Securely Connecting DeFi Smart Contracts to Off-chain Data

For smart contracts to achieve mass adoption, they need the ability to securely connect to external off-chain data and existing non-blockchain systems. The reliability with which smart contracts connect to key external systems determines their overall security. This critical security factor determines whether smart contracts will be used to secure the many forms of value beyond tokenization, such as financial contracts, insurance payouts, trade finance, and more. In this talk, we’ll examine what makes a secure oracle mechanism reliable enough to be trusted by smart contracts for external data delivery, web API access, and off-chain payments. We’ll review the security risks and failure scenarios to avoid when using oracles and share how developers should set up methods to maximize success. We’ll examine how a decentralized network makes oracle mechanisms more secure, and how decentralization, combined with approaches like Trusted Execution Environments, Town Crier, and DECO can enable the highest level of security when connecting with external systems. Finally, we will show the design patterns which leading smart contracts use to remain reliable and provide high levels of overall security while connecting to external systems. In particular, we will showcase how we have successfully launched over 150+ decentralized price reference oracle networks for DeFi applications live on Ethereum mainnet that secure over $7Bn+ USD in value, while substantially reducing the costs and time it takes to deploy a mainnet oracle mechanism.