Community AMA, September 2023

DIA is hosting a monthly Telegram AMA session with the core team. The aim of this monthly event is to improve direct communication between DIA and it’s community, by collecting community concerns and suggestions and having the DIA core team answer them.

Below is a recap of the September 2023 Community AMA that took place on Sep 5th, 2023. In this Community AMA, we had with us Samuel Brack, Co-Founder & CTO, and Anze Noc, Community & DAO Lead at DIA. Lets take a look at what was discussed:

How does DIA address the challenges related to scalability, update costs, and interoperability often associated with oracles?

Scalability, update costs, and interoperability are major challenges in the oracle ecosystem, and we’ve tailored our strategy to mitigate them effectively. With years of operational experience across various platforms, DIA has developed a robust set of oracles that are updated through containerized feeders operating independently. This architecture enables us to scale seamlessly to meet growing demand.

Regarding gas costs, we’ve adopted a model where the customer requesting the oracle service covers these fees. This not only streamlines the process but also makes it financially efficient, allowing us to focus on other aspects of our service.

Interoperability is another area where we excel. Given that many of the blockchains we work with are EVM-compatible, we benefit from the ability to use a shared codebase for most of our operations. In the few cases where we need to adapt to a unique environment, we have the expertise to develop oracles for different codebases. So, whether it’s Ethereum or another blockchain, we’ve got it covered.

How does DIA mitigate incorrect or manipulated data?

Data integrity is paramount to us. To address the issue of erroneous or manipulated data, we’ve implemented several layers of security. Firstly, our system uses outlier detection algorithms to identify anomalous data points, which are temporarily removed from evaluation for specific feeds. This ensures that our data remains accurate and trustworthy.

In addition, for decentralized exchange (DEX) sources, we use liquidity and volume filters. This helps us ensure that the data we gather and provide is not only accurate but also actionable.

Beyond these automated processes, we also have manual mitigation protocols and alarms in place, allowing us to act quickly should an unexpected issue arise.

Any upcoming initiatives to enhance DIA’s oracles?

Continual improvement is at the core of DIA’s philosophy. To stay at the forefront of the DeFi ecosystem, we’re implementing several new features. One such initiative is DEX pool monitoring with associated liquidity restrictions, which will allow us to track pools for abnormal behavior or liquidity issues.

We’re also developing an alerting system to notify us of price or pool deviations in real-time, enabling quick action. To further enhance the reliability of our data, we plan to employ on-chain guardians for DEX pools to verify whether the to-be-reported prices are in line with highly liquid markets.

Additionally, we’re aiming to expand the number of sources used in calculating a price feed and are working towards further decentralizing our feeders and data sources.

How does DIA envision its future ecosystem beyond DeFi and NFTs?

While DeFi and NFTs are significant focus areas, DIA envisions a much broader application of its oracles. For instance, we’re exploring opportunities to provide data for real-world assets (RWAs) and on-chain bridge attestations. This would enable a seamless interaction between blockchain-based systems and traditional financial assets, while bridge attestations will add to the much-needed transparency in the interoperability space. We’re also working on providing foreign exchange (FX) data feeds for emerging markets to offer more comprehensive financial data services.

What are DIA’s thoughts on integrating Zero-Knowledge Proofs?

Zero-Knowledge Proofs (zkProofs) offer an exciting frontier for enhancing the privacy and scalability of blockchain networks. We’re in the exploratory phase of how to incorporate this technology into our stack. While it’s still early days, we believe zkProofs have the potential to bring significant advancements in both data integrity and confidentiality for oracles.

Can you give some insight into the DIA bounty program?

In light of market uncertainties, our focus is squarely on initiatives and roles that add immediate value to our core operation. Our DAO encompasses a variety of roles, such as community hub operation, content creation, and research, among others.

While we are vigilant about managing growth to avoid bloating operating costs, we are optimistic about the future. Once market conditions stabilize and interest rekindles, we’re geared to scale, launching more marketing and community initiatives as well as ramping up content production.

What’s DIA’s growth strategy? Established chains or emerging ones?

Our strategy is twofold: to consolidate our presence on established chains and to be pioneers on emerging, innovative networks. A prime example of this approach was our early deployment on Astar, which allowed us to become a go-to oracle solution for developers there. Our main value proposition lies in our rapid deployment capabilities, the high degree of customizability we offer, and our transparent approach to data sources.

Looking ahead, we aim to expand our footprint to over 40 established and emerging Layer 1 and Layer 2 networks, becoming an even more versatile and ubiquitous oracle solution.

Any job openings at DIA?

Yes, we’re actively recruiting for a specific position! We’re particularly keen on finding a Lead Web3 QA Engineer to join our core development team. For more details and application instructions, you can visit this link.

If you have skills that can contribute to DIA’s growth, we invite you to join one of our DAO guilds. You can find out more about how to apply on our DIA DAO bounty board.

Have questions for the DIA core team? Submit the questions here and get featured in the next AMA in October 2023: https://forms.gle/cUDRwuEDm6UUHPWe6