Supra Insights Vol. 1 – Hello World!

What If… Blockchain Actually Lives Up… To The Hype?

At SupraOracles, we know that blockchain technology is the key to revolutionizing the future of financial systems, human coordination, and self-governance. Blockchain offers a completely new paradigm of how to manage, store, fortify and build wealth by digitizing value. A globally shared distributed ledger can begin to replace rent-seeking intermediaries like banks and other institutions providing an order of magnitude more efficient solution than traditional finance.

We are building SupraOracles to expand the range of possibilities of what can be achieved with blockchain networks and smart contracts, and we’re here to make a ruckus as we begin to build a community that’s passionate about designing and programming the financial infrastructure of the future.

We’re here to ask,
“What if…”

A heartfelt note to all of our developers and future entrepreneurs:

• What if you can help the 1.7 billion unbanked around the globe with just one app?
• What if a mobile game you dream up helps to create extra side-income for your neighbors in developing countries, alleviating some of their financial burden?
• What if you can help mitigate food waste with the use of IoT and blockchain to streamline supply chains thereby helping to lessen the fact that 100s of Million people around the world go to bed hungry each night?
• What if blockchain technology can break the status quo of what society has told you are the rules of the game? That you’re actually not bound by your country, whether it be by politics or currency… 
• What if everyday, average people are able to generate greater yields per year through peer-to-peer DeFi than from any other bank around the world?
• What if your financial position or ability to earn was not so closely tied to your “social class” or education?
• What if… blockchain contains the seed to change almost everything in society and you’re the one that will literally program and bring this change into the world?   

At SupraOracles, we’re dedicated to helping you, the bold entrepreneurs and designers that’ll usher in the improved, impending, programmatically fair society benefiting us all… 

Why “Decentralized Finance” Is Such A Big Deal

For those who are newer to blockchain, here’s the skinny:
One of the reasons there are many people who are passionate about blockchain is because of a concept called decentralized finance, or “DeFi” for short. Mark Cuban and Elon Musk certainly know about it, so do millions of early adopters, however, most of the complacent bankers and governments of the world would prefer it if you refrained from engaging. Why? Because in a peer to peer system such as a blockchain environment they become less relevant – humankind doesn’t need to rely on bankers and governments as deeply as before. 

DeFi represents a new economic model that completely disintermediates the current financial industry – it upends the current structure where governments, banks, and large corporations control the bulk of our money and the global money supply. The true promise of blockchain is a maximally efficient global economy that’s fair, or “trustless,” which means there is no need to rely on someone’s or some institution’s whims or promises. Instead, we can rely on a shared global record of truth and the strength of cryptographic primitives that even the world’s governments cannot break. It is a “Power to the People!” kind of technological shift… It’s happening right before your eyes. It is happening right now.

While using blockchain cuts out the financial middleman, there’s even more to it than that. In the past, we relied on banks and governments as the facilitators of financial transactions and human coordination. In the new model, technology may completely replace these institutions themselves. Of course, that is on the extreme end of the spectrum and unlikely to occur in its fullest capacity, nonetheless, almost everyone can agree that the less governments encroach on our liberties and that the less banks incessantly bloat fees the better for society. 

DeFi is still in the early adopter stage, meaning most people still view it as a risk. However, Dr. Philipp Sandner, founder of Frankfurt School Blockchain Center and one of our supporters, predicts that crypto-based finance is here to stay. For many of the reasons he mentions in his article, we also believe that DeFi-based applications will dominate in the future.

So what’s the missing piece in the blockchain puzzle?
Blockchain Oracles. 

Blockchain Oracles Help Bring DeFi To The Mainstream

Lean in close for this… here’s what most people don’t know about blockchain. If blockchain is hot, then blockchain Oracles will be the fuel that keeps the fire going. In case you’re new to blockchain, data stored in blockchain cannot be altered, only added to. As this data is added and secured, it forms a chain of blocks of referencing data that are interlinked together cryptographically, and this is where the name comes from. And this is also where the problem appears. 

The problem is not obvious to those outside of the blockchain industry and many blockchain developers themselves are not even aware of this problem until they encounter a particular need: blockchain itself is limited in its capabilities since it is unable to connect to data in the outside world. In other words, Oracles are the means in which to connect external, real-world data into blockchain thereby greatly expanding the possibilities of what you can do with the technology.

The problem: You can’t easily bring external data into the blockchain because it’s a closed-loop system.

If you are a developer new to blockchain reading this… surprise! It’s not as simple as creating an API to link your external data to your smart contract… This is a good thing for those who want to keep their data secure. It poses a challenge for those trying to create decentralized apps or smart contracts though.

The solution: Cross-chain Blockchain Oracles. Oracles are systems of nodes and protocols you can use to connect external data to blockchain or even create communication channels, interoperability, between multiple closed-loop systems.

But not all Oracles are created equal.

Current designs of Oracles and necessary cross-chain bridges have led to over $120M stolen due to DeFi Exploits last year (see here, here, here, and here). 

These attack vectors will continue to hamper the market and will be targeted until a secure solution is enabled. This is due to the limitations of current Oracle solutions:

• Lack of Transparency – No entity is able to provably examine the precision of price reported by Oracles, leading to undetectable misbehavior.
•  Price Delay & Deviation – Transfer of asset pricing from off-chain to on-chain can cause small deviations. Time delay from the event until it is placed on the external chain is significant in a dynamic market.
• Lack of Accountability – Oracles should be accountable for their actions. Security should be further guaranteed by the base protocol layer.

All existing blockchain Oracle solutions are trying to balance the tradeoff between decentralization, scalability, security, and finality. No one has been able to crack this quadrilemma until Supra (more to be shared soon!). As blockchain developers ourselves, we knew it was critical to bring a better Oracle solution to the market. 

Things are about to get really exciting…  

What Oracles Bring To The Table 

DeFi can finally reach its full potential with our technology because there is no longer a tradeoff between decentralization, scalability, security, and quick finality. You can have all four. 

From the whiteboard to the keyboard, we have brought together the best minds possible to execute our vision. After running surveys on over 150+ teams who have told us their desired criteria for the perfect Oracle directly, we’ve realized key features and design elements we could implement to surpass the current role of our incumbents. We’ve built SupraOracles to exceed expectations of your typical cross-chain middleware and have brought something world-class to the table.

As an Oracle, we help developers instantly connect real-world data to blockchains so they can confidently get the data they need and feel unstoppable. Are there data feeds you want on niche industries? Reach out to our Customer Support, and we will set our rock star team of business development leads to source those data providers for you. Our Oracles secure vast amounts of varying external data with high reliability so you can have confidence in knowing your project is secure (for both DeFi developers & end consumers) and won’t be hacked. Using our Oracles results in better capital efficiency because we can provide predictable pricing mechanisms, so it’s also cheaper in the long run and budgeting can be done properly as with any normal business.

Join us in making decentralized finance a reality

The team at SupraOracles is technologically sharp but also diverse, inclusive, and human-focused. We care as passionately about our team as we do making decentralized finance a reality. We want you to join us in programming the financial infrastructure of the future. If you’re seeking a career, and in sync with our vision, please do enter our Careers page.

Together, we’ll create a new paradigm in blockchain. Not only through our product but through our company and community culture.

You can trust our people, product, and operating model. We’re backed by top investors, trusted by respected blockchain researchers, and in use by global institutions.

With secure Oracles, the smart contract canvas of what can be accomplished on a blockchain expands tremendously so you can have the freedom to do more. Learn more here.

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