
Blockchain smart contracts rely on oracles to see for them or to help them fetch data because they are blind to the outside world. If these oracles are centralized it defeats the purpose of using a blockchain in the first place and creates a single point of failure which can be abused by the administrators of the oracle or attacked by outsiders. Oracles determine the data that comes into the contract from the outside world. If the oracle is corrupt and supplies inaccurate data, it affects the entire smart contract because the contract just processes inaccurate data and produces inaccurate results- garbage in, garbage out. Centralization and untrustworthiness are two problems associated with fetching data from the real world. The ideal blockchain oracle would, therefore, have to overcome these problems and achieve decentralization and credibility.
BOSCore has created a unique way to solve the oracle problem and achieve decentralization and credibility by using “Risk Control” & “Arbitration” in BOS Oracle Service.
What is BOS Oracle Service and how does it work?
BOS Oracle service provides verified external data for DApp smart contracts deployed on the BOSCore blockchain. It serves as a data bridge between the blockchain and the real world.
In order to ensure decentralization, BOS oracle service is built on two principles:
Principles1. BOS Oracle Service does not rely absolutely on the credibility of a single oracle provider.2. BOS Oracle Service treats each oracle provider as a seperate participant in the game; accessing, incentivizing and judging them independently.
Three groups of participants make up the BOS Oracle service. Their functions provide checks and balances for each other to properly align incentive and create a trustless and fair system. These three groups of participants are listed below:
Participants1. Data Providers or Oracle Providers: These consist of credible oracles acting indepently to provide data for the BOS network.2. Data users: This comprises of individuals and dApp developers that make use of the data provided by the oracle providers.3. Arbitrators: These group is responsibile for dispute resolution within the BOS oracle service.
In BOS Oracle Service, the data providers supply data in four ways:
1. The data provider writes the data to the chain and the user reads it.2. The data provider listens for and invoke events to pushes data to the user on the chain.3. The data provider listens for and invoke events to pushes data to the user off the chain.4. The data interaction is completed off chain, and the signature ensures that the data reliable.




What is unique about BOS Oracle Service?
The solution to the oracle problem is always social rather than technical. As users of smart contracts, we need to understand who our oracles are and hold them accountable for their role: taking information from reality and putting it into a digital realm. Alexander Tsankov.
BOSCore uses Risk Control & Arbitration to achieve decentralization and credibility.
Risk Control
BOS Oracle system has an incentive model based on staked tokens. The system requires all participants (Data Providers, Arbitrators, and Users) in the Oracle service to stake BOS tokens. Staked tokens act as a bond for reward and penalty within the confines of the Oracle system. If a participant(complainant) files arbitration against another participant who becomes guilty of acting unfairly, the corresponding complainant and impartial arbitrators will get corresponding staked tokens as compensation and reward respectively.
In order to mitigate risk, “intelligent risk control” always ensures that the data provider has sufficient collateral tokens and DApp user who requires data from data providers transfers tokens to “smart-controlled” account instead of the DApp providers account.
Using risk control, BOS oracle service ensures that players within the system commit to the system by staking BOS tokens. Players who have skin in the game will care more about the success of the system and are less likely to cause harm to the system.
Intelligence risk control is not a compulsory feature. However, in a competitive market, oracle providers who commit to the system by staking BOS tokens are signalling to the community that they are committed to the system and would gain more trust from users and dApp developers.
Arbitration
BOS oracle service uses two stages of arbitration to prevent bribery. BOSCore believes that having many rounds of arbitration will make it more difficult for a participant to game the system by briding arbitrators. The two phases of BOS oracle service arbitration includes the fulltime arbitrators and mass arbitrators.
The arbitration model of the BOS Oracle is divided into two phases:
- In the Fulltime Arbitrators Phase, 21 arbitrators perform 3 rounds of arbitration. The first round is done by 3 arbitrators, the second round is done by 5 arbitrators and the third round is done by 9 arbitrators. These arbitrators respond quickly to disputes and each arbitrator is not allowed to perform more than one round.
- The Mass Arbitrators Phase includes all the participants in the entire Oracle service. It involves extensive arbitration and random sampling.
The introduction of multiple rounds of arbitration in BOS oracle service creates a robust game theory which ensures that the system is fair.
In order to cope with various situations and conflicts from different levels of oracle service, BOS Oracle uses “two-way proof” to obtain final arbitration results through mechanisms such as “different arbitrators” and “multiple rounds of arbitration”.
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