to Shruti Appiah, head of product and smart contracts at Cardano, the dAppStore addresses two barriers to entry. The first is that there is currently no formal discovery process for dApps running on the network, and the second is that there is no consolidated view of all dApps available in a given ecosystem for end-users.

    The Plutus dAppStore will allow Cardano users to explore the entire ecosystem of dApps running on the protocol through a single “storefront” or web page. 

    In addition to the dAppStore, IOHK is also launching a formal certification program for third-party decentralized applications on Cardano. The program’s goal is to give users assurance about the integrity of the dApps they use through automated logic checks, manual smart contract auditing, and formal verification.

    According to Appiah, the dAppStore will provide a “democratized environment for developers to publish their dApps without facing censorship,” meaning both certified and uncertified applications will be listed on the storefront, as the site intends not to act as a gatekeeper but rather provide “a platform for transparent user assessment.”

    Climate Restoration Partnership with Veritree

    Cardano has teamed up with global land restoration and tree planting verification company Veritree to store reforestation verification records on Cardano’s blockchain. 

    Going forward, organizations using Veritree’s platform will be provided with an immutable, transparent and auditable blockchain based report on all of Veritree’s afforestation and reforestation efforts – using a fraction of the carbon footprint of other blockchains. 

    To celebrate this, Cardano and Veritree launched The First Global Cardano Impact Challenge, inviting its global community to make donations to Veritree using Cardano’s native token ADA. Every ADA donated equals one tree planted and these donations will be used to plant the world’s first Cardano Forest. Once at least 15 ADA have been pledged to the campaign, donors will receive 15 Veritree tokens or more in return for their donations. These tokens are redeemable for a tree planting certificate with details of all actual trees once these have been planted next year.

    Within 24 hours of the announcement, the Initial Tree Offering (ITO) has already collected enough donations to plant more than 150,000 trees.

    Partnership with COTI to Issue Djed Stablecoin

    A new stablecoin is arriving on the Cardano blockchain as Cardano founder, Charles Hoskinson announced fintech company, COTI as its partner to be the official issuer of Djed, a new DeFi-focused stablecoin for the Cardano network. The announcement was made at the 2021 Cardano summit event alongside COTI CEO, Shahaf Bar-Geffen. 

    Djed will be used on the Cardano blockchain as a tool for decentralized finance (DeFi) operations and avoid transaction fees. It will be based on an algorithmic design using smart contracts to ensure price stability and providing an instrument for DeFi transactions. The stablecoin is designed for paying transaction fees on the Cardano network in order to avoid “volatile and exorbitant gas fees” and make transaction costs “more predictable.” 

    According to Djed’s research paper, its stablecoin protocol will behave like an “autonomous bank that buys and sells stablecoins for a price in a range that is pegged to a target price.” The stablecoin will operate by maintaining a reserve of base coins while minting and burning various other stable assets and reserve coins. 

    Telecom Integration with Dish Network

    Cardano has announced that it is partnering with a Fortune 250 company, Dish Network, a major American satellite TV and wireless service provider. The announcement was made by Chris Ergen, the head of Innovation at Dish. 

    Chris Ergen made this announcement at the Cardano Summit 2021 with Charles Hoskinson. Hoskinson stated that the partnership will help integrate Dish’s telecom business into the Cardano blockchain so as to help provide digital identity services to Dish customers. He further stated, “Ultimately, the collaboration is going to be both innovative, safe and suitable for the customers and regulators of this industry.” 

    The partnership aims at bringing the telecoms industry to the blockchain space. It’s the first collaboration of its kind, unlocking significant value for Dish’s customers while growing adoption for Cardano.

    NFT Marketplace with eSports Platform Rival

    Cardano has partnered with leading esports and gaming platform Rival to develop agnostic NFT marketplaces, fan rewards, and more for Rival and their partners. The partnership will see Cardano facilitate the ability to create and distribute NFTs, the redemption of NFTs for physical goods, and marketplace-based royalties within the Rival platform, whose clients include the National Football League’s (NFL) Seattle Seahawks, National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Detroit Pistons, and Aston Villa and Watford of the English Premier League (EPL). 

    Matt Virtue, CEO of Rival, said, “Our partnership with Cardano marks Rival’s entry into blockchain and is a significant step in our evolution as an enterprise platform solution to unlock the unlimited potential in gaming and esports. Rival’s integration with Cardano will help us maximize and personalize the entire Rival experience – for both gamers and partners.”

