Zap Store: Access Oracles That Bring Real-World Data to Smart Contracts

Written by cryptoresearch | Published 2018/03/13
Tech Story Tags: blockchain | cryptocurrency | ico | ethereum | investing

TLDRvia the TL;DR App

Blockchain technology has, and will continue to, transform the way in which many industries are structured and how the processes within these industries are conducted. In many instances the blockchain is used to remove the actions of a middleman, who may conduct, assist with, or oversee a transaction between two parties, and one field in which the utilization of blockchain is in its infancy, is the monetization of data.

The Zap store will allow any user to become an oracle by building a peer-to-peer ecosystem in which all types of data can be made available to those interested. Such a platform essentially crowd sources the most qualified, and enthusiastic parties to share the information required to develop the Dapps and smart contracts need to make the system function efficiently, it will also

create the opportunity to monetize the data complied by any device linked to the Internet of Things (IoT)

Zap aims to achieve this goal by following three core objectives:

Build a secure Source Agnostic Oracle Network — Anyone with useful data should have the opportunity to become and oracle in order to share their information without other interested parties. Zap will incorporate blockchain technology, smart contracts and Dapps to handle off-chain processes, to create such a platform.

Incentivize Oracle Creation and Curation — To maintain the network and facilitate growth, ZAP will reward users for helping to create, support and/or use an oracle.

Fuel Development of Next-Gen Embedded Dapps — Dapps form the backbone of off-chain processes tied to the blockchain through smart contracts. They are a vital part of the Ethereum ecosystem and the Web 3.0 paradigm, and are still in their infancy when it comes to unlocking their full potential. Zap gives the power of creation to the user, who, through monetizing data will enable a whole new generation of Dapps covering a wide range of abilities.

These decentralized apps provide oraclized data upon which smart contracts can make decisions. However, in order for Dapps and smart contracts to gather data and complete processes off-chain, users must contribute this off-chain data manually, and the Zap oracle marketplace is the solution.

The Zap Ecosystem

Zap is built upon a provider-subscriber model administered by the ZapMarket contract, which acts as a registry for data bids and asks. It allows peers to communicate with each other so that providers can monetize information and subscribers can receive it.

Users interact with the blockchain and Zap’s fundamental subsystems using Web3 and IPFS, which is integrated into a common client. And the transaction process is facilitated using a set of contracts that are administered to the provider and seller:

Provider

· Real time datafeed

· Ethereum address registered with ZapMarket contract

· IPFS keypair public key with ZapMarket contract

· Data encryption public key registered with ZapMarket contract

· Quantity of ZAP bonded to the ZapMarket contract

Subscribers

· Ethereum address registered with ZapMarket contract

· IPFS public key registered with ZapMarket contract

· Data encryption on public key registered with ZapMarket contract

· Quantity of ZAP bonded under an existing provider in the ZapMarket contract

In addition to these contracts the architecture also features an Oracle-bonding mechanism that generates access tokens when users bond Zap tokens to a particular oracle in order to subscribe to its data feed, encrypted peer-to-peer data feeds that monetize information via the ZapMarket contract, an off-chain oracle data proxy deployed by the ZapDataProxy contract and a Merkling of oracle event request and has anchoring to validate historical data; a service provided by the Zap network.

Zap Token

Transactions on the Zap platform will be paid for with the Zap Token, an Ethereum token that will be used to monetize data feeds and/or gain the rights to access such data.

In order to introduce several economic factors, the team chose not to set up payments in a direct peer-to-peer manner, instead they designed in depth smart contracts and launch the first mechanism for bonding oracles to the network.

This structure of the ecosystem acts as a refinement tool, and incentivizes the discovery and publicity of potentially useful data, as well as utilizing many of the same economic incentives as prediction markets.

Smart contracts allow funds to be held in escrow, they also allow for third parties speculators to insert themselves into the ecosystem by bonding to oracles. Instead of providing or searching for data, these speculators are rewarded based on their ability to locate and bond to oracles that become useful in the future.

Inspired in part by Simon de la Rouviere’s writings on curation markets, bonding gives users access tokens that are use to query an oracle, or destroyed to release Zap back to the user. The amount of Dots generated from one token will be determined by a price/supply curve delineated by the data provider.

