Zap and Stox announced on Thursday a new partnership to provide real-world data about events listed on Stox’s prediction market. Teaming up with Zap, an ERC-20 token powering an oracle marketplace for smart contracts, will allow Stox, an Ethereum-based prediction market platform, to be completely decentralized, and could potentially create a network effect, attracting even more data providers.
In the context of blockchains and smart contracts, an oracle is an agent that finds and verifies real-world occurrences and submits this information for use by smart contracts. To this effect, Zap offers data from many diverse sources, allowing smart contracts to work behind the scenes to mitigate the risk of decisions being based on only a single source of data, said the company’s statement. Integration with the Stox platform will ensure prediction market participants have the most reliable and largest possible array of news and data points to inform their decisions.
Zap Co-Founder Nick Spanos (pictured) said, in a statement, “We believe the decentralized nature of a blockchain-based platform helps safeguard data using a cryptographic, consensus-based system. Blockchain-based prediction market platforms like Stox are distinct because they aim for a high level of decentralization. The usage of Zap oracles in a mainstream Ethereum platform, like Stox, will give other developers the confidence they need to trust the Zap platform and use data/oracles they find on our marketplace. This is merely the first step to empower people to disrupt the enterprise corporations and banks that have historically stifled innovation.”
According the company’s statement, the Zap Project is solving one of the biggest challenges in the blockchain industry – the need for oracles that can provide smart contracts with access to off-chain data. The partnership highlights the importance of decentralization protecting strong data for smart contracts.
CEO of Stox Yossi Peretz said, “Decentralization is valued by blockchain users because it is seen as a form of data protection, and it is a major selling point for blockchain platforms. Our blockchain-based prediction market proves how a prediction market can work with an oracle marketplace to not only bring real-world data onto the blockchain but to allow developers and speculators to arrive at a consensus about future events, as well.”
To learn more about Zap, visit http://www.zap.org/.
To learn more about Stox, visit https://www.stox.com/.