Hey guys, we got some recent questions about our use of oracles.
Here´s a short summary so people don´t have to search the telegram every time.
What is an oracle:
An “oracle” sends data from the outside world, such as the daily temperature or the number of votes a political candidate received, to a blockchain such as Ethereum. A smart contract on the blockchain can then use the data, typically to make a decision about whether to dispense money and to whom.
Here’s a more concrete example: Farmers sometimes purchase agricultural derivatives, which provide insurance in case drought wipes out her crops. If the weather doesn’t go the farmer’s way one season, the derivative will pay her a lump sum to make up for the losses.
An oracle helps an Ethereum smart contract perform this sequence of tasks automatically. Smart contracts are tools made possible by blockchains such as Ethereum, which execute the terms of a relationship only if the correct conditions are met. Ethereum also happens to support the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, ether.
For example, at the end of a season, a weather oracle described above might inform the smart contract that it rained only 10 days or less this season. It sends this information directly to the smart contract, which then knows it is supposed to pay the farmer.
Conversely, if the season sees more than enough rain, the weather oracle will inform the smart contract, and the farmer will not be paid.
What oracles are we using
FlightDelay: FlightStats via Chainlink oracle
AcreAfrica: US satellite data (NOAA ARC2)
https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/african_desk/cpc_intl/cf_test/africa/arc/arc_run_wa.shtml
will you be using a chainlink “decentralised” oracle for weather data?
Yes, this is the plan in the future. For now we don´t see any issue and can perfectly use the data we are getting from NOAA ARC2, (yes this is centralised data but this data is highly reliable.) You have to think of what the cost would be to falsify satellite data just to issue a weather insurance claim, this would far outway the profit one could make with this sceme . Our acre Africa project right now uses more and different data then the chainlink weather oracle is able to provide so for now we are still just relying on the NOAA ARC2 data. In the future our plan is to use decentralised data for all our contracts.
Some more posts on the subject.
“Ethereum Co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently spoke to Lex Fridman (Ethereum Co-Founder Vitalik Buterin On Why Smart Contracts Need Oracles | Chainlink Today) about the importance of Chainlink’s decentralized oracle networks (DONs) in delivering real-world weather data to