Blockchain technology has given rise to many applications in recent years, the most popular being cryptocurrencies. It has also facilitated the creation of many decentralized, secure and transparent markets in the digital economy.
This technology, which offers much more trust, as all transactions are immutably recorded on the blockchain, has been well complemented by the smart contract feature popularized by Ethereum. Blockchain-based decentralized applications (DApps) like Ethereum are disrupting traditional businesses, such as retail banking, and are even introducing use cases never thought possible.
Expanding the capacity of smart contracts with oracles
However, for the Ethereum blockchain to support the development of DApps that go beyond mere transaction facilitation, they must interact with the external or off-chain world and integrate incoming data into smart contracts, which is where it comes in. Blockchain oracle technology is at stake, strengthening smart contracts by linking them to real-world data, events, and transactions. Today, there are many types of third-party services, such as input, output, software, and hardware oracles, which are further expanding the number of real-world applications that can power blockchain protocols.
Consensus-based oracle networks, such as the Chainlink protocol, provide end-to-end decentralization, which is key to securing the entire blockchain ecosystem they operate on. Furthermore, these oracles improve the performance, functionality, and interoperability of smart contracts to offer a higher degree of trust and transparency than on-chain systems.
This transformation will occur by expanding the use of hybrid smart contracts, which fuse the special properties of blockchains with the unique capabilities of off-chain systems.such as oracle networks, thus achieving a much greater scope and power than on-chain systems in isolation.
What is Chainlink VRF?
Many DApps in the blockchain gaming and non-fungible token (NFT) space require a tamper-proof and verifiable source for random number generation to provide advanced functionality such as running an airdrop, running a lottery, or developing games based on chance.
Chainlink’s Verifiable Random Function (VRF) relies on a decentralized oracle network (DON) to enhance existing blockchains by providing verified off-chain data. It can even make it easier to export blockchain data to systems beyond the blockchain ecosystem.. Chainlink VRF provides cryptographically assured randomness by employing a set of Chainlink nodes that relay data to smart contracts while maintaining a classic consensus mechanism through a committee of these nodes.
By offering random number generation (RNG) for smart contracts, Chainlink VRF helps developers build better experiences leveraging random outcomes in their blockchain-powered applications. Furthermore, the tamper-proof randomness provided by Chainlink VRF cannot be tampered with by any node operator, the user or even a malicious entity as each oracle in the DON has an associated private and public key pair, where the private key is kept off-chain while the public key is published on-chain.
How does Chainlink VRF work?
A smart contract can use Chainlink VRF to obtain a secure and verifiable random number in four easy steps:
Since Chainlink VRF uses two keys to generate a random but unpredictable value that can be verified by proof of correctness, it offers a much more secure and decentralized storage of individual keys for applications with pervasive computing capabilities. Overcoming the drawbacks of insecure RNG solutions that rely on off-chain computing, Chainlink VRF’s on-chain crypto verification combines on-chain block data used as input to provide unbiased, tamper-proof results that they are safe even from compromised oracles in their own network.
As a result of the superior capabilities provided by Chainlink’s on-chain RNG solution, Chainlink VRF use cases include trusted smart contract applications in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space, such as PoolTogether, where it enables significant personal savings. gamified, and Moonbeam, where it provides real-time pricing data for Polkadot (DOT) developers.
It is also helping distribute non-fungible tokens (NFTs) fairly, as in the case of Polychain Monsters, and introducing entropy into on-chain games by providing verifiable randomness solutions, as in the case of Axie Infinity (AXS). Developed as part of the Chainlink 2.0 ecosystem, Chainlink’s VRF is providing the necessary computational resources and infrastructure for smart contracts to be capable of performing advanced functionality. Along with other DONs, it is also providing a general purpose framework that developers can use with confidence.
What is Chainlink VRF v2?
In keeping with its vision to constantly update the features provided through its DONs, Chainlink has introduced Chainlink VRF v2 with various improvements revolving around how developers can fund and request randomness for their smart contracts.
This includes the ability to generate multiple random outputs in a single on-chain transaction, reducing the time needed for a response while reducing transaction costs or gas fees. It also allows up to 100 smart contract addresses to fund requests for verifiable randomness from a single LINK subscription balance account, which would be managed by the subscription developer or owner.
Also, Chainlink VRF v2 introduces a subscription management application that allows developers to pre-fund multiple random requests using a single LINK token balance, eliminating the need to transfer tokens for each request and further reducing applicable Chainlink VRF fees considerably.
In fact, it even allows developers to adjust the callback gas limit when their smart contract applications receive verified randomness and allows for more complex logic in the callback request function. Although the gas limits are higher than those set in Chainlink VRF, they depend on the underlying blockchain being used and are clearly defined on the address page of the VRF contract.
Advantages of Chainlink VRF v2 also include increased customization capabilities, as developers can now define how many block confirmations are required before a random number is generated and delivered to the blockchain.
With a range of three to 200 blocks, developers can select the optimal number of block passes before randomization is generated, thereby protecting their applications from block reshuffling while providing much lower latency time from block reorganization. request to the final response. With Chainlink VRF v2, developers can now access highly scalable, gas-efficient and configurable on-chain randomness, which can unlock even greater functionality for NFT and gaming DApps.
As a result of Chainlink’s constant introduction of improvements, its VRF application is emerging as the de facto choice for most developers building DApps on the Ethereum network. Delivering on the promise of facilitating the introduction of provable blockchain-based applications, Chainlink VRF is enabling developers to build more practical applications that can reliably interact with real-world data.
Now that blockchains can reliably connect to external data sources, Chainlink VRF represents a major step forward in the blockchain technology space, giving developers the ability to push the boundaries of the metaverse as we now know it. .
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