The Evolution of the Oracle Machine ( 1 ): From Data Bridge to Smart Trust Layer

Author: 0xhhh

Introduction: Blind Spots of Trust

Blockchain is a revolution about trust, but its trust is closed.

It believes in mathematics but does not believe in the world.

Early blockchain was like a logician: it believed in reasoning but rejected perception.

Bitcoin trusts hash, not people; Ethereum trusts code, not input.

So, when a contract wants to ask “What is the price of ETH?”, it falls silent.

This is not a technical flaw, but a boundary of philosophy.

The determinism of blockchain comes from its separation from the external world.

The source of trust is isolation.

But without connection, there is no meaning.

The history of humanity building trust systems is a process of continuously allowing the “system” to see the “reality” again.

The oracle is the first hand reaching out from this裂缝.

It is both a connection and a pollution;

It is both a breakthrough and the starting point of a crisis.

2. Phase One: The Cracks in the Cave (2015–2018)

Background: A Closed Intelligent Island

In 2015, Ethereum brought “code is law” to the world.

But the law requires evidence, and there are no “external facts” on the blockchain.

A “weather-based payout” contract cannot know if it will rain today;

A synthetic asset that “tracks stock prices” cannot see Nasdaq.

Smart contracts have become prisoners in Plato's cave, only able to gaze at the shadows on the chain.

The purity of blockchain has also become its shackles.

Question: How to “see” without being polluted

How to let the blockchain see the outside world without being polluted by it?

Trusting external data means introducing subjectivity and centralization, while the purpose of blockchain's existence is to eliminate both.

Thus, “trusted input” has become the first paradox of the decentralized trust system.

Technological Evolution

• Oraclize (Provable): Proves that the data indeed comes from a specific source through TLSNotary.
• Town Crier (Cornell): Secure data retrieval using Intel SGX Trusted Execution Environment.
• Chainlink (2017): Proposed a decentralized oracle network, where nodes stake LINK, aggregate data, and form weighted consensus.

The First Breath of Trust

Blockchain makes trust logical; Oracles make trust tangible.

Machines have learned to “trust” for the first time, while humans begin to define truth with algorithms.

Phase Two: The Market of Truth (2019–2021)

Background: The Trust Hunger of DeFi

The explosion of DeFi has made price feeding the lifeline of the system.

Clearing, derivatives, stablecoins, and synthetic assets all rely on external prices.

But once price manipulation occurs, it may trigger a chain reaction.

The truth becomes an arbitrageable resource.

Technological Evolution

• Tellor (TRB): A system that generates truth through a staking and dispute mechanism in a game-theoretic context.
• UMA (Optimistic Oracle): Trust by default until challenged.
• Kleros (PNK): Decentralized jury for adjudicating factual disputes.
• Band Protocol / DIA: Introduce an API layer compromise solution to balance speed and credibility.

The Era of Trust Games

Tellor makes truth a game equilibrium,

UMA makes truth the default state,

Kleros makes truth a social contract.

Trust is no longer a list, but the result of a game.

The truth was first “marketized”.

Four, Phase Three: The War of Time (2021–2023)

Background: The Crisis of Delayed Truth

In the era of high-frequency trading and clearing, delay is risk.

When the truth is slower than a lie, the system will punish the truth.

Technological Evolution

• Pyth Network (PYTH): Directly signed quotes from exchanges, the source is the node.
• RedStone (RED): Pull feed prices on demand, execute and verify.
• API3: First-party oracle, data source signs and publishes itself.
• Band Protocol: Implementing a cross-chain data layer on Cosmos.

When Time Becomes the Shape of Truth

Trust shifts from 'correct' to 'timely'.

The oracle becomes the “arbiter of time.”

Delay has become a new dimension of trust.

??? Trust Begins to Have a Price: The Awakening of OEV (2023–2024)

OEV (Oracle Extractable Value)

—— The arbitrage difference between truth and time.

The moment of price update is not only an information event but also a value event.

The order of truth dissemination begins to determine the distribution of wealth.

The question is no longer “Is it true?” but “Who benefits from the truth?”.

Technology and Mechanism Evolution

Chainlink OEV Network (2024): Create an OEV auction market to allow priority update rights to be bid on.

Pyth / SEDA: Suppressing internal arbitrage through timestamp signatures and a random committee.

RedStone Pull mode: Naturally eliminates time difference, leaving no arbitrage window.

The truth begins to be priced

OEV gives economic weight to trust.

In the past, we discussed “who is telling the truth,”

Now let's discuss “Who profits from the truth.”

Trust extends from factual verification to value governance.

Five, Stage Four: The Collision of Intelligence and Privacy (2023–2025)

Background: AI Entering the Trust System

AI models can assess the market and analyze news, but their “authenticity” cannot be verified.

When machines start to determine the truth, how should we judge the machines?

Technological Evolution

• Oraichain (ORAI): Verifiable AI reasoning (Proof of Execution).
• Phala / iExec: Generate remote proofs using TEE trusted hardware.
• SEDA / Supra / Entangle: Integrating AI verification with cross-chain synchronization.

Rational Verification

When we ask machines to prove their rationality,

Oracle transforms from “verifying the world” to “verifying intelligence.”

Trust extends to the judgment layer.

6. Fifth Stage: Trust Reconstruction in the Agent Era (2025 →)

Background: The Rise of AI Agents

AI Agents have the capability for economic behavior.

They sign contracts, negotiate cooperation, and execute transactions.

But algorithms have no morals, only inputs.

When agents trade with each other, who ensures that they see the same world?

Technological Evolution

• Sora Oracle (SORA): AI Oracle + Payment Protocol + Prediction Market, forming a cognitive self-correction system.
• Flux / OptionRoom: Embed prediction markets for fact verification.
• Orochi Network: Build a machine identity system to enable traceable judgments.

Rebuilding Trust

When intelligent agents become societal entities, humans transition from 'trust bearers' to 'trust designers.'

Trust between machines is not emotional, but contractual.

Oracle has transformed from a data interface into a civilizational structure.

VII. Conclusion: From Data Bridge to Smart Trust Layer

Ten Years of Evolution, Every Upgrade of Oracle

All stem from a trust crisis and have also opened up new boundaries.

Blockchain makes trust computable; Oracle makes reality computable; AI Oracle makes intelligence computable.

Oracle is no longer just a bridge, but a trust layer for intelligent civilization.

written at the end

If the blockchain is the memory layer of civilization, Oracle is the sensory layer of civilization.

We are teaching machines something unprecedented: how to perceive honestly.

When the intelligent society truly arrives, Oracle will not just transmit data, but will transmit a form of truth.