Galaxy announced that they will provide market data so that smart contract developers can build better blockchain applications.
Despite the innovations brought about by blockchain technology, a blockchain by itself does not automatically come with market data. To fix this, the trading and asset management firm Galaxy Digital has collaborated with the blockchain oracle provider Chainlink.
In an announcement sent to Cointelegraph, Galaxy highlighted that the firm will provide its crypto pricing data to blockchains through Chainlink. The firm believes that with this data, smart contract developers will have the ability to build more advanced decentralized applications (DApps).
Zane Glauber, the head of strategic opportunities at Galaxy, told Cointelegraph that they believe that the integration will have a positive effect on the blockchain ecosystem. He explained that:
“Blockchains don’t come preloaded with external data, so we’re providing reference prices for spot digital assets that will be able to power a variety of complicated financial structures that only have traditionally been the domain of our existing financial system.”
According to Glauber, market data will be important to decentralized finance (DeFi) primitives and DApps because these products need reference prices that can be embedded within smart contracts. “The growth of these future products should help secure the growing total value locked on DeFi apps, supporting the future development of the ecosystem,” he said.
Yaser Jazouane, an executive at Chainlink, also commented on Galaxy’s move. Jazouane said that high-quality pricing data is a key that unlocks various use cases all across DeFi. “High-quality market data underpins the DeFi economy,” he said.
Related: Nasdaq reportedly preparing crypto custody services for institutions
While DeFi still looks to have a lot of potential for development, the space is still hounded by hacks and exploits. Just recently, a vulnerability in the vanity wallet address generator Profanity was exploited by hackers. Because of this, several wallets lost around 3.3 million worth of crypto assets. More than a week later, another wallet address was attacked, resulting in a hacker stealing almost $1 million in Ether (ETH).
