Oracle network Chainlink has launched its Data Streams product on the Avalanche network. GMX, a decentralized perpetual futures trading platform, has taken the lead by using the real-world market data provided by Data Streams to power its perpetual futures protocol.
Chainlink’s Data Streams differ from its traditional “push-based” oracles, which obtain and verify data onchain at regular intervals or when certain thresholds and parameters are met. Instead, Data Streams relies on a “pull-based” oracle model that retrieves offchain market data on demand with low latency.
This is especially useful for perpetual futures platforms like GMX, where traders require access to raw, high-frequency price data in real time and cannot wait for onchain verification each time the data is needed.
Chainlink’s Data Streams still verify the data onchain, but only when necessity calls for onchain verification — like the actual execution of a trade.
In the wake of the Chainlink Data Streams deployment on the Avalanche network, Johann Eid, chief business officer at Chainlink Labs, said:
“By offering unmatched speed and resiliency, Data Streams enable DeFi protocols to provide ultra-fast, high-throughput DeFi products while maintaining the high-security guarantees of onchain finance.”
Chainlink makes strides in 2024
Chainlink continues to deploy its products across the blockchain landscape. In May, the oracle provider announced an integration with Celo to provide users of the Ethereum layer-2 network with Chainlink’s CCIP Interoperability Protocol.
More recently, Chainlink’s Automation features and CCIP protocol went live on the Gnosis network, allowing users to offload heavy computing tasks to the Chainlink network, potentially reducing gas fees by up to 90%.
Tokenization of hard assets
Earlier in 2024, Chainlink announced a partnership with Arta TechFin, a Hong Kong-based asset management firm, to tokenize real estate — a notoriously illiquid asset class.
Tokenizing real estate would drastically overhaul the buying and selling of property, drastically lowering transaction costs and unlocking liquidity encumbered in these hard assets.
Such efficiencies are attractive to institutional and individual investors alike, Kunal Bhasin of KPMG Canada explained. Moreover, tokenization of real estate could democratize commercial real estate, allowing smaller players to participate in the commercial real estate sector traditionally available to larger investors.