Umbrella Network, the decentralized Layer-2 oracle solution, has officially launched on Ethereum Mainnet. The company made this announcement on its blog on Friday.

Umbrella Network is a community-owned Layer-2 oracle network that batches data for providing low-cost, scalable, and secure data. It utilizes the advances in Merkle tree technology to write multiple data points on a single on-chain transaction, making batching data to smart contracts more accurate and cost-effective. Umbrella network believes a community-owned oracle solution is essential to creating a truly decentralized financial system.

Blockchain Oracles Explained

Most blockchains have cryptocurrencies that are used to transfer value and enable the operations of the protocol. Some blockchains also enable Smart contracts.

According to Wikipedia, a smart contract is a computer program or a transaction protocol that is intended to automatically execute, control, or document legally relevant events and actions according to the terms of a contract or an agreement. The objectives of smart contracts are the reduction of need in trusted intermediates, arbitrations, and enforcement costs, fraud losses, as well as the reduction of malicious and accidental exceptions.

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However, there needs to be a way for blockchains and on-chain smart contracts to make use of external, off-chain data for smart contracts to have any real-world applications.

Ethereum.org clearly defines what an oracle is, the oracle problem, and how decentralized oracles solve it. “An oracle is a bridge between the blockchain and the real world. They act as on-chain APIs you can query to get information into your smart contracts. This could be anything from price information to weather reports. Oracles can also be bi-directional, used to “send” data out to the real world.”

Blockchain (e.g. Ethereum) transactions cannot access off-chain data directly. At the same time, relying on a single source of truth to provide data is insecure and invalidates the decentralization of a smart contract. This is known as the oracle problem.

This oracle problem can be avoided by using a decentralized oracle that pulls from multiple data sources; if one data source is hacked or fails, the smart contract will still function as intended.

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Umbrella Network claims its decentralized network is a superior solution to its competitors. It provides comparatively quick and affordable price feeds. It also says that it would make available more data pairs (currently 1,200 data pairs growing to over 10,000 by end of 2021) than any other oracle in the ecosystem.

According to Cointelegraph, the need for reliable data feeds appears to be growing as smart contract technology becomes more mainstream. For example, Brazil’s main stock exchange is exploring ways to provide data inputs for the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) project.

Umbrella Network Mainnet Launch On Ethereum

Umbrella Network’s mainnet launch on Ethereum means that it deployed Smart contracts on the Ethereum Blockchain. This means that Ethereum-based dApps can communicate with Umbrella Network code in the live environment — requesting and getting data that is reliable, comprehensive, and cost-effective.

ETH price at $3,431 | Source: ETHUSD on TradingView.com

Speaking on the mainnet launch, founding partner Sam Kim said, “We are absolutely thrilled to be able to achieve this important milestone. We will now be able to serve the needs of the largest DeFi community with our decentralized oracles, and look to address real challenges the community faces when it comes to the high cost, low availability of data offerings in the ecosystem today.”

The company has been busy with acquisitions and new products in recent months. In May, the network launched on Binance Smart Chain (BSC) mainnet. Umbrella network also stated its plans for future cross-chain integration with Polygon, Solana, Cardano, and Avalanche, in the coming months. In the same breath, it mentioned the launch of its in-house developed Token Bridge next week. This enables seamless transfers of $UMB across all supported Blockchains.

Featured image by @UmbNetwork on Twitter, Chart from TradingView.com