Your Dapp Is Only as Good as Its Data Feeds
Switchboard brings speed, customizability, security, and ‘permissionlessness’ to oracles — bridging the gap between onchain logic and offchain reality.
Isolated by nature, blockchains can’t see external data. This cripples decentralized apps (dapps). Imagine Polymarket’s sports prediction markets without access to the latest scores — they could become skewed and thus ripe for manipulation, or remain unresolved. Similarly, without accurate, real-time prices, Aave loans could become over- or under-collateralized, triggering unwanted liquidations. Whether a dapp needs to react to or verify events from real world sources or from other blockchains, it needs instant, on-demand access to the latest data.
Oracles power dapps by providing them with the data they require via data feeds. However, most oracles are flawed — they are slow, restricted, inefficient, inflexible, and dangerously fragile with single points of failure. In other words, not only do they fail to meet the fast-paced demands of modern decentralized finance (DeFi) and Web3 apps, but they hinder innovation and even put dapps — and their users — at risk.
Switchboard Data Feeds solve this by letting anyone — developers or everyday users — create custom feeds for any data on supported blockchains, permissionlessly. Switchboard’s Data Feeds are fast, delivering data under 400 milliseconds, and reliable, using decentralized nodes to ensure consistency, enhance accuracy, and bolster security.
Switchboard Data Feeds? What Are They?
Switchboard Data Feeds are a core feature of Switchboard’s oracle network. They allow users to create custom feeds for any data — like asset prices, weather updates, political events, or sports scores — making it usable for smart contracts on supported blockchains like Solana, Ethereum, Sui, Aptos, and more. While Switchboard Data Feeds are currently powering dapps mostly within DeFi, developers can plug practically any type of data into their dapps. This opens the door to exciting potential use-cases in gaming, insurance, healthcare, supply chain, entertainment, and more.
Why are Switchboard Data Feeds the Solution?
Built specifically for the needs of modern dapps, Switchboard Data Feeds are designed to not only bridge the gap between onchain apps and offchain data, but to improve upon the data feeds of existing oracle providers. Below are a few ways in which Switchboard’s Data Feeds are superior to those from other oracle providers:
Switchboard Data Feeds are Permissionless
If a centralized party controls a dapp’s access to critical operational data, is the dapp really decentralized? On Switchboard, anyone can create and maintain feeds without centralized control, while independent nodes fetch and verify data trustlessly. Not only does that make Switchboard Data Feeds censorship resistant, it also reduces barriers to data and increases transparency and trust.
Switchboard Data Feeds are Customizable
Because they are permissionless, Switchboard Data Feeds are also customizable. Say you need a very specific piece of data that no other oracle provider is currently providing… just create the data feed on Switchboard — without having to ask for permission or wait for a third party. And you don’t only control the data you’re pulling, you also have full control of your data feed’s update intervals, its averaging techniques and weighting of various sources, and many more important parameters.
Switchboard Data Feeds are Faster
Delivering near real-time updates thanks to their low latency, Switchboard Data Feeds give dapps, and perhaps more importantly, their users the ability to react quickly to market changes and mitigate risk in fast-moving environments like DeFi.
Switchboard Data Feeds are Simple
You don’t need to be an experienced developer to enjoy better data feeds on your dapp. Thanks to Switchboard’s intuitive user interface, anybody can set up a feed in minutes and in just a few clicks
Switchboard Data Feeds are More Secure
Switchboard operates within confidential runtimes, ensuring oracle operators cannot ‘touch’ the data they fetch. This guarantees that end-users always get the first look, maintaining fairness and a level playing field. Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) further enhance security by encrypting and processing data safely to further prevent manipulation.
Switchboard Data Feeds are More Reliable
Switchboard’s decentralized, resilient infrastructure ensures consistent data delivery by aggregating multiple sources for accuracy and fault tolerance, minimizing single points of failure.
How do Switchboard Data Feeds work?
- Define and Deploy the Feed: Users set up tasks to fetch data (commonly price feeds) and deploy these configurations on-chain with tailored settings.
- Fair Node Assignment: The aggregator uses an oracle queue to distribute data fetching tasks across independent nodes.
- Direct Feed Update Triggering: Protocols or users interacting with a contract or protocol using a data feed directly request feed updates at the point of an on-chain transaction, enabling rapid data delivery, only when it’s needed.
- Calculate the Median for Accuracy: The system ensures accuracy by calculating a median from node responses to filter outliers. Oracle Nodes perform consistency checks and block updates if significant discrepancies are found, ensuring reliable data for dapps on various blockchains.
Build Your Own Data Feed
Looking to build your own data feed? You can either use the drag and drop functionality on Switchboard or fully write it out in Typescript. Either way, be sure to check out the Switchboard documentation for detailed instructions on how to get started. If you prefer visual learning, watch this recent tutorial video that highlights just how easy it is to create a data feed with Switchboard’s simple user interface.
Ready to Learn More?
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- Visit the Switchboard Website
- Explore the Developer Documentation
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- Read the Whitepaper
