dApp Spotlight: BitSwing

Kevin Lu
Band Protocol
Published in
6 min readSep 11, 2019

TLDR:

  • Band Protocol is releasing BitSwing — a decentralized application that utilizes Band’s decentralized oracle solution for binary options trading on https://bitswing.io
  • Take a long or short position in whether BTC’s price one minute later, will be higher or lower than the spot price determined by Band’s decentralized oracle
  • Band’s decentralized oracle will use the median of the spot prices reported from multiple data providers, in real-time updates per second
  • Win a ticket to claim BNB by winning 3 consecutive times
  • As the Band network usage grows, so does the total revenue generated
  • Decentralized applications that use Band Protocol will innately accrue value to Band Native Token
  • Band Protocol allows smart contracts to consume data and perform logic within one transaction as opposed to many other oracles in the market which require multiple transactions
  • Decentralized applications can now build smart contracts that require time-sensitive price information by using Band’s oracle

Announcing BitSwing

If you haven’t heard already, just last Friday we announced that Band Protocol will be the next project to launch on Binance Launchpad — a highly selective token launch platform for transformative projects!

At Band Protocol, we believe in a future of decentralization that restores data ownership and returns the internet to the hands of users. Powering this paradigm shift will be decentralized applications that will innately require reliable and trustworthy real-world data.

Today we are excited to release BitSwing to the public on the Kovan testnet. BitSwing has been developed by third party developers and it has been selected as part of our initial dApp spotlights!

To date, we have pushed out three products, undergone a smart contract audit as well as making significant improvements to our smart contract to ensure our oracle is secured through staking economics while also making sure that it is cost-effective, fast and simple to query. We’re excited to showcase what is possible with Band Protocol in the decentralized future.

What is BitSwing?

Put simply, BitSwing is a decentralized application for binary options* trading. BitSwing mimics a binary options brokerage where users will be able to take a long or short position in their short-term market predictions.

*Binary Options — an investment that works more like a prediction that can be either right or wrong, but nowhere in between.

To get started, all you need to do is install Metamask or any similar Web 3 wallet that operates on the Kovan testnet.

Users will be asked to take a position in ETH predicting whether BTC’s price one minute later, will be higher or lower than the spot price determined by Band’s decentralized oracle. Our oracle will use the median price reported from multiple testnet data providers, in real-time updates per second. While this is still in testnet, it demonstrates the real use cases of Band Protocol and shows potential value accrue to the decentralized network.

Winners will have their ETH doubled while losers will lose their initial bet amount.

Smart contracts for BitSwing are available for inspection at https://kovan.etherscan.io/address/0x68ca022d3c012b42e473fd3ca342af52b736ef3b

How Decentralized Applications Accrue Value to BAND Tokens

Decentralized applications like BitSwing that use Band Protocol will innately accrue value to Band Native Token & Dataset Token Stakers.

For each query, Band takes a query fee and distributes it among data providers and dataset token holders who stake. Hence, as the network usage grows, so does the total revenue generated.

We can visualize this using August’s loan origination number from Loanscan as our query amount. Each of these calls requires one or more price feed data, not to mention any other calls beside loan origination such as liquidation and margin calls that need price data feeds. For instance:

Every call for BTC’s price (data) will have a variable query fee set by the data governance groups’ governance parameters — let’s say $0.5. If we have ~40,000 queries per month, $240,000 in total yearly revenue will be generated for all data providers and token holders who stake for the data provider. This comes only from one potential dApp.

The total accrued query fees go to the data providers and token holders who stake for them; driving more demand for the dataset token which in turn drives higher BAND native token lock-up. As a result, more BAND tokens get locked to the bonding curve and the supply of the dataset token increases, thereby resulting in price increases for both the native token and dataset token.

This is possible as Band utilizes decentralized exchange protocols, such as Uniswap, to convert the accepted currency of query fee to BAND token which then gets converted to the dataset token through the bonding curve.

(More on this in section 2.4 of the Whitepaper)

BitSwing’s Significance in the Smart Contract Ecosystem

By spotlighting BitSwing, we not only wish to demonstrate the capability of Band Protocol but also drive innovation in the Decentralized Financial Application space and push a new standard for decentralized data. A binary option is a simple financial derivative but many more complex financial instruments can be created with a secure, reliable real-world financial data feed.

Many price feeds, used primarily for risk management and liquidation logic, are subject to a significant delay as two blockchain transactions need to be confirmed and executed sequentially, with multiple block confirmations required between the two subsequent transactions.

Inefficient interaction between smart contracts and existing oracle networks.

Now with Band’s scalable and decentralized oracle, decentralized applications can now build smart contracts that require time-sensitive price information without onboarding unnecessary systematic risk. For instance, on-chain derivative protocols utilizing real-time exchange rates will be able to mitigate any price fluctuations incurred while waiting for two blockchain transaction to be confirmed.

Streamlined interaction between smart contracts and Band Protocol

By making data query synchronous and readily available, Band Protocol allows smart contracts to consume data and perform logic within one transaction and thereby making the user experience far more pleasant and secure than current oracle solutions where multiple transactions must be performed.

While BitSwing is completely decentralized and ensures the house cannot cheat, it does not take away the experience of the centralized applications we know today.

Win BNB Tokens By Playing BitSwing

While you cannot use mainnet ETH to play and claim your winnings yet, you can win 1 BNB out of a total of 50 BNB prize pool and a Band Protocol T-shirt by simply playing BitSwing.

50 winning tickets will be selected and announced from a lottery draw on September 17th, 2019 at 12 PM UTC. To earn a ticket, you must win 3 consecutive predictions.

There is no limit to how many tickets you can accumulate.

Additionally, there will be more special prizes that we will announce later — e.g. the top three people with the most tickets will be awarded special prizes.

Best of luck out there to everyone!

What’s To Come

This is just the beginning of the building potential on top of Band Protocol. Look forward to our upcoming network launch through Binance Launchpad along with several airdrop campaigns as well as a community ambassador program very soon.

Stay tuned in our community channels for all the upcoming announcements!

Official Telegram Channels
🌎 Announcements:
https://t.me/bandprotocolann
🌎 English:
https://t.me/bandprotocol
🇨🇳 Chinese: https://t.me/bandprotocolCN
🇰🇷 Korean:
https://t.me/bandprotocolKR

- Kevin Lu, Business Development & Growth, Band Protocol

About Band Protocol

Band Protocol is a data governance framework for Web3.0 applications operating as an open-source standard for the decentralized management of data. Band Protocol connects smart contracts with trusted off-chain information, provided through community-curated oracle data providers. Blockchains are enabled to connect with any web API, with DApps able to request and use data that has assured integrity through dPoS economic incentives, with one simple function call. Developers using Band Protocol will be able to easily build and manage off-chain oracles, reputation scores, identity management systems and much more.

Website | Whitepaper | Telegram | Medium | Twitter | Reddit | Github

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Kevin Lu
Band Protocol

Co-Founder @GMIStudios | Previously OG @BandProtocol