DIA and CoinMarketCap Launch the CoinMarketCap Oracle

What Is Yield Farming?

What Is a Smart Contract?

Oracles: The All-Seeing Eyes That Guide Crypto Networks

Oracles in DeFi 101: A Deep Dive by Tellor

## What Is Tellor (TRB)?
Tellor is a decentralized oracle protocol.

Oracles are a key part of blockchain infrastructure that update valuable off-chain data, making it available for on-chain smart contracts. 

Tellor’s oracle supplies data that can be requested, validated and put on-chain permissionlessly with data reporters competing for incentives of TRB. Data reporters bring valuable information on-chain for a wide range of DeFi applications.

### What Makes Tellor Unique?

Tellor’s oracle works by incentivizing data reporters to put valid data on-chain while also disincentivizing bad reports via disputes and slashing. Becoming a reporter requires no verification process i.e. permissionless. Anyone anywhere in the world can be a reporter using open source software, a unique characteristic among blockchain oracles.

When oracle users request the value of an off-chain data point (e.g. BTC/USD), data reporters compete to add this value to an on-chain data-bank, accessible by all smart contracts on the networks Tellor supports (Ethereum, Polygon, Algorand, etc.) The frequency with which data can be updated is limited only by how much / how often users “tip” the feed with TRB.

Also unique to Tellor, data is submitted in bytes meaning the oracle is flexible and robust for nearly any blockchain application.

### Who Are the Founders of Tellor?

Tellor was launched in 2019 by a U.S.-based team with the aim to address [the oracle problem](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/oracles-in-defi-101-a-deep-dive-by-tellor) on the Ethereum blockchain. 

Tellor was founded by Brenda Loya, Nick Fett and Michael Zemrose.

Brenda Loya is the CEO and co-founder of Tellor. Previously, Brenda worked as the VP and Lead Developer at Daxia in the field of blockchain, scalability and data science. Previously she was an economist and supervisory statistician at the U.S. Department of Labor.

Nick Fett is a co-founder and CTO of Tellor. Previous to Tellor, he was the founder of Daxia, a derivatives protocol on Ethereum. Nick also has experience in economics, regulation, derivatives, and machine learning including positions at the U.S. Commodities Futures Trading Commission.

Michael Zemrose is co-founder and CSO of Tellor and previously did Business development at Daxia. He was also an entrepreneur in media and consulting for several years before joining the world of crypto.

### How Is the Tellor Network Secured?

The purpose of Tellor’s native token, Tributes (TRB), is to connect and align data reporters, oracle users, and community governance.

Security is achieved through Tellor’s governance contract, which uses a simple dispute mechanism to achieve community consensus on the data being reported.  The way this works is that data reporters must stake TRB in order to report data and earn rewards, but they can be disputed and slashed, with their stake given to the disputer if they submit data the network deems incorrect.

More information on securing the network and theoretical cost of an attack can be found [here](https://docs.tellor.io/tellor/whitepaper/security).


### Where Can You Buy Tellor (TRB)?

If you want to buy, sell or trade Tellor (TRB), you can do so on the following exchanges:
*   [Binance](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/binance/)
*   [Huobi Global](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/huobi-global/)
*   [OKEx](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/okex/)
*   [HBTC](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/hbtc/)
*   [Dsdaq](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/dsdaq/)

If you don’t know how to buy Bitcoin, we have prepared a [detailed guide](https://coinmarketcap.com/how-to-buy-bitcoin/) for newcomers that will get you up to speed.

Binance

Tellor

Trust Wallet

MetaMask

Ethereum

Shiba Inu

Chainlink

Uniswap

UNUS SED LEO

tBTC

Threshold

Aethir

Stader ETHx

Turbo

Altlayer

Orbler

Loopring

PepeCoin

SatoshiVM

FansTime

GameStop

EscoinToken

QANplatform

Band Protocol is a cross-chain data oracle platform that is able to take real-world data and supply it to on-chain applications, while also connecting APIs to smart-contracts to facilitate the exchange of information between on-chain and off-chain data sources.

