Hello everyone, I am so exited to partake in this week's crypto homework task for professor @albert. This week with the professor is all about Blockchain Oracle. I will be making my submissions based on the question which has been asked by the professor. But before, you will have to get a blockchain oracle you will want to explore. in that regard I will be talking about the Band Protocol. Also, I will like to give a little note about what the blockchain oracle is all about before I would delve into answering the questions asked by the professor.
The Blockchain Oracle
I will define the blockchain oracle as a services which is rendered with the assistance of third-party in other to provide or give assistance to smart contracts with the help of information from the outside world. This involves layers that is responsible for the verification and authentication of data from external sources and these information are mostly from secured and trusted APIs. The information is paired because they work hand in hand so information given is relayed.
Image of the Blockchain Oracle
Some of these data we are talking about that the oracle sends could be the daily temperature or probably number of votes a candidate might have and so on. But when considering the oracle under the blockchain basis, we can say that, an Ethereum blockchain based can offer a smart contact on that blockchain which will be use in decision making as to whether money should be given out and to whom it should be given out too. This is what we can know about the Blockchain Oracle.
Having explained what the blockchain oracle is, I will like to talk about the Band Protocol which is one example of the blockchain oracle. this is the the topic I have chosen. So I will give much details and enlightenment to the topic.
Question One: History and Description. Does it have any token or cryptocurrency associated? Explain.
It is always necessary to make known the developers of a project when actually talking about the project. I am going to explore the Band Protocol, so there is a need to mention the developers of it.
Band Protocol's founders are Soravis Srinawakoon, the CEO & Co-founder, we also have Sorawit Suriyakarn who is the CTO & Co-founder and lastly, Paul Nattapatsiri also CPO & Co-founder of the Band Protocol. It was actually develped in the year 2017 by these 3 workers who co-founded it. This was developed or was created based on the Ethereum blockchain network running the ERC-20 token. The whole idea was actually Sorawit Srinawakoon's.
I will like to pick this unique individuals and do a little profiling. First we talk about CEO Soravis Srinawakoon.
This individual is a consultant at the Boston Consulting Group. Also a renounced software engineer at the Ericsson and a graduate from Stamford University. He also has portfolios like M.S. in MS&E, and then B.S. in CS.
Talking about Sorawit Suriyakarn also CTO and Co-founder of the Band Protocol, has profiles like M.Eng./S.B. in EE & CS, also graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and working with Hudson River Trading, he also forms part of the Quora as a software engineer and the file hosting service, Dropbox.
Lastly, another individual I will like to talk about is Paul Nattapatsiri. A CPO and Co-founder of the Band Protocol. A very good and well equipped Web developer. He also has profilings as the creator of a 800,000 plus crypto games as at 2013 till date.
What we should know is that, the Band Protocol was created initially for availability of requesting data. What we should know is that, developers were supposed to use data being gathered around the Band Protocol oracle with the help of the use of codes in other to integrate smart contracts.
From the research, there was already an older version of the Band Protocol which was released into the system, this was still in circulation until the current version of the Band Protocol was released which is the current version. This Band Protocol also does staking in the sense that, users who are interesting in holding the band token have the opportunity to receive rewards in the form of tokens for holding this same Band tokens. Another thing is that, those users who had tokens for the older version of the Band Protocol can exchange their tokens.
Lets look at the integrated partners this Protocol is working with in its Ecosystem
As seen in the Screenshot below, The Band Protocol have a lot of institutions that works with them. Some of these are; The Mirror Protocol, Terra, Fantom and then Linear Finance...etc.
The Integrated Partners of the Protocol
Validators
Another aspect I will like to talk about is the validators of the Band Protocol. I mentioned while I was explaining what this protocol is, where I said there is a case where there is data authentication and verification of data from external source. These validators are responsible for that purpose. Some of these are; stake with us, Cosmostation and then Stakefish...etc.
Validators
Supported Exchanges
There are exchange platforms that support the Band Protocol. Some of these are Binance Exchange, Coinbase Pro, Huobi and other exchange platforms.
Supported Exchanges
Lets also visit the coin market cap and check some other valuable information about the Band Protocol.
Band Protocol
- It is currently Ranked #154 on the coin market cap
- Its current price is at $8.08
- Has a market cap of $284,495,863
- Volume of $86,970,638
- A circulating supply of 35,191,821.00 BAND
- A total supply of 100,000,000
Development Roadmap
Lets check the development Roadmap of the Band Protocol.
