The leading Bitcoin smart contract network, RSK, has gained new capabilities thanks to Chainlink. The decentralized oracle solution, which is widely used by Ethereum projects, has now gained a foothold within the RSK and RIF ecosystem. It’s now been deployed on the RSK and RIF testnet. In addition to extending the capabilities of Chainlink, the partnership is a coup for RSK’s parent company IOV Labs, whose value proposition for building on the BTC-anchored smart contract network has been bolstered.
Anything that Ethereum can do for DeFi, RSK can match is the message emanating from the team at RSK. Chainlink provides reliable tamper-proof inputs and outputs for complex smart contracts on any blockchain, though most of the projects that have utilized it to date have been Ethereum-based. This owes much to the decentralized finance movement that is reliant upon securing price feeds and other external data points in a manner that is free from central points of failure and manipulation.
Daniel Kochis, Head of Chainlink Business Development, said:
"The blockchain space has long wanted to build smart contracts anchored to the security of the Bitcoin blockchain. We’re excited to collaborate with the IOV Labs team making that a reality by providing RSK with secure and reliable oracles to empower more useful smart contract applications that fully integrate with widely used data resources and systems."
IOV Labs Is on a Mission to Drive Bitcoin Innovation
IOV Labs has made significant headway in its quest to channel developers to its RSK ecosystem, which provides many of the same capabilities as Ethereum’s EVM, but with greater security guarantees due to Bitcoin’s hash power. It’s also made progress in spreading the gospel about business adoption of blockchain: in June, the company announced that it had joined the Linux Foundation to foster open source collaboration on blockchain projects and declared its desire to utilize Hyperledger to accelerate enterprise deployment of DLT.
Meanwhile, IOV Labs has been preparing to introduce decentralized applications to Taringa, the Latin American social network with 30 million users it acquired last year. These initiatives will prove the utility of RSK’s smart contract platform while leveraging the security that comes from tapping into Bitcoin’s hash power. In addition, IOV Labs has played a pivotal role in a number of Argentinian blockchain pilots, including one involving several of the country’s banks, and another that includes a domestic energy supplier. And then there’s its Lumino Payments Network, which has been portrayed as a direct competitor to Lightning Network.
DeFi Innovation Transcends Ethereum
The DeFi movement, which started life on Ethereum, has begun to permeate other blockchain networks. While RSK and RIF are fostering an ecosystem for dApps under the Bitcoin banner, other chains are also getting in on the act. TRON is applying the finishing touches to JST, a lending and stablecoin issuance system that has similarities with MakerDAO. Polkadot, Gavin Wood’s long-awaited heterogenous blockchain, has shared details of its first DEX. EOS, for its part, is also getting in on the act, where a DeFi lending protocol is under development on the network founded by Dan Larimer.
Crypto networks with warchests at their disposal have been able to bootstrap by incentivizing developers to build. Generous grant programs are available on many chains for creating decentralized applications that have real world utility. Securing enough users to generate critical mass, however, is a tougher proposition. While RSK’s integration of Chainlink won’t open the floodgates in terms of new users, it will give developers an essential toolkit with which to build. The onus is now on devs to create dApps that capitalize on the strengths of the RSK and RIF ecosystem.