By supplying reputable, verifiable real-world data to blockchains, Band Protocol unlocks a range of new use cases for developers to explore — since they can now use any type of real-world data as part of their decentralized application (DApp) logic, including sports, weather, random numbers, price feed data and more.

Band Protocol initially launched as an ERC-20 project on the Ethereum blockchain in September 2019, but transitioned to the Cosmos network in June 2020 with the release of Band Protocol 2.0. The new protocol is built on BandChain using the Cosmos SDK. Oracle nodes on BandChain not only relay data but are also involved in block production/validation, giving them a dual role.

BAND is the native token of the Band Protocol ecosystem and is used as collateral by validators involved in fulfilling data requests, as well as the main medium of exchange on BandChain — being used to paying for private data.

Band Protocol

UMA was founded in 2018 by Allison Lu and Hart Lambur, two ex Goldman Sachs traders, with the goal of making global markets universally fair, accessible, secure and decentralized.

The team drew inspiration from traditional finance derivatives to define an open-source protocol to allow anyone, anywhere, to design and build trustless financial contracts.

Injective is a blockchain built for finance. It is an open, interoperable layer-one blockchain powering next-generation DeFi applications, including decentralized spot and derivatives exchanges, prediction markets, lending protocols and more.

Injective uniquely provides powerful core financial infrastructure primitives that applications can leverage, including a fully decentralized MEV-resistant on-chain orderbook. In addition, all forms of financial markets such as spot, perpetual, futures and options are fully on-chain. The decentralized cross-chain bridging infrastructure is compatible with Ethereum, IBC-enabled blockchains, and non EVM chains such as Solana.

Injective also provides a next-generation, highly interoperable smart contract platform based on CosmWasm, with advanced interchain capabilities. Injective is custom built with the Cosmos SDK and utilizes Tendermint-based Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism, providing instant transaction finality with the ability to sustain lightning-fast performance (10,000+ TPS).

The Injective ecosystem includes 100+ projects and over 150,000 community members globally. Injective is backed by a group of prominent investors such as Binance, Pantera Capital, Jump Crypto and Mark Cuban.

Injective’s core exchange module provides state-of-the-art capabilities including an advanced on-chain order book and matching engine for spot, perpetual, futures and options markets, resistance to Miner-Extractable Value (MEV) through frequent batch auction order matching, and zero gas fees for users.

Injective natively uses IBC and is highly-interoperable with multiple layer 1s, including, but not limited to, Polygon and Solana (through an upcoming Wormhole integration). It is also uniquely built to be interoperable with Ethereum, through its own decentralized ERC-20 token bridge, making Injective the first network within the Cosmos ecosystem to natively support Ethereum assets.

Smart contracts are implemented on Injective through CosmWasm, allowing for multi-chain smart contract transactions to occur seamlessly. Injective, however, is the only blockchain that enables automatic smart contract execution. This capability serves as a powerful building block for developers to create novel use cases that would not be possible on any other chain.

The use cases intended for INJ include but are not limited to: protocol governance, dApp value capture, Proof-of-Stake (PoS) security, developer incentives and staking. Further details regarding each of these use cases can be found below:

Protocol Governance: The INJ token governs every single component of Injective, including chain upgrades. Since its mainnet launch, the Injective community has actively contributed to governance, with all proposals passing through a DAO governance vote. The comprehensive governance page is available here.

Protocol Fee Value Capture: 60% of all fees generated from dApps enter an on-chain buy-back-and-burn auction to maintain the deflationary nature of INJ. The burn auction page is available here.

Tendermint-based Proof-of-Stake (PoS) Security: INJ is used to secure the Injective blockchain using a proof-of-stake mechanism. Validators and delegators can both participate in staking.