    Cardano Summit 2021

    Cardano announced several other strategic partnerships and development plans during the Cardano Summit 2021.

    Cardano confirmed support for AID:tech, which provides identity based solutions for finance, payments and insurance through blockchain. The collaboration aims to develop verifiable credentials for trusted identity management and ownership; enable customers and consumers to quickly process payments and disbursements; and reliably process vast volumes of transactions.

    Cardano also announced their emergence into the world of artificial intelligence (AI) through Grace, a robot designed for the healthcare industry. The AI robot is developed by Awakening Health, a joint venture between Hanson Robotics and SingularityNET. They have chosen Cardano to ensure that Grace meets the stringent guidelines set out by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) framework. Grace has been designed to interact with the elderly and others who have been isolated.

    In addition to these partnerships, Cardano took strides to increase on-chain DeFi activity through a strategic collaboration with UBX. UBX, the fintech venture studio and fund spun out of UnionBank, has launched its own public stake pool featuring Cardano. UBX stakers are now able to earn rewards on their ada for helping to secure and operate the Cardano blockchain. 

    Cardano also announced the ‘lightwallet’, which will enable users to interact with Cardano without internet access. The wallet will be the first ever blockchain wallet able to carry out transactions, hold NFTs, make purchases and more all in one mobile application.

    EMURGO, the global blockchain solution provider, will allocate $100 million in the Cardano ecosystem to hasten DeFi and NFT education in the space. DeFi and DEXs are already being developed and perfected on Cardano as new development and updates are rolled out on the ecosystem.

    The summit took place in six locations around the world between the 25th and 26th of September, 2021. It was also held in a virtual world, where bobbing avatars representing ADA fans from across the world huddled together to watch Charles Hoskinson and other keynote speakers explain the future of Cardano.

    cardano virtual summit

    The summit served to showcase the new Cardano smart contract capabilities and to give a small precedent for where Cardano wants to focus its resources.

    What’s next for Cardano?

    After the Goguen era, Cardano will move into Basho. Cardano Basho will focus on optimizing and scaling the Cardano network to improve its performance. 

    To implement this scaling, Basho will add sidechains to the Cardano blockchain, using these new chains to take the pressure off Cardano’s main chain. These sidechains may also be used to test features, without affecting the security of the main chain.

    Basho will also give users the option to use an account model for transactions. Currently, Cardano only uses UTXO (unspent transaction output), but in the Basho era, users will be able to switch between UTXO and account-based models. The Basho era will see Cardano become one of the most high performance, resilient, and flexible blockchain platforms in the industry. 

    Given the Goguen era is still in its early stages, Cardano Basho does not currently have an official release date. However, we do know that work on Cardano scaling has already started, enabled by the Alonzo hard fork.

    FAQ

    What is the Alonzo hard fork?

    The Alonzo hard fork is an upgrade that introduced smart contract capabilities to the Cardano network, marking its transition into the Goguen era.

    What is Hydra?

    The Alonzo hard fork is an upgrade that introduced smart contract capabilities to the Cardano network, marking its transition into the Goguen era.

    What is the Cardano Summit?

    The Cardano Summit is a mix of virtual and live events that brought together blockchain enthusiasts, industry experts, and special guests to reflect on Cardano’s progress and discuss its future. The most recent summit took place on September 25th and 26th, 2021.

    What happened during the Cardano Summit 2021?

    Cardano unveiled multiple strategic announcements with blockchain projects, governments, and enterprises. These partnerships include Chainlink for real-time market data, Veritree for climate restoration, COTI to issue a new stablecoin, Dish for digital identity services in telecoms, and Rival for a new esports NFT marketplace.

    Cardano also revealed upcoming developments such as a new app store for decentralized apps, a venture into artificial intelligence in healthcare, and a ‘lightwallet’ that can carry out transactions without internet access.

