NULS to Integrate Chainlink to Empower NULS/Nerve Developers to Build Next-Generation DeFi Applications

5 min readJan 13, 2021

NULS and Nerve are delighted to announce the planned integration of Chainlink, the market-leading decentralized oracle network, into the NULS ecosystem. NULS will use Chainlink to obtain secure and reliable market data for developing DeFi products on the Nerve Decentralized Digital Asset Service Network, as well as source real-world events for building next-generation dynamic NFTs.

Integrating Chainlink will allow NULS/Nerve developers to securely access data and resources existing outside the NULS blockchain (off-chain). Not only will this exponentially expand the types of applications that can be built within the NULS ecosystem, but it ensures that Dapps are able to avoid the major pitfalls of deploying their own oracles, such as data manipulation attacks, unreliable data delivery, extra expenses, and even fatal security flaws due to the many nuances involved with building secure oracles. By relying on Chainlink’s proven oracle framework, NULS and Nerve developers can focus on building the core features of their Dapps, while leaving the critical work of obtaining off-chain resources to oracle experts in Chainlink.

The Importance of Secure Oracles

Smart contracts have no built-in capability to interact with external resources like data providers, API services, and other blockchains. Thus, smart contracts are born disconnected from the outside world and inherently unable to know the outcome of everyday real-world events.

The solution to this smart contract connectivity problem is a blockchain oracle. Oracles act as a two-way bridge between smart contracts and the outside world, serving as middleware that’s tasked with retrieving external data on behalf of the smart contract and pushing smart contract outputs to off-chain systems.

However, there is one fundamental problem, the security and reliability of the oracle mechanism. Even if the blockchain is decentralized and the smart contract code is flawless, having a centralized oracle trigger the smart contract can result in numerous unintended effects, such as manipulated data, unreliable updates, server downtime, and various other effects that may compromise user funds. Oracles on their own are not necessarily secure — as a centralized oracle introduces a single point of failure into the execution of a smart contract and an on-chain oracle such as a DEX is subject to data manipulation issues like those recently experienced in DeFi via flash loans. Because of this, a decentralized oracle solution is necessary.

This is the reason we selected Chainlink as our exclusive oracle provider. Chainlink is a decentralized oracle network that extends the smart contract’s security guarantees using a similar security model as the blockchain supporting it, decentralized computation. Chainlink oracles are blockchain agnostic and already secure billions of dollars in value across DeFi. So not only can Chainlink oracles be natively integrated within NULS and Nerve, but users can be assured that their infrastructure is already trusted by leading Dapps and blockchains.

NULS smart contract developers will be able to leverage the Chainlink Network to integrate existing oracle solutions or build their own which aggregate data from multiple sources, including premium data feeds from password-protected systems. These aggregated data feeds can be delivered on-chain using multiple independent, security reviewed oracles (nodes), which fetch the same data point and/or multiple data points each, ensuring highly available and tamper resistant oracle networks. Developers can then incorporate customized aggregation models to formulate a single, reliable data point to trigger their smart contract.

Combining Chainlink and NULS to Create New Smart Contract Use Cases

The Chainlink Network provides developers with access to a wide range of off-chain resources, including: a provably fair source of randomness via Chainlink VRF, cryptocurrency and other financial asset prices using Chainlink Price Feeds, match results from sports and gaming events, sensor data from IoT networks, on-chain data from other blockchains, connection to existing payment systems and enterprise backends, and much more.

For instance, using Chainlink, a smart-contract or Dapp can be programmed to:

Check a specific stock/coin price at a specific time, which is then used to trigger a blockchain transaction or payment.
Wait for the results of a horse, auto, or other race in order to determine how to payout winners.
Track when cars cross a certain bridge using IoT sensors, which then triggers a smart contract toll payment to the bridge owner.
Reference grocery prices before executing an automated grocery order for a family via a smart contract.
Build automated travel arrangements that lock in reservations when certain price points are found.

“We have selected Chainlink as our primary oracle solution due to the decentralized security, high-quality data, and long-term viability of its network, serving as a reliable technology for securing user funds held within smart contracts. Through Chainlink Price Feeds and its various other oracle services, Nerve can begin to support a robust DeFi ecosystem on NULS, as well as launching support for other use case verticals like NFTs, gaming, and more,” said Mario Blacutt (Berzeck), NULS core developer and Nerve Network founder.

It’s essential to NULS to be able to provide these primary Chainlink features of decentralization, security, reliability, and flexibility to our ecosystem users and developers, allowing DeFi and other use case development to be simplified, streamlined, and hence, successful.

The upcoming integration will bring NULS development to a new level, and the NULS technology community will work closely with Chainlink to integrate their Price Feed functions into NULS microservice modules as soon as possible.

About NULS And Nerve

NULS and Nerve comprise the basis of a heterogeneous blockchain ecosystem providing customized services, and a global open source community. NULS and Nerve combine together microservices, a module warehouse, smart contracts, and cross-chain technologies with its parallel multi-chain.

One NULS product, ChainFactory, gives businesses the ability to build blockchains with a web-based GUI. This reduces development costs and promotes the commercial application of blockchains.

Users can add core functional modules such as network, consensus, storage, account, and smart contracts to their blockchain using the plug-and-play format. After submitting a form, a new blockchain and custom token are created. Users can define business logic through a smart contract with little programming work.

About Chainlink

Chainlink is the most widely used and secure way to power universal smart contracts. With Chainlink, developers can connect any blockchain with high-quality data sources from other blockchains as well as real-world data. Managed by a global, decentralized community of hundreds of thousands of people, Chainlink is introducing a fairer model for contracts. Its network currently secures billions of dollars in value for smart contracts across the decentralized finance (DeFi), insurance and gaming ecosystems, among others.

Chainlink is trusted by hundreds of organizations to deliver definitive truth via secure, reliable data feeds. To learn more, visit chain.link, subscribe to the Chainlink newsletter, and follow @chainlink on Twitter.

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