Developer Incentives: 40% of fees generated by users on dApps built on Injective go directly towards incentivizing new developers building on Injective which brings an ever growing funnel of builders to Injective.

Injective

Bluzelle is a decentralized storage network for the creator economy.

Bluzelle delivers high security, un-matched availability, and is censorship resistant. Whether you are an artist, musician, scientist, publisher, or developer, Bluzelle protects the intellectual property of all creators. Bluzelle is data storage, file storage, oracles, and more. Its is specific for NFTs and DeFi.

Bluzelle’s core products are all related to data and powered by its Tendermint Blockchain:

Bluzelle DB - a decentralized database for software developers to store information

Bluzelle Oracles - a truly decentralized pricing oracle that provides high speed and high security for Defi applications

Bluzelle Staking - where BLZ holders can currently stake their tokens and earn rewards for providing storage and pricing data.

Bluzelle

Launched in 2017, Livepeer is the first live video streaming network protocol that is fully decentralized. The platform aims to become a viable blockchain-based, economically efficient alternative to centralized broadcasting solutions for all new and existing broadcaster companies.

To learn more about this project, check out our deep dive of Livepeer.

As stated in the official Livepeer whitepaper, the live video streaming and broadcasting industry is growing at a rapid pace, and the company is looking to ride this wave and introduce decentralization to the environment. Livepeer aims to streamline the broadcasting process by allowing producers to submit their work on the platform, taking care of reformatting and distributing the content to users and streaming platforms.

Livepeer

ORDI

Mask Network is a protocol that allows its users to send encrypted messages over Twitter and Facebook. It essentially acts as a bridge between the internet and a decentralized network running on top.

Mask Network was initially launched in July 2019, with its first use case of allowing Facebook and Twitter users to encrypt posts on the social media platforms. It then raised $2 million in a funding round in November 2020, co-led by HashKey and Hash Global, and a further $3 million funding round in February 2021 with participation from Digital Currency Group and Fundamental Labs.

Now, Mask Network offers the ability to fund Gitcoin grant campaigns directly from Twitter, as well as plans to offer peer-to-peer payments and decentralized storage functionality. It is a decentralized portal that also allows users to use DApps like crypto payments, decentralized finance, decentralized storage, e-commerce (digital goods/NFTs) and decentralized organizations (DAO) over the top of existing social networks without migrating, creating what is referred to as a decentralized Applet (DApplet) ecosystem.

Mask Network

Storj, pronounced as “storage,” is an open-source cloud storage platform. Basically, it uses a decentralized network of nodes to host user data. The platform also secures hosted data using advanced encryption.

In a white paper published in December,2014, Storj was first introduced to the world as a concept. It was to be a decentralized peer-to-peer encrypted cloud storage platform.

Two years later, an updated white paper was published. Here, a decentralized network  — connecting users who need cloud storage space with those who have hard drive space to sell — was described. The platform was launched in late 2018.

People with hard drive space and good internet connectivity can participate in the network. They become a unit in the network, called a node. Space providers are rewarded by Storj tokens.

Storj

Synthetix is building a decentralized liquidity provisioning protocol that any protocol can tap into for various purposes. Its deep liquidity and low fees serve as a backend for many exciting protocols on both Optimism and Ethereum. Many user-facing protocols in the Synthetix ecosystem, such as Kwenta (Spot and Futures), Lyra (Options), Polynomial (Automated Options), and 1inch & Curve (Atomic Swaps), tap into Synthetix liquidity to power their protocols. Synthetix is built on Optimism and Ethereum mainnet. The Synthetix Network is collateralized by SNX, ETH, and LUSD, enabling the issuance of synthetic assets (Synths). Synths track and provide returns on the underlying asset without requiring one to directly hold the asset. This pooled collateral enables an array of on-chain, composable financial instruments backed by liquidity from Synthetix. Some of the most exciting upcoming releases from SNX are Perps V2, which hopes to enable low-fee on-chain futures trading through the usage of off-chain oracles, and Synthetix V3, which aims to rebuild the protocol to achieve its earliest goal, being a fully permissionless derivatives protocol. Learn more about Synthetix on their blog or by joining the SNX Discord.

