Kaiko, a cryptocurrency data provider, announced a few months back a partnership with Chainlink, outlining plans to integrate Kaiko’s cryptocurrency market data with Chainlink’s decentralized network of blockchain oracles.
Now, this integration has been completed, enabling Kaiko to provide a consistent and secure market data source for smart contracts. Kaiko will also contribute to Chainlink’s security and decentralization as an official node operator.
Last week, Chainlink went live on Ethereum’s mainnet, which is a notable development for the larger smart contract ecosystem. Chainlink has positioned itself to solve the “oracle problem” a roadblock in the long-term adoption of smart contracts. Chainlink provides a solution to the inherent constraints of decentralized, tamper-proof node networks through their decentralized oracle network.
Smart Contracts
Smart contracts are digital contracts that provide a new and more secure form of agreement, guaranteeing execution through cryptographic and game theoretical means. They are run on decentralized, tamper-proof node networks such as Ethereum; thus, do not enable external connectivity. Smart contracts for industries such as insurance, international trade, and finance rely on external information, such as pricing and supply data, which does not natively exist on a blockchain.
In order for smart contracts to be useful in the real world, they require external inputs of information. An “oracle” is a third-party information source that allows smart contracts to access off-chain data.
Chainlink’s network of decentralized oracles enables smart contracts to securely access off-chain data feeds, web APIs, and traditional bank payments. Instead of relying on a single oracle — or a single point of failure — to feed smart contracts with external information. Chainlink has developed a decentralized network of independent nodes to perform computations about the accuracy of external information before it is written into a smart contract.
Kaiko will be one of several cryptocurrency market data providers contributing to the provision of reliable data for smart contracts.
Reliable cryptocurrency market data is one of the first decentralized oracle networks made available on the Ethereum mainnet.
Market prices are used to determine the outcome of many types of financial agreements, thus must be present on-chain as more and more financial products become decentralized. At the current moment, all of Kaiko’s recent trade and aggregate data is available on the Ethereum mainnet
For more details and information on how to get started, see the documentation for Chainlink’s connection to Kaiko’s API.