Orcfax development of composite oracle feed

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Christian Koch

[GENERAL] Are you delivering this project as an individual or as an entity (whether formally incorporated or not)

Entity (Incorporated)

[GENERAL] Please specify how many months you expect your project to last (from 2-12 months)

6

[GENERAL] Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated into English from another language

No

[GENERAL] Summarize your solution to the problem (200-character limit including spaces)

Orcfax will leverage its previously published on-chain data to publish composite prices (eg SMA) and will develop an auditable archival package with a full provenance chain for price-feed integrators.

[GENERAL] Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?

No

[GENERAL] If YES, please describe what the dependency is and why you believe it is essential for your project’s delivery. If NO, please write “No dependencies.”

N/A

[GENERAL] Will your project’s output/s be fully open source?

Yes

[GENERAL] Please provide here more information on the open source status of your project outputs

We will release deliverables under an Apache 2.0 license.

[METADATA] Horizons

Oracles

[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution

Orcfax will use previously published on-chain data in order to calculate composite prices for a new type of Orcfax feed and will publish these composite prices (e.g. a simple moving average) on-chain for use in integrator smart contracts. To do this, an oracle post-processing layer will be developed using Cardano tooling that provides the application with different statistical outputs to previous oracle data-points. A price-feed demonstrating a calculation method will be developed that brings together previous oracle archive data with new data supporting the verification of a new “composite” price calculation for publication on-chain and for subscription by those requiring decentralized oracle data.

Orcfax will develop an auditable archival package that references previous on-chain data and off-chain archival packages to create a full provenance chain for price-feed integrators. A new price-feed type will be proposed and integrated with the Orcfax Explorer that clearly marks the purpose of the feed, displays its data-points. The specification for this feed will also be published.

A showcase price-feed demonstrating the above will be published and made available for potential de-fi integrators to evaluate.

[IMPACT] Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community

The Cardano ecosystem is desperate for viable oracle service providers. In the absence of trustworthy, audited oracle providers we lag behind other Layer 1 blockchains in DeFi adoption and expansion. Orcfax has become a key player in the Cardano oracle landscape. This project will demonstrate the emergent possibilities of verifiable Oracle data that is archived with documented provenance.

The new feed type resulting from this project will demonstrate the dynamic potential of DeFi oracle data and will bring its application closer in-line with its TradFi counterparts while providing greater possibilities for decision making and risk-management for DeFi investors.

[CAPABILITY & FEASIBILITY] What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability? How do you intend to validate if your approach is feasible?

For more than two years the Orcfax team has researched and developed a comprehensive solution to the oracle problem for Cardano-native dApps and smart contracts. We have developed an open oracle publishing protocol and have been using it to publish an ADA/USD price feed to Cardano Mainnet since Q1 of 2024, and many others (including CNT feeds) since the Q3 of 2024.

We have an active Discord and Twitter community where our ideas, requirements and deployment progress are scrutinized and debated. We participate widely in conferences such as Cardano Summit and Rare Evo; we also frequently take part in live events and interviews in order to raise awareness about our mission and product offering.

We expect to discuss and share the findings and deliverables of this project in the same community-driven way to ensure trust and accountability.

[PROJECT MILESTONES] What are the key milestones you need to achieve in order to complete your project successfully?

Milestone 1

a. Output: Design of an oracle post-processing layer for the aggregation of previous price-feed data and post-processing audit packages / archival package. 

b. Criteria: Documentation of the design and its requirements and configuration options. 

c. Evidence: Documentation appears in the Orcfax documentation repository.

Milestone 2

a. Output: Implementation of the post-processing layer and audit package.

b. Criteria: Code successfully generates auditable output from the post-processing layer.

c. Evidence: Output will appear in the Orcfax fact statement repository, Code will be made available on GitHub.

Milestone 3

a. Output: Integration of composite price-feed with preview.

b. Criteria: The Orcfax composite tooling can forward packages to Orcfax’s notary service and onto publication on-chain and into permanent decentralized storage. 

c. Evidence: Data is accessible on-chain (preview) and on permanent storage continuously for a 24+ hour period.

Milestone 4

a. Output: Integration with Orcfax explorer 

b. Criteria: Composite price feed can be identified and searched for on the Orcfax explorer.

c. Evidence: Selection of price-feed type and visualization of data-points are public on the Orcfax explorer.

Milestone 5

a. Output: Transition of composite price-feed to mainnet.

b. Criteria: Data is published as part of Orcfax’s stream of showcase price feeds on mainnet.

c. Evidence: Data is visible on the Orcfax explorer and can be integrated through reference inputs on Cardano mainnet.

Final Milestone

a: Milestone outputs - PDF report and MP4 video.

b: Acceptance criteria - close-out report and video accepted by Project Catalyst.

c: Evidence of milestone completion - Close-out report shared on Github. Close-out video shared on YouTube.

[RESOURCES] Who is in the project team and what are their roles?

Project lead & System Analyst: Christian Koch

Christian is an analyst, researcher and information systems professional who holds a Masters Degree in Archival Science with a focus on blockchain technology. Christian serves as the primary liaison between the development team, Orcfax clients and our community management team.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-mk/

Lead developer: Ross Spencer

Ross is Orcfax’s senior systems architect and leads the development and implementation of the Orcfax architecture infrastructure. Ross has over two decades experience developing and maintaining open-source digital preservation software that is in use at major memory institutions worldwide.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ross-spencer-b6b9b758/

Frontend Developer: Gabriel Chartier

Gabriel is the Orcfax teams’ front-end web developer and leads our Explorer development efforts. Gabriel has significant industry expertise and focusses on projects that improve upon the liberation, accessibility and decentralization of information and knowledge.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriel-chartier/

DApp developer: Dominic ‘waalge’ Wallis

Former Math PhD, ML/NLP engineer, and full stack dev, waalge has been developing dApps on Cardano since the Alonzo HF.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominic-algernon-wallis-123b42187/

[BUDGET & COSTS] Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources

To accommodate for the fluctuation in ADA price, which creates a conversion risk and a potential budget shortfall, we established a budget base price of $0.25 ADA for calculating our expenses.

We will employ 3 software engineers at part time ($100/hr = 400 ADA/hr) and 1 system analyst at part time ($75/hr = 300 ADA/hr) to complete this work over a six month period. The systems analyst role includes requirements analysis, documentation, user acceptance testing, reporting and community management.

M1. 20d == 140 hrs

M2. 30d == 210 hrs

M3. 30d == 210 hrs

M4. 30d == 210 hrs

M5. 30d == 210 hrs

M6. 6d == 43 hrs

contingency (10% average task size) = 102 hrs

Total hours: 1023 + 102 = 1125

Total budget: 1125 x 375₳ (avg cost) = 421,875₳

[VALUE FOR MONEY] How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?

The Cardano community is lagging behind other Layer 1 blockchains in its oracle infrastructure. The Orcfax project has delivered its CEX and CNT data feeds on Cardano mainnet in mid-2024 as promised. We have implemented a unique approach to data provenance verification and have introduced the most cost-effective model for publishing oracle data in Cardano’s eUTXO model. The new Orcfax feed resulting from this proposal will increase integrator use cases and further demonstrate the use of verifiable on-chain data for down-stream users.