The platform aims to broaden the cryptocurrency space by introducing non-blockchain assets, providing access to a more robust financial market.

Synthetix

Compound is a DeFi lending protocol that allows users to earn interest on their cryptocurrencies by depositing them into one of several pools supported by the platform.

To learn more about this project, check out our deep dive of Compound.

When a user deposits tokens to a Compound pool, they receive cTokens in return. These cTokens represent the individual’s stake in the pool and can be used to redeem the underlying cryptocurrency initially deposited into the pool at any time. For example, by depositing ETH into a pool, you will receive cETH in return. Over time, the exchange rate of these cTokens to the underlying asset increases, which means you can redeem them for more of the underlying asset than you initially put in — this is how the interest is distributed.

On the flip side, borrowers can take a secured loan from any Compound pool by depositing collateral. The maximum loan-to-value (LTV) ratio varies based on the collateral asset, but currently ranges from 50 to 75%. The interest rate paid varies by borrowed asset and borrowers can face automatic liquidation if their collateral falls below a specific maintenance threshold.

Since the launch of the Compound mainnet in September 2018, the platform has skyrocketed in popularity, and recently passed more than $800 million in total locked value.

Compound

Smart contracts often struggle to access dependable data, but application programming interfaces (APIs) have been touted as a solution to this problem.

API3’s stated goal is to allow decentralized versions of APIs to be built, managed and monetized at scales. As blockchain technology plays an ever bigger role in the economy — from decentralized finance to supply chain management — the team behind this project says it has never been more important for smart contracts to provide “timely, reliable real-world data.”

The whitepaper for API3 was unveiled in September 2020 and set out the main problem that’s associated with APIs at present: connectivity. At present, there’s no way for smart contracts to establish a direct connection with APIs for the latest data — and this has led to an explosion in the popularity of oracles.

Although this has helped solve the problem to some extent, the industry has since been grappling with the “Blockchain Oracle Problem.” Oracles are a form of middleware that sit in between APIs and smart contracts — increasing costs and centralization. API3 intends to get around this problem by enabling API providers to operate their very own nodes.

API3’s token went live at the start of December following on from a token sale that generated tens of millions of dollars.

API3

iExec is the leading provider of blockchain-based decentralized computing. Blockchain is utilized to organize a market network where people can monetize their computing power as well as applications and even datasets.

It does this by providing on-demand access to cloud computing resources. IExec can support applications in fields such as big data, healthcare, AI, rendering and fintech. IExec was founded on Oct. 16, 2016, with the goal to reinvent cloud computing through the creation of a new cloud computing paradigm.

As such, iExec relies on the XtremWeb-HEP, an open-source desktop grid software that implements features such as multi-applications, fault-tolerance, multi-users, deployment of virtual images, private infrastructure, data management, security and much more.

iExec RLC

Balancer is an automated market maker (AMM) that was developed on the Ethereum blockchain and launched in March 2020. It was able to raise a $3M seed round by Placeholder and Accomplice. Balancer protocol functions as a self-balancing weighted portfolio, price sensor and liquidity provider. It allows users to earn profits through its recently introduced token ($BAL) by contributing to customizable liquidity pools.

To learn more about this project, check out our deep dive of Balancer(https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/what-is-balancer.

The protocol operates a few types of pools:

Private pools give the owner governance over the pool, and make the person the sole contributor of liquidity to the pool. Also, all the parameters are mutable by the owner.

Shared pools are for those who want to become liquidity providers (LPs). The LPs are rewarded with the Balancer Pool Tokens (BPTs).

