The ICO boom has brought many new projects to the crypto market. Chainlink is one of those few that survived the cryptowinter and proved its effectiveness. Today we want to tell you a little bit more about it.
What is Chainlink?
Chainlink (LINK) is a decentralized oracle network developed by Sergey Nazarov and Steve Ellis in September 2017. An oracle is a program that helps "translate" information from the outside world into a language that smart contracts understand. The Chainlink system delivers data to smart contracts using APIs and other external data channels, which is why many call it a decentralized oracle network.
LINK is the native cryptocurrency for the Chainlink network, which is designed to pay node operators. Chainlink's reputation system awards vendors with the most LINK with larger contracts and deducts tokens for failure to provide accurate information.
The developers describe LINK as "an ERC20 token with additional ERC223 functionality that allows smart contracts to receive and process tokens in a single transaction." A $32 million ICO was conducted in 2017, after which 32% of LINK tokens were sent to node operators and 30% remained at Chainlink for further development.
What are oracles?
Chainlink aims to bridge the gap between blockchain-based smart contracts and the real world. Oracles provide external data that triggers the execution of smart contracts when specified conditions are successfully met.
In the event that users want to access data offline, they can request a contract with the appropriate oracles. Contracts come in several types:
reputation contract;
order picking contract;
aggregation contract - collects data from selected oracles to find the most accurate result.
Where can I buy Chainlink?
The easiest way to buy Chainlink is on traditional cryptocurrency exchanges. The list of major exchanges where LINK is traded are Binance, Huobi, Gate.io, Bittrex, KuCoin, FTX, and EXMO.
If you do not want to trade, but just want to add money to your purse, it is easier to make transactions through an exchanger, choosing the best rate and checking the reliability.
