[FINAL] Scry Protocol - Fully Decentralized and Independent Oracle and Data Infrastructure

ARCHIVED & OLD Missions
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1

S4 Intent :
Intent 1: Progress Towards Technical Decentralization

Proposed Mission: Please include a one line description (tl;dr)
Create a decentralized oracle infrastructure framework for self deployable oracles for real data decentralization.

Proposal Tier :
Fledgling Tier

Please verify that you meet the qualifications for submitting at the above Tier: If an Alliance is comprised of individual contributors tiers, the Tier at which that Alliance may submit should be the Tier at which the Alliance Lead qualifies.
Received RPGF under Scry

Baseline grant amount:
200,000 OP

% of total available Intent Budget:
20

Please check here if access to upfront capital is a barrier to completing your Mission and you would like to be considered for a small upfront cash grant: yes

Alliance name:
Scry

Alliance Lead:
PR0

Contact info:
notpr0 on Discord

L2 recipient address:
0x9D31e30003f253563Ff108BC60B16Fdf2c93abb5

Please list the members of your Alliance and link to any previous work:
PR0
docs.scry.finance

Please explain how this Mission will help accomplish the above Intent:
Scry is the only framework in the space that allows anyone to create and run a fully independant oracle with full node, contract and even front end control. All other oracle systems require a token and permissioned signers that are unknown to the user.

This allows the space to create an open and decentralized underlying layer for data being brought onchain. The only way to decentralize the Optimism network would be not just the layer 1 and 2 but also the core and key components to allow developers and users to have open source and decentralized tools powering their dapps and use cases.

We have a framework that allows even non technical users to run fully autonomous oracles fully independently with no control by any other party. This includes the contract, the signers and the node. By allowing anyone to run an oracle in a sustainable, profitable and open way the dapps on top also become decentralized.
This helps understand the mission

What makes your Alliance well-suited to execute this Mission?
We have developed many of the tools already. We show capability by doing. You can explore the docs at docs.scry.finance to see the tools in action. We smply want to continue being able to build, improve and create these tools and spread awareness and decentralization at our core.

Please list a critical milestone. The critical milestone should be a measure of whether you’ve made best efforts to execute what is outlined in this proposal or not. If you fail to achieve your critical milestone, your grant may be clawed back.
Build a fully capable node with documentation and contract system that can be used by anyone to run a fully jndependant oracle. The following features will be developed that are NEW and not already seen as we already have super powerful and key tools for apj interfaces for arbitrary endpoints and VRF

  • Cross chain data access by interfacing with layer 1 and able to access data such as block data, contract state and balances. This alone would allow for much more secure contracts that can access layer 1 state.
  • Cross chain access to external chains that are EVM compatible
    Onboard atleast 3 other parties to run nodes and be data providers, showing them on an interface for discoverabjljty and to show that the tools are operational and able to be used independantly. Includes projects using the infrastructure

How should Token House delegates measure progress towards this Mission: These should focus on progress towards completion. Including expected completion dates for each is recommended.

  • Benchmark Milestone 1 (please include expected completion date for each)
    Layer 1 support for data such as current block, state root hash.
    Layer 1 support for calls to arbitrary contracts, for say ERC 20 balance lookups.
    1 user onboarded from the community to run a node to show can be done.
    August 16
  • Benchmark Milestone 2 (please include expected completion date for each)
    Arbitrary EVM network compatibility for contract state for ERC 20 and preset contract types using any RPC.
    September 10
  • Benchmark Milestone 3 (please include expected completion date for each)
    Arbitrary EVM network compatibility for contract state for ERC 20 and preset contract types using any RPC.
    Arbitrary contract and ABI interface for access to any contracts data.
    2 projects onboarded.
    A meta oracle contract to be able to batch data from N oracles for highly secure decentralized oracle data request and lookup
    October 10

How should badgeholders measure impact upon completion of this Mission? These should be focused on performance and may be used by badgeholders to assess your Misson’s impact in the next round of RetroPGF.

  • KPI 1
    X Users running nodes for decentralized choice in data sources
  • KPI 2
    X Projects using the infrastructure with X TVL

We are also looking at allowing staking and slashing by a sub committee for optional security guarantees on data by oracles. This will provide a new use case for OP and should be ready by RPGF cycle, but not the priority. TVL/net stake for OP could be used if ready by then.

