Litecoin is one of the first open-source altcoins based on the original Bitcoin code. It was initially a strong competitor to the first cryptocurrency. However, as the cryptocurrency market expanded, Litecoin’s popularity gradually declined.
Features of the ChainlinkPlatform
Chainlink – what is it?
The Chainlink project was launched by SmartContract, which specializes in fintech products, in 2017. The developers themselves from San Francisco describe their product as cross-platform software for connecting Smart contracts with data sources outside the blockchain. The project provides a solution to security problems for De-Fi projects and is one of the most frequently used in the decentralized finance sector.
Cryptocurrency LINK
The Chainlink network has issued its own LINK token, which is used by smart contracts to pay fees to oracles for the services provided. The fee is also determined by oracles based on market demand.
In addition, Chainlink nodes stake tokens to guarantee their interest in the long-term and stable operation of the system. The more tokens a node stores on staking, the larger contracts it can get to work. If a node violates the rules of the network, it may lose all the tokens staked.
LINK tokens are limited to 1 billion issuance, of which 35% were sold during the initial offering in 2017. Another 300 million LINKs are kept by the founders of the project.
How does Chainlink work?
The project offers decentralized node services that connect external data sources (data feeds, web API, etc.) to Ethereum and other blockchains. In other words, the network allows blockchains to be connected to the outside world.
A network of oracles verifies the validity of data that is sent to smart contracts by comparing different sources with each other. Decentralized elements of the network provide higher accuracy of incoming information, which cannot be done centrally. Such verification makes it possible to exclude fraud with information on the way from the data provider to the consumer.
Chainlink – how to mine?
LINK does not use mining to increase the amount of funds in circulation.
The network does not have its own blockchain and is powered by Ethereum, so any wallet that is compatible with the ERC-667 (ERC-20) standard can be used to store tokens.
Flaws
Chainlink is not able to fully solve the problems of centralized oracles, as it carries additional risks. If one oracle platform works with a large number of services, all of them may lose access to their data if Chainlink experiences an outage. In 2020, a spam attack was made on Chainlink nodes, which provoked the loss of 700 ETH. The developers managed to quickly solve the problem, but this once again confirmed that no system is perfect.
Prospects and forecasts
With the help of technology, customers will be able to get the best result that the Chainlink oracle will provide: inaccurate data will be filtered out and the Internet will become “cleaner”. Companies regularly face the problem of a large flow of information, among which it is difficult to collect the necessary truthful information. This is a global problem that the Chainlink blockchain can solve. Among the companies that have taken advantage of the platform are Polkadot, Google, Gartner, AAVE and many others. A network of oracles was also created for Swift, which indicates quite interesting prospects for the Chainlink blockchain. Thanks to the platform, you can send a cash payment directly from the blockchain to SWIFT, and it will also confirm receipt of the payment.
In January 2021, the LINK token reached a new high of $21.4, having risen in price by 150% in a month thanks to the popularization of the De-Fi sector. The growth in ten months amounted to 1400%, the coin reached the 9th place in the capitalization rating. Despite the increased competition among oracles, Chainlink retains the interest of users in Google Trends queries, for this reason, experts predict an increase in the exchange rate of the coin.
