In this post:
- What is an Oracle
- Why CreDA changed
- How CreDA works
- Call for volunteers to our beta test
CreDA, the Credit Data Alliance, has been quiet since early 2023 when the market was still bearish. With the massive resources required to support our original mission of combining, modeling and storing on and off chain data in real-time in addition to a transition of CreDA’s leadership, the project needed to re-focus on its strengths, simplify its offering and reinvent itself.
Now, we are pleased to share that CreDA 2.0 is well underway, with a renewed focus on blockchain data and the potential of providing credit and credibility scoring for Web3 projects and communities. CreDA is doubling down on its true purpose of providing valuable data services to on-chain platforms and users for a number of use cases such as:
- DAO governance and management to help vet and reward positive behavior within the DAO community.
- Smarter, more strategic community rewards, airdrops and benefits for members based on specific and detailed criteria.
- GameFi Leaderboards, community segmentation and rewards for RWA, GameFi, DeFi, DePin.
- Investment insights and trend analysis.
- Real-time credit scoring for DeFi platforms who wish to understand the credit worthiness of users and offer lower lending rates and protect against bad actors.
With a new focus on providing individuals and blockchain-based projects with behavioral data tailored to their specific needs, CreDA is now positioned for the future of Web3, providing a critical trust layer underpinning any dApp, DAO or decentralized platform or community.
What is an Oracle in blockchain?
In the blockchain and Web3 space, an “oracle” is a service or mechanism that provides smart contracts with access to external data. Since blockchains are inherently closed systems and cannot access external data directly, oracles serve as the bridge between the off-chain world (outside data sources like APIs, databases, or real-world events) and on-chain smart contracts. This allows smart contracts to execute or make decisions based on information that isn’t stored on the blockchain itself, such as weather conditions, stock prices, or the outcome of real-world events.
Oracles play a critical role in enabling more complex and useful applications in decentralized finance (DeFi), insurance, and other sectors that require interaction with real-world data. They help expand the functionality and applicability of smart contracts beyond the limited scope of on-chain data. Oracles themselves do not serve as sources of data, they only find and deliver data they collect, query, verify and validate from different sources before delivering them to smart contracts.
There are different kinds of oracles that exist to either pull real-world data onto the blockchain or to model existing data on the blockchain. Software oracles, for example, get data from databases and internet services and record them on the blockchain. Hardware oracles interact with sensors, barcode scanners, and other readers and record them on the blockchain as well. Oracles also verify and authenticate that the data being provided is accurate. It is this verified data that is transmitted to smart contracts to fulfill the terms of the transaction.
Smart contracts automatically fulfill the terms of a deal only if certain conditions are met. They are controlled by the blockchain and operate under its control, without the participation of a trusted party. But smart contracts operate in a digital environment, and only oracles can deliver data to it. That’s why oracles have great power over smart contracts. The oracles ultimately determine the terms of the deal. This important work would be too difficult and even impossible without the use of artificial intelligence (AI).
Why is CreDA changing?
As blockchain, crypto and Web3 expand, it is becoming increasingly important for communities, businesses and individuals to understand their audiences, manage their risk and make informed decisions. Blockchain data is particularly useful for this purpose, as data is public, immutable and accessible. However, a powerful tool is required to manage, segment and prioritize custom markers for different use cases.
CreDA was previously focused on bridging the traditional and decentralized financial worlds by creating a universal credit scoring system based on complex models such as those currently used by banks and FICO. The sheer cost of managing, storing and maintaining this data, along with the costs of modeling such a complex combination of factors means that CreDA’s grand mission is ambitious and still a few years off. While we continue to strive to give credit where credit is due to the billions of people who lack financial identities and help them overcome the Credit Paradox, the most immediate, applicable and cost-effective use of CreDA’s technology is to focus on providing on-chain communities with valuable data services.
How will CreDA 2.0 work?
Digital finance has inherited the approaches that are used in traditional finance, but more efficiently and accurately due to the greater trust and transparency of blockchain data.
CreDA’s Credit Oracle, as a deep learning algorithm, leverages the immutable data on the blockchain to assess a user’s activity across multiple blockchains.
As a data service, CreDA offers customized scoring for different use cases. A gameFi platform, for example, could weigh factors such as activity and social connections as important in order to reward their community’s participation through in-game item airdrops. Whereas, a DAO would be more interested in understanding past behaviors and develop a score that ensures members of the DAO have a positive impact on other communities they belong to. For DeFi platforms, CreDA intends to provide a general Crypto Credit Score based on factors such as wallet balance, loan repayments and volatility of assets held. So whether for risk or reward, CreDA will be able to fit the needs of the platform or community.
One of the first demonstrations of CreDA’s new data service is to create a customized oracle tailored for an upcoming Elastos BeL2 Airdrop for the Elastos community. Based on a number of community criteria, such as activity levels and ELA holdings since Elastos’ inception, community member wallets will be assessed and allocated an amount based on their score.*
*Please note that the Elastos BeL2 Airdrop has not been officially announced or confirmed. However, it provides a unique opportunity to demonstrate CreDA’s potential as a data service for the purpose of providing Web3 communities with customized oracles for assessing and delivering community airdrops.
Inviting Beta Testers
To demonstrate this flexibility of the CreDA data service, the first application of the technology will be to support the Elastos ecosystem in identifying long-standing community members and providing a credit score for potential airdrops. Stay tuned for more information on this.
And if you’re interested in taking part in a pilot to test the new CreDA BeL2 Airdrop Credit Oracle we’re inviting Elastos community members who have been active in the ecosystem for the last 6 years to reach out to @mikedave25 on Telegram.
If you’re new to CreDA and want to follow along on our progress, please subscribe to this blog, follow us on X, and join our Telegram community.