Breakdown of Mission budget request:
130k for developer compensation. Includes bringing on other devs to help build out the infrastructure, tools, front end, docs as needed. Am personally full-time and have been burning through my own savings in developing this up to now with 0 funding. Will allow this to be more sustainable
40k for bounties and reviews for security using agreement on token allocation on unlock
30k User and project incentives for running and using the infrastructure
I confirm that my grant will be subject to clawback for failure to execute on critical milestones: Yes

I confirm that I have read and understand the grant policies: Yes

I understand that I will be required to provide additional KYC information to the Optimism Foundation to receive this grant: Yes

I understand that I will be expected to following the public grant reporting requirements outlined here: Yes

Further notes and context
For reference you can already deploy your own oracles with the tools, on OP, using binaries or fully with ur own stack, so if you are skeptical can just try deploying your own!
docs.scry.finance
Should we receive a grant from OP we will build the infrastructure for OP to be used on the Optimism network as the collateral token creating a new use case in exchange for supporting what we do.

To be clear we are seeking a grant to enable us to keep being able to build these tools sustainably and keep the core infrastructure open source, permissionless and free, as well as not require tokens. We are looking at a token later potentially if needed but the token would only be for us to have some way to sustain the free and open source and permissionless tools and infrastructure we create. We currently have had no funding, other than a 5k in OP from retro pgf and are fully self funded up to now from our own funds personally. So the only path forward would either be a token or a grant to keep being able to build.

2 Likes
2

I’m a delegate with enough voting power to approve this mission proposal.

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3

I’m a delegate with enough voting power to approve this mission proposal.

1 Like
4

I would love to see OP staked on these nodes in the future. Making a consensus system with selected nodes and staked OP on each of them will be slashed if they provide inaccurate data too far away from a threshold set. This will make data LP more trustworthy.

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I am an Optimism delegate with sufficient voting power and I believe this proposal is ready to move to a vote.

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Thats the idea except for the preselected part, trying to keep this as jndependant and free market as possible, whereby projects/devs can choose oracles based on rep/collateral/cost and the slashing be handled by some subcommittee. Still in the early phase but the underlying ideas to create better economic guarantees around security without affecting the permissionless or decentralization at all.

7

I believe this proposal is ready for vote. Delegate Commitments - #71 by MoneyManDoug

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Enable OP staking and give slashing handling to token holders. This will bring decentralization 100%

9

I am an Optimism delegate with enough voting power to approve this mission proposal and I believe it is ready for a vote.

10

Will be voting against of this, nature of onchian voting cant be reversed so making it visible so that others can chime in if they have any query on my voting rational.

Thank you for submitting your proposal.

Totally agree that oracle space is monopolized by one player as mentioned in your documentation and we need more innovation in oracle space.

Also from your documentation.

What is the $SCRY Token?
$SCRY is a unique token designed for use in the Morpheus framework. This protocol enables developers to make on-chain requests from any API in web2 for their web3 apps. The $SCRY token is used as a form of collateral in this system, staked by oracles to ensure the accurate provision of data. This economic stake serves as an insurance mechanism: oracles providing incorrect data risk getting their staked tokens slashed by a designated committee.

If my understanding is correct, it is mandatory to have native token staked to run the node. I understand its necessary to penalize the bad behaviors but I dont support use of gov fund in any form used to put artificial buy pressure of project native token.

11

Can you say why? Those docs are a contingency tbh if we dont get alternative funding routes and also will be updated to use OP should we get funding from Optimism, currently the token and staking are not deployed. To be clear even if we do implement our token for collateral or OP nodes are NOT required to stake at all to run the node. The token can be staked to provide collateral on the data you submit which CAN be slashed for providing bad data by a chosen subcommittee.

You can run an oracle, provide data, sell data, on any EVM, using your own signers with 0 token or staking, purely optional for projects to feel safer knowng the data has an economic reason to be accurate. The infrastructure at all parts are able to be fully jndependant with 0 token requirement or any other dependency on anyone, even me for any part. The nodes, the contract and even a front end can be fully deployed and are open source.

To be clear the token would only be for us to have some way to sustain the free and open source and permissionless tools and infrastructure we create. We currently have had no funding, other than a 5k in OP from retro and are fully self funded up to now from our own funds personally. So the only path forward would either be a token or a grant to keep being able to build. Should we receive a grant from OP we will build the infrastructure for OP to be used on the Optimism network as the collateral toekn creating a new use case in exchange for supporting what we do. Should that not happen yes, we would use a token for the project for all networks, although again would be fully optional and only for data collateralization.

