Axal’s [Optimistic] Oracle
Axal uses Uma's Optimistic Oracle to verify if agents act honestly.
Pretty much one of the most important parts of Axal is verifying actions → we actually just posted a blog about it.
To Tl;Dr it → even if you think you don’t want verification, or that a blockchain may be overkill, if I were to ask you, “Hey is it chill if the uber you paid for dropped you off a couple blocks away from where you actually wanted to go,” you’d probably go wild.
So, unless you’re cool having to hop on a citibike for those last few blocks, you care about verification.
Okay, so now that we’re on the same page about why tasks need to be verified → the question is how do we verify it?
Well, there’s an oracle that can solve that for us, and no it’s not Buffett.
Axal’s strategy at this moment is to use the optimistic oracle. The optimistic oracle is what secures both Across and Polymarket’s actions.
By using the optimistic oracle, we’re able to deliver users confidence that the tasks they requested executed at the best prices, and that they were actually done.
What is the optimistic oracle?
Created by big ballers at UMA (shout out to Hart and team, huge fans), the optimistic oracle allows for smart contracts to get and receive data.
UMA's Optimistic Oracle allows contracts to quickly request and receive price information.
The Optimistic Oracle acts as a generalized escalation game between contracts that initiate a price request and UMA's dispute resolution system known as the Data Verification Mechanism (DVM). Prices proposed by the Optimistic Oracle will not be sent to the DVM unless it is disputed.
They’re a lot better at explaining what it is and how it works than us, so if you’re curious to learn more about how the oracle works, check out their blog here, or this video of them explaining.
Blog: https://docs.uma.xyz/protocol-overview/how-does-umas-oracle-work
Video:
How Axal uses the Optimistic Oracle
Axal will use the oracle to confirm if solvers are acting honestly.
Essentially, we assume the agent acted honestly, but have a dispute window during which anyone can stake funds and raise a dispute if they think the agent actually messed up. UMA holders vote: if in favor of the agent then the disputer gets slashed, otherwise the agent gets slashed and the disputer gets rewarded.
Our first product, Autopilot, allows for you to invest in tokens across most EVM chains and also on Solana. We're currently using Across ( an intent based cross-chain swapping platform) along with some other bridges for rebalancing and bridging tokens between these chains, allowing us to perform these actions in just a few seconds.
Across provides the user intents to its registered solvers (also called Relayers), and leverages the UMA Optimistic Verification protocol to ensure that the swap was successful by verifying that solvers correctly fulfilled the user intents.
It does this by executing the cross-chain transactions according to the specified parameters. If there's a dispute about the fulfillment, UMA token holders can vote to resolve the dispute during a challenge period, serving as a decentralized oracle for determining the truthfulness of the transaction claims.
Check out Autopilot!
If you’re reading this, and you haven’t signed up for the beta version of Autopilot → you must!
We’re running a $5,000 competition, and the top 100 traders get $10 in AUSD.
Check it out here: https://autopilot.getaxal.com/
We go live with real money trading on Friday (Jan 31st) so really hope you check us out!