    Sources:

    https://iohk.io/en/blog/posts/2021/09/12/today-will-feel-like-a-destination-yet-a-new-exciting-journey-begins/

    https://www.cityam.com/cardano-alonzo-upgrade-sees-100-smart-contracts-in-first-24-hours/

    https://iohk.io/en/blog/posts/2021/09/25/cardano-to-integrate-chainlink-oracles-for-real-time-market-data/

    https://iohk.io/en/blog/posts/2021/09/17/hydra-cardano-s-solution-for-ultimate-scalability/

    https://iohk.io/en/blog/posts/2021/09/22/bringing-certified-dapps-to-cardano/

    https://cardanofoundation.org/en/news/how-green-can-the-cardano-community-make-cardanos-blockchain/

    https://iohk.io/en/blog/posts/2021/09/26/coti-to-issue-djed-stablecoin-on-cardano/

    https://nairametrics.com/2021/09/26/cardano-partners-with-fortune-250-company-dish-network/

    https://cardanofoundation.org/en/news/cardano-unveils-multiple-strategic-partnerships-at-the-cardano-summit-2021/

    https://iohk.io/en/blog/posts/2021/09/26/cardano-enters-the-age-of-ai-as-it-welcomes-grace-the-ai-robot-designed-to-revolutionize-global-healthcare/

    https://roadmap.cardano.org/en/basho/

  • China’s Cosmos and ChainLink Plan

    China’s Cosmos and ChainLink Plan

    China has asked for guidance from the teams behind Cosmos and ChainLink for their Blockchain Service Network (BSN), it was revealed last month. Researchers have called upon both companies to aid their development of the BSN, which was launched alongside their Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DCEP) in April 2020, to help them build out a “service hub” which would form the bedrock of its “internet of blockchains.”

    Learn more about ChainLink ($LINK).

    SmartContract and Iris Foundation join BSN Development

    According to reports, SmartContract, the group behind the Chainlink oracle network, will aid the BSN team in the sourcing of reliable information. Their Dapp services, potentially on Hyperledger, could allow for a cohesive and more streamline to access information. 

    Yifan He, BSN expert and CEO of Beijing Red Date Technology, spoke on the ChainLink addition, saying the partnership between the two, will give access to outside data from many Chinese companies, such as financial transaction information from China Union Pay, something difficult to obtain and analyze in the first place. This would then allow for BSN users to access “outside data such as stock prices and financial transactions.”

    On the other hand, Iris Foundation Ltd., the company who uses the Cosmos network to integrate businesses using interchain services, will work on interoperability for the network. He described their addition as allowing for “cross-chain services between blockchains adapted in the network.”

    Both companies appear to know what the State Information Center and China Mobile/China Union Pay backed BSN needs in their attempts to create a worldwide blockchain infrastructure. 

    And it seems they have a good chance of pulling it off as the government backing allows greater alliances and interconnectivity between the important players. One of these players and a team that looks integral to the future research is ChainLink. 

    ChainLink suits BSN

    The chance to be part of a huge project was something ChainLink’s co founder and SmartContract CEO Sergey Nazarov, couldn’t miss. Explaining how the BSN might use his company, the co-founder said: “Chainlink provides the blockchain abstraction layer or secure blockchain middleware that enable dapp developers to create universally connected smart contracts.” 

    Google, through its Google Cloud uses ChainLink for a similar function as he BSN, Nazarov explained. “What BSN really cares about, much like the people we’ve worked with from Google, is this type of contract that allows blockchains to access external off-chain data,” Nazarov stated. 

    The need is made even greater as blockchain can’t be directly applied to application programming interfaces (APIs) and only universally connected smart contracts can create the connection and allow for off chain data. 

    This use case is especially needed, Nazarov claimed, for global financial product or insurance, as the contracts must have external data and ensure goods and services are delivered, which needs the universally connected contracts.

    The usage of ChainLink and their services are set to continue as Nazarov told CoinDesk, “Chainlink’s technology suits BSN’s vision because the network includes multiple chains that are also supported by (his) team.”

    BSN starts to build for future

    Since its launch in April, the BSN has been announcing a number of partnerships with experts in the blockchain field. For example, around the initial launch the research team confirmed the plans to adapt Ethereum and EOS public blockchains into the BSN system.

    A target area has been cross chain services with Polkadot one of a number of companies earmarked for positions on the interchain service. “We plan to have at least four different interchain service technical frameworks developers can choose from in the hub,” He said. 

    “The interchain service hub is one of the three critical parts for the national blockchain infrastructure”, He continued adding that enterprise and public blockchains into the network were the other key fields. 

    Despite not being finalised, the network is already proving popular. ”We have been on-boarding two to three public chains every month on average, while adapting consortium chains at a slower pace since it usually takes longer to integrate them with the network,” He claimed. 

    However, not all blockchain developers  are pleased with the creation of the network, with some developers worried about their data being stolen as well as other privacy concerns. The BSN looked to quell the fears in their recent technical white paper, but there is cause for concern considering the nations stringent Internet laws. 

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