Umbrella Network’s Journey: Crafting the Right Web3 Oracle Solution
Within the dynamic landscape of blockchain technology, oracles are the heroes connecting smart contacts to the outside world.
Umbrella Network’s journey began in early 2021, evolving over the years with a mission to bring all the world’s data onto the blockchain, a testament to resilience, innovation, and adaptability to the market’s dynamic data needs.
What began as our Rollup Data solution, which sought to bring scaled data on-chain, evolved to our Onchain Data solution, and ultimately is now moving toward a permissionless Data Layer solution.
Let’s dive into the story of how it all began and where we are headed.
⛈️ Early Days: Pull Oracles Amid On-Chain Dominance
In 2021, Umbrella Network’s journey started during a time when on-chain oracles dominated the market.
On-chain oracles provided a straightforward method for data retrieval directly from the blockchain but often struggled with scalability, data diversity, and flexibility, especially with many L1 blockchains experiencing high gas fees.
At Umbrella, we took a bold step and developed an off-chain pull oracle system, our Rollup Data solution. This solution requires smart contracts to request data from an off-chain service as needed and allows for data delivery at scale and at a low cost.
During this time, most developers favored the simplicity of on-chain oracles, which offered immediate data without needing external requests. Despite this, we saw the potential in pull oracles for their ability to reduce unnecessary data loads and enhance stability by limiting the frequency of data retrieval.
- First, we worked meticulously to develop a system that ensured data retrieval was efficient and timely despite the inherent latency of the on-demand requests.
- Secondly, the added challenge was to convince the skeptical market of its benefits.
These challenges led to establishing a robust pull oracle system, which set the stage for future innovations. (Hint: Its abbreviation is UDL 😉)
🌤️ Adapting to Market Demands: The Transition to Push Oracles
As the industry evolved, so did the users’ demands. The market shifted towards push oracles, a solution that provides data to smart contracts at predetermined regular intervals or upon specific triggers.
Recognizing this trend, we made the strategic pivot to develop our On-Chain Data solution, a push oracle, continuing our mission of bringing data on-chain for our community.
This transition had its hurdles — primarily ensuring data accuracy and reliability in a system where data was continuously pushed to the blockchain.
To design a secure mechanism for validating and transmitting data, we implemented a network of validator nodes at Umbrella to verify the accuracy of the continuously pushed data.
Here’s a glimpse into what this data solution is powering:
1. Hatom Protocol- the largest lending and liquidity protocol on @MultiversX;
2. Concordium- a L1 for business dApps;
3. Gold price data on Midas X Blockchain — the first MultiversX Sovereign Shard;
4. $crvUSD price feed for Y2K Finance — risk markets for pegged assets;
5. Custom Gas TWAP for Primex Finance- a non-custodial spot margin trading protocol;
6. $UTK price feed for Jewel Swap- the first leveraged yield farming, dual-token liquid staking, and NFT lending on MultiversX.
This success demonstrated our ability to adapt to our community’s needs and solidified our position as a leading oracle provider.
☀️ Pioneering the Future: Permissionless Data Layer
Now in the latest chapter of our journey, along with serving our community, we are at the forefront of innovation, developing a permissionless data layer, the Umbrella Data Layer or UDL.
This move comes when the market is witnessing a renewed interest in pull oracles, but with a twist — integrating them into a permissionless data ecosystem that empowers decentralized applications (dApps) with all their data needs.
Unlike traditional pull oracles, the UDL allows any dApp to access and query data without the need for intermediary permissions, which fosters a decentralized and open data ecosystem.
By providing seamless access to accurate and timely data, Umbrella Network empowers developers to build more advanced and reliable decentralized applications with unparalleled flexibility and scalability.
Conclusion
Our story is one of constant evolution and adaptation.
From pioneering pull oracles in a time dominated by on-chain solutions to transitioning to push oracles to meet market demands and now leading the charge in developing a permissionless data layer, Umbrella Network is committed to innovation and excellence.
We are not just adapting to the future of blockchain technology — we are shaping it.
About Umbrella Network
Umbrella Network, is a decentralized oracle service that provides blockchain projects with secure, scalable, and customizable data solutions.
Umbrella offers smart contracts a broad suite of solutions, whether it is high frequency pricing updates, aggregating large volumes of data at scale, or providing tailored price feeds for specific needs. Secured by a network of decentralized community validators, Umbrella can provide any data that you need when you need it.
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