Shamba partners with Chainlink to bring geospatial data to smart contracts
We are happy to announce our partnership with Chainlink, the global decentralized oracle network, to bring geospatial data to smart contracts on blockchains. Through support from Chainlink in the form of a grant, Shamba is setting up a geospatial oracle node to provide parametric decentralized applications with geospatial data and analytics.
We’re excited to award Shamba with a grant to bring its geospatial data on-chain for social impact projects.
— Chainlink – Official Channel (@chainlink) November 12, 2021
Here’s how Shamba’s datasets will enable developers to build green #DeFi services & insurance products around fire hazards, crop yields, and more. https://t.co/6WwaYgY9NL
The same way DeFi (decentralized finance) protocols such as DEXs rely on price feeds to stay updated on token prices, real-world decentralized applications rely on sensor data feeds. These sensors, which may be on satellites, drones or IoT (Internet-of-Things) platforms, provide data feeds about the real world which are increasingly being used to power decentralized applications.
Parametric crop insurance is one application that is rapidly being redefined by smart contracts based on real-world data such as the weather. Shamba is bringing to blockchains much more of this real-world data to power a wider array of smart contracts, facilitating the exchange of value between parties in a transparent and cryptographically secure way.
In the near future, many products from fire to crop insurance, as well as prediction and carbon markets, will be reliant on geospatial data and the requisite analytics. By Shamba providing this data on-chain, smart contract developers can more easily access it to innovate and build a wide variety of decentralized applications.
To this end, Shamba is setting up a data oracle within the Chainlink network, and building a suite of tools to lessen the complexity of using geospatial data in decentralized applications. We look forward to supporting the DeFi ecosystem as it grows and branches out of tokens into real-world applications where the bulk of DeFi’s social impact will be felt.