This article takes a look at Charli3 ($C3), which is “a decentralized Oracle designed from the ground up for the Cardano network” that went live on the Cardano mainnet on October 15.

Oracles are “crucial components of a blockchain” since “they provide smart contracts” with “various real-world data forms, such as price information, the successful completion of a payment, the temperature measured by a sensor, sports results, and many more”, i.e. an oracle “acts as a bridge between the real world and blockchain by providing trusted and reliable off-chain data streams”.

As for the $C3 token, this is a “Cardano Native Token that powers the Charli3 Oracle”. It is “the currency used to pay the node operators for providing accurate data feeds”. DApps will be “paying C3 tokens to the node operators per correct node value aggregated and so, therefore, supporting the perpetual utility of the C3 token”.

With regard to the origin of the name “Charli3”, according to the team, this is “an homage to Charles Hoskinson”, and “the ‘3’ replacing the ‘e’ is tech/leet speak given the industry we are in, as well as representing the 3 founders Damon, Jonas, and Robert”.

Source: Charli3
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The day after the launch of Charli3 on the Cardano mainnet, Damon Zwarich, who is the CMO, spoke to Cardano Ambassador and Stake Pool Operator Pete Bui.

One of the interesting points that Zwarich made during this excellent interview was how the recent Vasil upgrade — which brought in an enhancement known as “Reference inputs” (CIP-31) that “enables data sharing on-chain” — has affected their revenue model:

“Now, it’s a single input. A single token that goes online… and it is infinitely pull-able from one source for all projects. So, you don’t have to upload many, many, many multiples, which keeps congestion down. It keeps latency down on getting the data to the project as fast as possible.

“And it also keeps costs down because now you’re not paying for a zillion transactions to be put on chain. You’re only paying for one. As far as how people will pay for that, this reference input model has kind of messed over our idea of what we planned to build you know.

“So, we have to figure that out later. If it’s a unique set of data, you’ll have to pay for it because you’re the only one using it. The problem with the reference input model for a revenue source is that if it’s a very needed piece of data… the first person won’t want to have to pay for that alone and have everyone piggyback off it because now once it’s there, anyone can go from it. We’re trying to figure something out, maybe a subscription model in the future.“