A primary need for any blockchain developer is access to trusted real-world data. Whether it is data from a big data database or an IoT sensor, the integrity and delivery of the information must be trustworthy to be used in DApps. This is where decentralized oracles come into play.

Oracles expand the capabilities of blockchains by locating / verifying real-world information and enabling it to be used in smart contracts. Oracles have evolved quickly, yet challenges still remain to ensure the integrity and confidentiality of all information delivered by oracles. IoTeX and Chainlink are excited to collaborate on oracle research and development to bring real-world data to blockchain applications.

“We are excited to work with IoTeX to introduce new IoT data and TEE technology to the blockchain industry and expand the capabilities of decentralized oracles.” — Daniel Kochis, Global Head of Business Development at Chainlink

Guaranteeing Trust for Oracles with TEE

IoTeX and Chainlink have both improved blockchain oracles using Trusted Execution Environments (TEE), a secure hardware element that empowers trusted computing. In short, TEEs provide a protected, confidential environment for processes to run. Due to their strong security features, TEEs can guarantee integrity and confidentiality when executing commands, such as blockchain queries for real-world data. TEE-powered oracles enable end-to-end trust and traceability (e.g. data, source, delivery) without leaking any sensitive information in the process.

In 2018, Chainlink acquired Town Crier, a Cornell startup led by TEE security researcher Ari Juels. Similarly, for the past year, IoTeX has been developing in-house trusted hardware (e.g. AvoBoard) with built-in TEEs and is developing Layer 2 TEE trusted computing platform on IoTeX blockchain. Both Chainlink and IoTeX share aspirations to explore different implementations of TEEs (e.g. Intel SGX, ARM TrustZone) to drive the next wave of oracle research and to develop developer-friendly capabilities for the blockchain industry.

“We look forward to integrating Chainlink to the IoTeX Network, as well as working with their team on new TEE-powered oracle developments.” — Raullen Chai, IoTeX CoFounder & CEO

Deployment Plans — What’s Next?

Chainlink integration to the IoTeX Mainnet will make off-chain data (e.g., public APIs, payment gateways, data feeds) available to IoTeX smart contracts and IoT applications.

IoTeX and Chainlink will also explore new data sources to “oracle-ize” in a trusted fashion. Chainlink’s partnership with Google BigQuery has already opened up new possibilities; however, a multitude of public / private data is still untapped. Perhaps the largest source is the Internet of Things (IoT), which generates roughly half of all new data today (and growing!). Together, Chainlink and IoTeX will create a fluid ecosystem for real world and IoT data.