Oracle Network - Primitives

Auditable, low-latency facts with threshold attestations and clear freshness bounds.

What it is

The network’s data plane. It sources, aggregates, and attests to prices, protocol state, compliance signals, randomness, fair sequencing beacons, and operational events. Every update carries a quorum signature and is anchored in checkpoints for network-wide finality.

What you get

Fresh data with evidence: every value ships with timestamp, round ID, confidence interval, and quorum signature.
Deterministic finality: Oracle PCkpts roll into the Master Chain’s GCkpt stream, locking updates into the global ledger.
Configurable assurance: pick quorum size, diversity rules, and failover behavior per feed.
Omnichain delivery: publish on a source chain, pull via SDK, or fan out cross-chain via Zero Layer.
Operational reliability: explicit targets for freshness, cadence, and availability — with public proofs to back them.

How it works

Source: reporters pull from exchanges, custodians, banks, RWA issuers, and public datasets. Each report includes freshness and variance metadata.
Aggregate: commit-reveal rounds prevent “last-look” games. Robust stats (median, trimmed mean, TWAP/VWAP) generate candidate values.
Attest: an N-of-M committee signs the round. The signature set and quorum bitmap are published on-chain.
Deliver: updates are pushed on-chain, pulled via SDKs or webhooks, and fanned out cross-chain over Zero Layer.
Checkpoint: the oracle primitive emits an ORA PCkpt[k] with object roots and the ordered list of rounds. The Master Chain ingests it into the GCkpt stream for global finality.

Concepts

Feed (shared): a named data stream (e.g. ETH/USD median, RWA NAV, sanctions digest). Each feed has a manifest that spells out its guarantees.
Round (immutable): a single update — value, confidence interval, timestamp, round ID, reporter set, quorum bitmap, and signatures all bundled together.
Reporter (owned): an attested participant with stake, performance history, and slashing rules to keep them honest.
Assurance Profile (shared): a config that sets quorum size, diversity constraints, cadence, and dispute windows.
AttestationBundle (immutable): a package of round values plus proofs and signatures verifiers can check locally.
ORA PCkpt[k]: a threshold-signed commitment over recent rounds and object roots, shipped to the Master Chain for inclusion in the GCkpt stream.

Feed properties

Every feed publishes a signed manifest anchored in checkpoints — effectively a contract with its consumers. Each manifest sets:

Staleness bounds: max allowed data age at consume time, plus a grace window.
Cadence: per-block, sub-second where possible, or fixed intervals (1, 5, 15 minutes).
Availability target: rolling SLO for update delivery (e.g. 99.99% for core price feeds).
Assurance: quorum thresholds, diversity rules, minimum venues, and geographic/vendor dispersion.
Throughput limits: maximum updates per second, burst size, and payload size classes.
Fee model: base per update plus per-byte; optional priority surcharges; rebates for mirrors.
Delivery modes: on-chain push, SDK/webhook pull, or cross-chain fan-out.
Jurisdiction & compliance: data residency, sanctions policy, and Travel Rule proof formats for compliance feeds.
Security controls: commit–reveal toggles, anti-manipulation guards, dispute windows, and slashing policies.
Observability: freshness metrics, drift/variance, quorum participation, public dashboards, and audit exports.
Version & upgrades: notice periods, compatibility windows, and changelogs.

Routing and selection

Developers can either call a feed directly or ask the network to find one that meets their requirements.

Direct: read(feedId, require) you know the feed you want.
SLA-first: readWith(require, prefer) you specify hard requirements (require) and nice-to-haves (prefer), and the network picks the best fit.

Example requirements:

require: {
  max_stale_ms: 1500,
  min_quorum: 7,
  diversity: { venues: ">=5", reporters: ">=5", regions: ["US","EU","APAC"] },
  algo_in: ["median","trimmed_mean"],
  delivery_mode_in: ["onchain_push","sdk_pull"],
  asset: "ETH/USD"
}
prefer: { fee_total: "low", p95_latency_ms: "low" }

Every receipt includes the chosen feedId and manifestHash, so audits can reference the exact guarantees that were in force at the moment of read.