Question Three: Functionalities and real-life applications.
The Band Protocol has so many real-life applications, you can see from the screenshot below, there was a need for the Band Protocol as a result of the reliability and the safety of the Protocol.
So there are partnerships in relation to the Band Protocol for real life applications. I will be making a real life scenario of the application. The first thing I want to talk about is;
- The network of the Band Protocol we can see a real -life application when the Protocol is able to send data it has gathered onto different blockchains with the help of Cosmos's IBC. Through this means, the data is able to be sent within the other blockchains, this Cosmos's IBC is an exchanger dealing with data communication within the various blockchain networks.
- I will like to give an instance. Assuming I place a bet. Now I pick from two teams whom the winner would be. So after the match, we could check back to see if the bet went through or failed. So logging back to the platform to check for the score line requires the use of the Band Protocol. Though it has not been realized yet by so many people but the fact is that, there is a Band Protocol required.
So what happens is that, the betting site will require for band protocol to send information to the real world so that the results of the bet is displayed in real life. So there is also a data or information that is sent to the blockchain through the Band blockchain Protocol, the information is then shown whether the results was won or lost as pair staked by the user.
Question Three: Pros and Cons.
Whenever we have an advantage of a network in blockchain platforms there is always a negative side of it that follows. That is why we will be looking at the pros and cons of the Band Protocol.
Pros
The first advantage I will like to mention is that, it forms part of most of the various blockchain networks using smart contracts.
Another factor is that, it emphasizes on transparency, making it more decentralized
Another advantage is that, users are rewarded for holding the Band tokens.
Also, the tokens involved forms part of governance which is another advantage.
The Band Protocol is also very fast and efficient, also scalable in its design.
Another advantage is that, data synchronization is very fast, mostly done within seconds.
Cons
Cases where there is data redundancy and manipulation of data, users will always be at great risk or harm.
There is a 2 percentage which the community pool is entitled to for the rewards giving by the block or what you earn from the block.
We all know that decentralization talks about avoiding third parties. But in this case, there is still the existence of third parties even though it is decentralized.
Inflation rate of the Band token is very high.
Another disadvantage is that, the Band Protocol does not support APIs that are encrypted with passcodes. It is limited to only free APIs.
Question Four: Future developments and new projects
I came across several projects while I was making my research about the future development and new projects of the Band protocol. I will like to talk about them in two folds, These would be the current and then ongoing projects. Also I will talk about the partnership they have made in running the affairs smoothly and also some one or two future projects yet and might happen.
The first project I want to talk about is the fact that Band Protocol will be lunching a phase two project that is aimed at linking off chain data to the DeFi.
Partnerships
Lets talk about some of the partnerships The Band Protocol has found its ways of working with.
Alpha Finance Integrates Decentralized Price Oracles From Band Protocol Through Alpha Oracle Aggregator
Graviton Partners With Band Protocol For Secure Inter-Chain and Price Oracles
Eden Network Joins Forces With Band Protocol to Mitigate Oracle Frontrunning & MEV
Latest Exchange Listings
I also want to talk about the latest exchange listing of the Band Protocol.
Coinbase Consumer Lists Band Protocol (BAND)
Huobi Futures Launches Band Protocol (BAND) Perpetual Swaps
Binance US Lists Band Protocol (BAND)
Future Projects I think The Band Protocol might introduce to its chain or network could be based on the cons or disadvantages of it. They might introduce more features that can reduce the cons of the Protocol there by making it a good one.
In my cons I mentioned that, cases where there is overflow of data, hackers can cause harm to the network.
So I will propose that, for future plans there could be a system that will be developed to reduce data redundancy. Such systems could SQL systems being employed to reduce or wipe of data redundancy.
This was a wonderful course I have studied for the week with the professor. The Blockchain oracle makes available real-life data where blockchains cannot obtain.
As we have gone through the advantages of the Band Protocol, there were still some disadvantages that accompanied and there is always a need to capitalize disadvantages to advantages. gave a scenario of the case of the SQL that can be employed in the future look.
Above all, I attempted all the questions asked by the professor and I have made my submissions to those questions. I hope my submissions is considered great about the Band Protocol.