How do data consumers use Acurast?

Acurast is the go-to solution for data consumers who want to make informed decisions with ease. Our platform helps users navigate complex data by bringing off-chain data and computation on-chain.

Acurast
4 min readJan 23, 2023

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Our communities and those interested in learning about Acurast are curious on potential use cases of Acurast.

The blockchain ecosystem is a fast-paced industry, and a lot of innovation is going on within as more people are entering the ecosystem. There are a lot of use cases that the blockchain ecosystem offers; a major one is Data Oracle.

A blockchain data oracle is a software component that allows smart contracts on a blockchain to access data from external sources. The external data is provided to the smart contract through the data oracle. There are many different types of organizations and individuals that use data oracles, including:

With Acurast, developers can integrate price feeds, verifiable randomness, or any other off-chain data or computation into their decentralized applications across Polkadot, Tezos, and NEAR ecosystems.

We take a look at industries through use cases:.

Finance

Data oracles are often used in the financial industry to provide real-time pricing data for financial instruments, such as stocks, bonds, and derivatives.

In decentralized finance (DeFi), data oracles are used to access real-time data that is needed to complete financial transactions or to execute smart contracts. For example, a DeFi platform that is offering lending services might use a data oracle to access real-time prices for various cryptocurrencies.

This data could be used to determine the value of collateral for a loan or to trigger automatic repayments based on changes in the value of the collateral. Data oracles can also be used in DeFi to access various other types of data, such as exchange rates, economic indicators, and weather data. This data can be used to influence the terms of financial contracts or to trigger automatic actions based on certain conditions being met.

Supply chain management

Data oracles can be used to track the movement of goods through a supply chain and verify the authenticity of products.

Data oracles can be used in supply chain management to access real-time data about the status of shipments, inventory levels, and other important information.

For example, a smart contract that is being used to manage a supply chain could use a data oracle to access data about the location and condition of a shipment.

This data could then be used to trigger automatic payments or to update the status of the shipment in the contract.

Data oracles can also be used to access data about the availability of raw materials, the performance of suppliers, and other factors that are relevant to supply chain management.

IoT (Internet of Things) applications

Data oracles can be used in IoT applications to enable smart contracts to access data from sensors and other devices connected to the internet.

For example, a smart contract that is being used to manage a fleet of connected vehicles could use a data oracle to access data about the location, condition, and performance of each vehicle.

This data could then be used to trigger automatic maintenance schedules, optimize routes, or monitor the performance of the vehicles. Data oracles can also be used in the IoT to access various other types of data, such as weather data, traffic data, and energy usage data.

Gaming

Data oracles can be used in gaming applications to provide verifiable, real-time data to smart contracts that power game mechanics.

Various use cases can come out of GameFi, other examples would be:

- randomness for the outcome of a game e.g. coin toss, randomness is provided by Data Transmitters

Gamefi uses data oracles to access real-time data about the prices of various cryptocurrencies. This data is used to create prediction markets, where users can buy and sell stakes in the outcomes of events.

The prices of these stakes are determined by the likelihood of the event occurring, as determined by the data from the oracles. For example, a user might buy a stake in the outcome of a sports game, with the price of the stake being based on the current odds of the game as determined by the data from the oracles.

If the event occurs as predicted, the user will receive a payout based on the odds at the time the stake was purchased. If the event does not occur as predicted, the user will lose their stake.

Conclusions

Acurast covers way more use cases than thought as the ones mentioned here are only a small selection. There is comprehensive documentation on how to get started and get in touch with how the solutions work.

There’s also an introduction video to guide anyone interested in using Acurast or integrating it into their solutions.

With a lot of Blockchain projects being built daily, a solution like Acurast is needed to ensure interoperability.

Ready to explore Acurast but confused about how to start? Kindly send a message on our support channels below and you’ll be responded to swiftly.

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