Crypto Spotlight: LINK

Chainlink (LINK) is one of our brand-new cryptocurrencies, now live in the Wirex app. If you haven’t heard of it, here’s a little insight for you.

What is LINK?

LINK aims to link dependable real-world data to smart contracts that run on blockchains. Specifically, the purpose of LINK is to resolve the issue of many smart contracts needing to rely on external data sources to carry out their terms properly.

So, LINK was created to get data providers (or “oracles”) to fill the gap between these two parties.

Who created LINK?

LINK was created by for-profit company, SmartContract, and was launched in 2017.

What does it do?

Here is a brief rundown of how you can use LINK.

1. Drafting the SLA – In the first step, you’ll need to draft up a service-level agreement (SLA), which will outline a set of specific data requirements.
2. Choosing the oracles – LINK will then match you with the right data provider that can give you your desired data.
3. Submitting the SLA – Once this is set in stone, you can submit your SLA and then deposit your LINK cryptocurrency in an Order-Matching contract, which allows bids from oracles.
4. Connecting the dots – Now, the oracles and external data sources will come together. This data is then processed by the oracles and transferred to the contracts running on LINK’s blockchain.
5. The results – Finally, this step involves recording the results of the data collected, and then returning it to an Aggregation contract. The purpose of the Aggregation contract is to investigate the results and give you a weighted score.

What makes it unique?

LINK is unique for its ability to successfully carry out smart contracts that depend on its network.

Additionally, it’s the only cryptocurrency that can be used for key network operations. For instance, paying node operators that restore data.