Orcfax Explorer: Improving "Trust But Verify"

[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] Co-proposers and additional applicants

Gabriel Chartier

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

4

[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)

The Orcfax Explorer allows users to “trust but verify” the oracle data that their Cardano dApps use. We will enhance it with visualizations, audit log downloads, real-time stats and incident reports.

[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.”

No dependencies

[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 the Orcfax Explorer source code under an Apache 2.0 license.

[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution

The Orcfax Explorer was launched in late 2024 and provides a powerful demonstration of the “Trust but Verify” concept to the Cardano community and other stakeholders interested in the price of ADA cryptocurrency. 

Each Orcfax fact statement that is published as transaction datum on the Cardano blockchain has a corresponding source data audit trail that can be easily searched and browsed via the Orcfax Explorer. These audit log packages document how the primary source data was collected and validated. They are formatted according to open industry standards that enable interoperability and digital permanence. 

Not all oracle data stakeholders are software engineers. The average user needs to be able to trust but verify that the external data their dApps are using to settle major financial transactions are authentic and accurate. The Orcfax Explorer provides a human-readable portal to perform this critical accountability check. The Explorer will also serve as an interface to secondary re-uses for this high-quality oracle data that is validated by a decentralized node network and published immutably to Cardano transactions.

While navigating through the Orcfax Explorer, users can click on a fact statement card to see the detailed summary for that fact statement. The Explorer widget loads the archival audit log package from the Arweave decentralized storage network and provides the user with an intuitive interface to browse its contents.

We have delivered core functionality in the first version of the Orcfax Explorer, including presentation of the the cryptographic links and relationships between:

• Oracle feeds;
• The fact statements published as part of those feeds;
• The sources of those fact statements and feeds;
• The methods of triangulation and calculation that resulted in the final fact statement value;
• The transactions on Cardano and storage networks used;

We have received constructive user feedback on the first release of the Explorer which is now ready for its next phase of development. In this project we will enhance the Orcfax Explorer to include: 

• Real time network status;
• Dashboard visualizations;
• Network incident reporting; 
• Audit log package downloads;

We will also see the addition of new Centralized Exchange (CEX) and Cardano Native Token (CNT) price feeds in the next major Explorer upgrade. Once we complete these Phase 2 enhancements the Explorer software development will focus on creating an Orcfax Explorer dashboard interface to display node statistics locally for each validator operator.

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

Orcfax is implementing a comprehensive solution to the oracle problem using a Cardano-native architecture design. We believe that demonstrating data provenance is critical for establishing trust in any oracle protocol that is responsible for triggering transactions with significant financial consequences.

We make the Orcfax Explorer freely available for use by the Cardano community to verify critical DeFi transactions in dApps that use our oracle data. We will grow the Explorer to become an important online destination for verifying the real-world data that gets used on-chain by Cardano dApps. The enhancements delivered in this project will further improve the Cardano community’s ability to understand the flow of data in the Orcfax oracle network while also being notified about its operational status in real-time. This will be a new resource that does not yet exist in the Cardano community.

[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 the past two years the Orcfax team has been researching and developing 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 early 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 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?

Dashboard visualizations

A: Milestone outputs - A dashboard page on the Orcfax Explorer that displays Grafana-generated visualizations, e.g. price charts, state change timelines, or data provenance stories.

B: Acceptance criteria - Successful pass of dashboard visualization test cases (e.g. Grafana visualizations, data stories).

C: Evidence of milestone completion - Source code, test cases, and user documentation are posted on public Github repository.

Audit log package downloads

A: Milestone outputs - An Orcfax Explorer feature that allows users to download and read the audit log package for a given fact statement.

B: Acceptance criteria - Successful test case pass of audit package download.

C: Evidence of milestone completion - Source code, test cases, user documentation are posted on public Github repository.

Real-time network status monitoring

A: Milestone outputs - A dashboard page on the Orcfax Explorer that displays information about Orcfax network activity in real time, including validator node participation statistics and network health.

B: Acceptance criteria - Successful test case pass of real-time status monitoring feature.

C: Evidence of milestone completion - Source code, test cases, user documentation are posted on public Github repository.

Network incident reporting

A: Milestone outputs - An Orcfax Explorer feature that notifies users in the event of a network issue, with links to incident reports.

B: Acceptance criteria - Documentation explaining how incidents are recorded and reported in the Orcfax Explorer.

C: Evidence of milestone completion - Source code and user documentation are posted in our public Github repository.

Close-out report and video

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?

Software 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/

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/

[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 used the 12 month historical low of $0.25 in October 2023 to establish a budget base price of $0.35 ADA for calculating our expenses.

We will employ 1 software engineer ($100/hr = 285 ADA/hr) and 1 system analyst ($75/hr = 215 ADA/hr) to complete this work over a four month period. The systems analyst role includes requirements analysis, documentation, user acceptance testing, reporting and community management.

Milestone 1 (30 days): ₳47,100

Software Engineer: 120 hrs x ₳285 = ₳34,200

Systems Analyst: 60 hrs x ₳215 = ₳12,900

Milestone 2 (30 days): ₳47,100

Software Engineer: 120 hrs x ₳285 = ₳34,200

Systems Analyst: 60 hrs x ₳215 = ₳12,900

Milestone 3 (30 days): ₳61,300

Software Engineer: 200 hrs x ₳285 = ₳57,000

Systems Analyst: 20 hrs x ₳215 = ₳4,300

Milestone 4 (30 days): ₳40,000

Software Engineer: 80 hrs x ₳285 = ₳22,800

Systems Analyst: 80 hrs x ₳215 = ₳17,200

Milestone 5 (10 days): n/a

[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 is working hard to deliver its CEX and CNT data feeds on Cardano mainnet in mid-2024. The monitoring, reporting and download feature upgrades we will make to the Orcfax Explorer in this project will allow us to provide high-quality, standards-compliant provenance audit trails via an open interface and archival formats. The Explorer allows us to demonstrate the significant value that Orcfax’s unique data quality features bring to the Cardano ecosystem.