Using this novel approach The Zap store is working toward becoming the premier provider of data for smart contracts.

Real World Applications

The team sees the platform being put to real-world application by the finance industry, real estate, and shipping to name just a few.

Insurance companies may be able to develop self-actuating insurance policies that can execute pay outs if/when certain predetermined factors have been met.

Real estate companies may be able to gather important data such as real-time heat maps of specific areas, smart contracts are also able to automatically execute transfer of ownership, as well as rights, rules and regulations for rentals.

Shipping companies can benefit greatly from the implementation of smart contracts to track shipments, inventory and economic activity. They can be used to verify shipments and payments can be held in escrow until shipments are completed. In addition, the shipping industry is known for the sheer magnitude of data it produces, some of which is already been utilized by much of it goes to un analyzed. The shipping industry could monetize this data as an oracle to other to help better determine market trends.

The public beta web and mobile applications are already available on GitHub and are functioning on the Ethereum testnet. Based on feedback from the community the team has refined the oracle creation process, which leaves much of the variables up to the end user, allowing for a truly free market for data and oracles.

Valuable Information

Coin Name : Zap Store (ZAP)

Total Supply : — 520,000,000 ZAP

Pre Ico Price : — 2000 ZAP per ETH

Ico Price : — 1 ZAP = 0.85 USD

Social Media Information

Facebook

URL : — https://www.facebook.com/officialzapstore/

Likes : 2,540 likes and 2,610 followers

How Many Posts / Updates In The Last 7 Days : -1 post

Twitter

URL : https://twitter.com/ZapOracles

Followers :1,286 followers

How Many Tweets / Retweets In The Last 7 Days : 3 posts

Telegram

URL : — https://twitter.com/ZapOracles

Users : 751 members

Telegram Admins

User Name: @acpzap

User name: @Gynezyz

User Name: @benyoung

User Name: @bitcoin_for_sale

Reddit

URL : — https://www.reddit.com/r/ZapStore/

Readers :315 readers

Youtube

URL : — https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCj53uS32K8UwQCytBwPqmtg

Subscribers : — 667 subscribers

Medium

URL : — https://media.zapproject.org/

Followers : 415 followers

How Many Updates In The Last 7 Days : — post

LinkedIn

URL : — https://www.linkedin.com/company/zap-store/

Followers : 1,301 followers

How Many Updates In The Last 7 Days : 3 posts

GitHub

URL : — https://github.com/zapproject

How Many Updates In The Last 7 Days :1 post

Staff / Team Info

Name : Nick Spanos

Title : Team Leader

Name : Nick Allen

Title : Product Director

Name : Ben Young

Title : Creative Director

LinkedIn : — https://www.linkedin.com/in/benyoungnyc

Name : Tom St Laurent

Title : Technical Director

Name : Hamdan Azhar

Title : Data Scientist

LinkedIn : — https://www.linkedin.com/in/hamdanazhar/

Name : Rani

Title : Compliance Advisor

LinkedIn : — https://www.linkedin.com/in/oto-rem-s%C3%BCvari-1a5351ab/

Name : Steven Geros

Title : Lead Blockchain Architect

Name : Kumail

Title : Senior Web Developer

Name : Marc Proferes

Title : Editorial Director

Name : Kasper Abildgaard Svendsen

Title : Head of Business Development

Name : Eric Dixon

Title : Strategy & Legal Advisor

Name : Emil Lassen

Title : Business Development

Name : Sean Scappaticci

Title : Community Manager

Name : Sean Scappaticci

Title : Community Manager

Name : John Leelike

Title : Blockchain Strategist

Name : Andy Goldstein

Title : Metal

Name : Jonathan Heyman

Title : Advisor

Name : Danny Zaterman

Title : MIT

Name : Matt Hollander

LinkedIn : — https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-hollander-23b07b8/

Name : Alex Dziejma

Title : Advisor

Name : Peter Mikkelsen

Title : Nordic Blockchain Association

Company Address :

Zug, Switzerland


Published by HackerNoon on 2018/03/13