As we hit the mid-point of 2023, we find ourselves reflecting on what we’ve done and where we are. Those who have been keeping up with our weekly dev calls are well aware of our efforts. To offer a more consolidated overview, we’re taking a step back to write about our 2023 endeavors into a single blog post.
Documentation Overhaul
For the devs reading this, you’ve surely experienced the struggle of following technical documentation only to have them not work due to being out of date or simply incomplete/incorrect. This is all too common in the space, unfortunately. Addressing this, our team initiated an exhaustive documentation overhaul at the start of the year. The result is docs that are current, clear, and above all, reliable. As Tellor evolves, our documentation will be updated regularly to help anyone use our protocol without direct assistance, although we remain on hand to offer support.
User Integrations
This year, we’ve seen a surge of interest in using Tellor. This surge can be attributed largely to the growing popularity of forking Liquity Protocol’s fall-back style oracle mechanism, which provides an effective method of utilizing Tellor alongside another oracle with varying strengths and security assumptions. New integrations such as Raft and Ethos are complete and worth exploring. Noteworthy non-Liquity fork integrations include Reflexer (RAI), and the upcoming launch of DIVA protocol.
New Chains
We’ve been fortunate to receive grants to develop Tellor systems on non-EVM chains like Kadena and Polkadot. Building on non-EVM chains necessitates customizing and translating our code into a new language and environment – a task that is challenging, yet filled with potential. Our Kadena implementation is set for an audit, and the Polkadot implementation is undergoing final testing.
EVM Chain Expansion
The EVM’s pervasive influence has led to the emergence of numerous new L1s running some form of EVM, making the porting of your protocol onto these networks more accessible. This year, the Tellor oracle has been launched on Gnosis Chain, Arbitrum, Optimism, and Filecoin’s FVM. Each expansion necessitates updates to our tooling, reporting software, and front ends to maintain compatibility with these new networks.
Tooling
Our suite of tools is continually being enhanced to monitor significant smart contract events in the Tellor protocol, especially when disputable values are submitted to the oracle and when data is requested. Tools that streamline the process of tipping and disputing for users are also under ongoing development. Among these tools are the Disputable Values Monitor (DVM) with an addition of auto-dispute functionality, custom Open-Zeppelin Defenders to receive key notifications in a discord server, and an auto-Tipper. We’ve also developed a custom tipper to greatly improve efficiency and readiness for Liquity-based protocols.
User Augmented Security
We’re developing “owned-ids” – custom query types that protocols using Tellor can build to increase the security of their feeds. These could, for instance, require reporters to lock up additional stake (possibly in their own token?) and their protocol would only read values that were submitted to Tellor from those addresses.
Block Hash Aggregator
To reinforce cross-chain bridge security, we’re building out a Tellor adapter for Hashi, an EVM Hash Oracle Aggregator. This development will allow our network of reporters to report block hashes to the Hashi protocol.
Events
In addition to our technical focus, we believe in the value of face-to-face interaction and brand promotion at IRL events. This year, we’ve attended or are planning to attend EthLisbon, EDCON in Montenegro, EthPrague, Polkadot Decoded, Stable Summit, EthCC, and the Blockchain Oracle Summit.
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As we transition into the latter half of 2023, we take pride in our accomplishments, but recognize that there is much work ahead. We continue to innovate, explore new opportunities, and respond to the challenges that come our way. We appreciate your continued interest and look forward to providing further updates in our upcoming posts.