Proof of freshness and assurance

Every read comes with receipts you can bind to:

The feed manifest hash active at the time of read.
The Round ID and AttestationBundle that produced the value.
The ORA PCkpt that committed the round.
The GCkpt height where that PCkpt was accepted.

With these anchors, consumers can independently verify staleness, quorum, and diversity against the feed’s declared envelope or detect a breach and file for remediation.

Data products

Prices and rates: venue-level quotes, medians, TWAP/VWAP, FX, benchmark rates, RWA NAVs — all signed and cross-chain consistent.
Protocol state: reserves, collateral ratios, funding/interest rates, safety switches, and “oracle-of-oracles” cross-checks to keep protocols honest.
Compliance signals: sanctions digests, address risk scores, and Travel Rule attestations (hash-only, no PII leaks).
Randomness: verifiable randomness for fair games, lotteries, and unbiased allocations.
Fair sequencing: time-bounded ordering beacons that cut down on extractive behavior across venues.
Operational events: custody settlement confirmations, bank rail status, and other off-chain proofs that need to matter on-chain.

Security

Manipulation resistance: protected by reporter diversity, venue distribution, robust stats, and commit–reveal rounds.
Accountability: reporters stake into the system and face slashing for poor performance or bad behavior.
Dispute resolution: open challenge windows allow third parties to prove manipulation; successful challenges flag the round and reallocate rewards.
Liveness: heartbeats, timeouts, prioritized failover, and committee rotation keep the network moving even under faults.

Performance (targets)

Core price feeds: updates per block with p95 staleness under 1.5 s in normal conditions.
Cross‑primitive flows: a few seconds end to end, gated by the slowest leg, then finalized in GCkpt.
Availability: 99.99% target for critical feeds; others 99.9% with graceful degradation.

Exact targets are published per feed and assurance profile.

Economics

Fees: per update and per byte; optional priority for faster propagation.
Reporter rewards: paid for timely, accurate reports that meet assurance; repeat failures reduce rewards and can trigger slashing.
Mirror incentives: regional mirrors and verifiers earn rebates for improving reach and latency.

Developer surface

Small, typed APIs and drag‑and‑drop blocks:

read(feedId, opts) → { value, conf, ts, roundId, signatures }
subscribe(feedId, handler) → stream
verify(bundle) → true|false
openFeed(params) / updateFeed(params)
setAssuranceProfile(feedId, profile)

Artifacts are EVM and non‑EVM friendly. Payloads include value, confidence, timestamp, round id, quorum bitmap, and signature set. Testnet mirrors and local verifiers are available for CI and simulations.

Observability

Feed explorer: browse manifests, rounds, PCkpts, and GCkpt inclusion.
Metrics: freshness, drift vs reference, quorum participation, failure modes.
Alerts: staleness and drift thresholds, missed heartbeats, quorum underflow.
Evidence packs: machine‑readable bundles for auditors and risk teams.

Upgrades and governance

Committee rotation: membership, thresholds, and epochs with continuity rules.
Manifest changes: cadence, quorum, fees, and delivery modes updated by governance with notice and version tags.
Versioning: ORA PCkpt and bundle formats carry version tags so old and new can co‑exist during upgrades.

Roles

Reporter (permissioned): identity‑attested, staked, and monitored.
Aggregation committee: signs ORA PCkpts and rounds per assurance profile.
Master Chain: re‑validates ORA PCkpts into GCkpt for global finality.

Not

Not a pooled‑liquidity bridge.
Not a soft‑SLA data aggregator with unverifiable freshness.
Not a generalized execution layer.

TL;DR

Get the right fact at the right time, with proof. The oracle network delivers fresh, quorum-signed updates with configurable assurance, anchored in checkpoints for network-wide finality.