Smart pools are similar to private pools but are controlled by a smart contract. They also reward using BPTs and allow anyone to contribute liquidity to the pool.

Balancer

SKALE, described as a modular blockchain network, is designed to bring scalability to Ethereum. SKALE is the only blockchain network capable of running an unlimited number of fast, on-demand, pooled-security Blockchains with zero gas fees to end users. These individual chains are known as SKALE chains and can be dapp-specific or shared.

The project’s website says it wants to enable people to build and run DApps in a “decentralized modular cloud built for real-world needs and configured for your requirements.” This emphasis on decentralization isn’t at the expense of security.

According to SKALE, those who build on this platform can run Solidity smart contracts “thousands of times faster at a fraction of the mainnet cost” — with games and content streaming services among the projects that already take advantage of its infrastructure.

SKALE

THORChain is a decentralized liquidity protocol that allows users to easily exchange cryptocurrency assets across a range of networks including Bitcoin and Ethereum without losing full custody of their assets in the process.

With THORChain, users can simply swap one asset for another in a permissionless setting, without needing to rely on order books to source liquidity. Instead, market prices are maintained through the ratio of assets in a pool (see automated market maker.

The native utility token of the THORChain platform is RUNE. This is used as the base currency in the THORChain ecosystem and is also used for platform governance and security as part of THORChain's Sybil resistance mechanisms — since THORChain nodes must commit a minimum of 300k RUNE to participate in its rotating consensus process.

THORChain was funded through an initial DEX offering (IDO) which launched through the Binance DEX in July 2019. Its single-chain chaosnet launched in April 2021, the multi-chain upgrade was launched in April 2021 and Mainnet is now live as of Jun 2022..
Learn more here

THORChain

Ocean Protocol

Unifi Protocol DAO

Numerai is an Ethereum-based platform allowing developers and data scientists to experiment and create machine learning models with improved reliability. The platform’s main goal is to bring decentralization to the data science field and allow developers to compete in creating effective machine learning prediction models.

Founded in late 2015 in San Francisco, Numerai claims to be the first hedge fund to launch a cryptocurrency on the market. Unlike traditional hedge funds, however, Numerai relies on the data and predictions produced by tournament participants to participate in the stock market. They claim to be the first hedge fund to use machine learning so heavily in its investment strategy.

Numeraire

Conflux (CFX) is a public layer-1 blockchain that was made to power decentralized applications (dApps), e-commerce, and Web 3.0 infrastructure by being more scalable, decentralized, and secure than existing protocols.

Conflux makes it easier to transfer valuable assets by making the process quick, effective, free of network congestion, and with low transaction costs. The platform is based on the Tree-Graph consensus mechanism, and it combines Proof-of-Work (PoW) and Proof-of-Stake (PoS) algorithms to achieve consensus. The protocol uses Turing-complete smart contracts written in Solidity, just like those on  Ethereum, and is compatible with the EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine).

Conflux's growth is fueled by CFX, the platform's native token, which gives users financial incentives to participate and engage more. The token is used to pay transaction fees, govern the network, and is given as compensation to miners who help secure the network via staking.

Conflux

Self-described as "Polkadot's wild cousin," Kusama is an experimental blockchain platform that is designed to provide a massively interoperable and scalable framework for developers.

Kusama is built on Substrate — a blockchain building kit developed by Parity Technologies. Kusama has almost the same codebase as Polkadot — one of the most successful interoperable blockchains.

By deploying on Kusama, fast-paced projects gain access to a highly scalable, interoperable sharded network, with features that are not yet available on Polkadot. To that end, Kusama describes itself as a “canary network.”

The platform is designed to provide a testbed for developers looking to innovate and deploy their own blockchain and can be used as a preparatory network before launching on Polkadot — though many projects opt to stick with Kusama for their final product.

Kusama benefits from a low barrier to entry for deploying parachains, low bond requirements for validators, and is most commonly used by early-stage startups and for experimentation.