This can be found directly under in the docs

Screenshot_20230629_120358_Chrome
Screenshot_20230629_120358_Chrome1080×1768 147 KB

Hope this makes it clear.

2 Likes
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For reference you can already deploy your own oracles with the tools, on OP, using binaries or fully with ur own stack and the tokens not even live yet, so theres no way for it to be a requirement since we already have production oracles up and the tools available for anyone to do the same, so if you are skeptical can just try deploying your own!Build Your Own Oracle - Scry Protocol

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I think this is the best propositon but the most complicated and expensive but still the best.

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GM Scry Protocol team! Even when is the higher budget for this intent, I believe that this project can substantially promote technical decentralization and I would like to see its development, but I was struck by the last point. How will you deal with the one year blocking for the OP? Will you put in your own funds and then replenish them? Can this project be developed without an upfront payment?

Thank you so much and good luck!

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I think this project is great and right on target as far as things we need as an ecosystem go. @Pr0 is exactly the kind of forward-thinking engineer we should be supporting.

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Tbh the lock doesnt really matter to me since have been self funding this so far, and dont mind continuing to do so, as long as know that eventually will be able to atleast get some compensation back later on since my time could very easily just be directed to much lower effort, higher paying web3 jobs for projects with high marketing budgets and so high treasuries/tokens rather than developing this, or forcing tokens in, or simply restricting with licenses which has been a consideration in order to try get some funding to continue being able to build, but it goes against my core values and isnt what interests me and the reason am here which is why havent done so and continue to keep all the infra fully open source and permissionless without any token requirement.

So it’s not really critical to the proposal, and have even been busy with the target milestones without even having approval, and even if dont get it for whatever reason such as not meeting quorum, still plan to finish up these features, this simply is a way for me to make the project more sustainable to keep building in a fully open and permissionless way, not just for the next 12m.

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Perfect, thank you very much for your answer :slightly_smiling_face:

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By the way for anyone that wants to actually try out the infrastructure am open to showing people how to set up an oracle themselves and actually try out what we are building. You dont even need to be technical and allows people to actually see what they are funding directly and why it matters.

1 Like
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Thank you for sharing your proposal. I would have voted abstain on this had it been an option. The amount requested is high (~$242k at today’s price) and I don’t feel strongly enough about this proposal to vote yes. Also received technical input from my colleague Jordan Clifford and he came to the same conclusion.

20

What you see above is the cost of deploying an actually useful smart contract-based protocol. It’s why unless builders making products of this nature are supported by programs like this grantmaking body, they raise money from VCs or token sales. People need to recognize that novel stuff like this is going to be expensive and be prepared to spend more for it relative to other Missions we’ve seen here.

In scry’s case, part is to bring on extra developers (because this is a one-dev show right now), part is to bring on auditors, and part is to encourage users to bootstrap the protocol’s network. Much of what we’re planning to do with RFGs is to decrease this cost systemwide.

Until we get there, I think it’s appropriate to give more in support of bootstrapping from scratch a potentially immensely useful oracle, something unique among the missions here in that it’s a product builders have actually asked for. This is the kind of thing we talk about when we say we want to incentivize building and decentralization – actual infrastructure rather than the 30th dashboard proposal.

Let’s go through some details of claims here:

  1. Custom, bottom-up VRF mechanism that can be verified for authenticity onchain with hard cryptographic-based guarantees for being tamper proof, not reistant.
  2. Only oracle infrastructure that allows users to run their own fully independent oracles, source their own data, choose their data providers, avoid backward compatibility issues and the need for custom contracts for data lookup.
  3. No coding required, great for decentralization – potentially many steps beyond existing providers in this direction. Think Dappnode usability but for a wholly new application.
  4. Fully open source, no licensing, no token. Completely free; an actual public good.

We don’t know completely if it works, but if it does, this could be a gift with enormous upside. The engineer has signaled a commitment to Optimism. This could be a big draw for advanced apps requiring better/more decentralized oracle services.

Hidden in this proposal, by the way, is an actually interesting potential use of the OP token, one that goes beyond the tired (and potentially legally fraught) discussion of it as a gas token.

This proposal should be an obvious one to support.

1 Like