Chainlink Data Relay for Cardano DeFi (by VIA Labs)

[Proposal setup] Proposal title

Please provide your proposal title

Chainlink Data Relay for Cardano DeFi (by VIA Labs)

[Proposal Summary] Budget Information

Enter the amount of funding you are requesting in ADA

150000

[Proposal Summary] Time

Please specify how many months you expect your project to last

3

[Proposal Summary] Translation Information

Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated

No

Original Language

en

[Proposal Summary] Problem Statement

What is the problem you want to solve?

Cardano lacks a way to use existing Chainlink price and PoR feeds, forcing teams to rebuild oracle stacks and slowing stablecoin, RWA, and general DeFi adoption.

[Proposal Summary] Supporting Documentation

Supporting links

• https://vialabs.io/
,
• https://developer.vialabs.io/
,
• https://developer.vialabs.io/examples/private-oracle/
,
• https://github.com/VIALabs-io
,
• https://x.com/VIA_Labs

[Proposal Summary] Project Dependencies

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

Yes

Describe any dependencies or write 'No dependencies'

1. Chainlink Feeds (Base/EVM) - We rely on public read access to Chainlink contracts. 2. EVM & Cardano Infrastructure - Reliable RPC endpoints.

[Proposal Summary] Project Open Source

Will your project's outputs be fully open source?

Yes

Please provide details on the intellectual property (IP) status of your project outputs, including whether they will be released as open source or retained under another licence.

The core components will be open-sourced under a permissive license (MIT), including: Cardano oracle contracts, helper libaries, off-chain relayer logic (with configuration on which feeds to track), sample project dApp showing developers how to read feeds.

[Theme Selection] Theme

Please choose the most relevant theme and tag related to the outcomes of your proposal

Cross-chain

[Campaign Category] Category Questions

Describe what makes your idea innovative compared to what has been previously launched in the market (whether by you or others).

Our idea brings "risk model portability" to the Cardano ecosysytem. Existing Cardano oracles (Charli3, Orcfax, Pyth) are native data originators; VIA’s relay is a Chainlink adapter that treats Chainlink as the upstream source of truth - forwarding it's price feeds and Proof of Reserve (PoR) signals into Cardano. This enables multi-chain protocols to reuse the same pricing logic on Cardano that they already trust on EVM, instead of designing a second oracle stack. Further, it provides the same data so picky builders who may "prefer" Chainlink can get direct access to those same EVM feeds right at home on Cardano. As cross-chain messaging specialists who's core infrastructure will soon be on Cardano, VIA treats oracle data as just another message type, applying the same rigor we use for token bridging to deliver consistent, shared risk signals across chains.

Describe what your prototype or MVP will demonstrate, and where it can be accessed.

The MVP will show live Chainlink data flowing into Cardano and a demo Cardano dApp using it to make safer decisions (with instructions and documentation).

Specifically, we’ll have a VIA Relayer pull several key Chainlink price feeds (for assets like ADA, BTC, ETH, USDC, USDT) plus one Proof of Reserve signal, and make that data available on Cardano. We'll make available a simple “VIA Watcher” tool so that anyone can compare the numbers on the EVM side and on Cardano. The Cardano dApp will use these feeds in its logic—for example, checking prices before allowing a borrow—and include a demo that shows how the reserve signal can automatically pause an action if an asset stops being fully backed.

Everything will be fully accessible to the community. The code and documentation will live in a public VIA Labs GitHub repository, the live data will be visible on Cardano’s preprod network through standard explorers and sample commands in the README, and we’ll provide clear written documentation plus a short recorded walkthrough showing the feeds updating, the VIA Watcher verification, and the demo app reacting to the data in real time.

Describe realistic measures of success, ideally with on-chain metrics.

Success for this project is measured by its reliability and general adoption. Onchain, we aim to have at least five live price feeds and one Proof of Reserve feed running on Cardano’s public test network. We’ll track how often those feeds update, how closely the Cardano values match the original Chainlink values, and how many real contracts start reading from them. A key proof point is that at least one application actually changes its behaviour based on the reserve signal—for example, pausing an action when the PoR feed shows an asset is no longer fully backed (hypothetically).

Off-chain, we’ll know this is working if developers can pick it up quickly and if serious projects are willing to talk about using it in production. For example, once complete, we ourselves have additional use cases involving stablecoin liquidity to build on top of it. For us, success means providing an integration guide that lets a new Cardano developer read a feed in minutes and at least a couple of stablecoin, RWA, or 3rd-party bridge teams actively exploring this relay as part of their Cardano plans. If we end the MVP with reliable feeds on testnet, a straightforward developer experience, and real protocols kicking the tires for mainnet, we’ll consider that a successful outcome.

[Your Project and Solution] Solution

Please describe your proposed solution and how it addresses the problem

Cardano is missing a clean way for builders to use the same Chainlink prices and Proof of Reserve signals they already rely on in their EVM deployments. That gap makes it harder for non-Cardano-native DeFi, stablecoin, RWA, and bridge teams to justify coming to Cardano, because they’re forced to redesign and re-audit the core risk logic that already works for them elsewhere.

Our solution is to treat Chainlink’s data as an input and Cardano as a destination. VIA runs a dedicated relay that reads Chainlink price and reserve data - then publishes it on Cardano in a standard format that any smart contract can consume. This keeps the risk model the same across chains, reduces migration friction for EVM-native teams, and gives Cardano dApps access to PoR safety checks that institutions may expect. In the demo example, the VIA Watcher / relayer itself will be operated by VIA Labs, however, other documentation will provide clear instructions for private oracle relaying, thus giving the security back to the implementing developers.

[Your Project and Solution] Impact

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

This project brings the long awaited Chainlink data to the Cardano ecsosytem and enables dApps natively building on Cardano to tap into those streams.

• dApps can monitor on-chain liquidity pairings of different stablecoin pairs - For example USDC/USDT on Base compared to USDM / USDA on Cardano - enabling more protection of cross-chain liquidity across EVM and Cardano ecosystems.
• Stablecoin issuers can reuse Proof of Reserve for monitoring
• Lending markets can pull the same ETH/ADA/USDC prices they trust on EVM to enforce safe collateral ratios
• RWA platforms can halt deposits when off-chain collateral falls
• DAOs can run treasury rebalances only when prices and meet certain expectations

Additionally, Cardano-native apps gain an extra oracle option they can combine with Charli3/Orcfax for stronger, more conservative risk management.

[Your Project and Solution] Capabilities & 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?

VIA Labs is a cross-chain interoperability protocol that has been building for 4+ years, has sent over 20M cross-chain messages, and are live on 140+ different blockchain ecosystems.

We're working in collaboration with the Midnight Foundation to bring cross-chain interoperability to both Midnight and Cardano. Just recently (Nov 2025), our team has demonstrated the first successful token transfer between Midnight and Cardano and presented this at the Midnight event in London (https://www.youtube.com/live/1vphhGXf5VA)) Fast forward to 17:20 for the start of the presentation and 27:00 for the demo itself.

Generally, we have a close-working relationship with the Solutions team at Midnight.

Outside the Cardano ecosystem our team has received grants from titans in the space such as Circle, Avalanche, and Stellar to expand cross-chain in those ecosystems as well.

The VIA team is native to EVM environments and relaying oracle data, whether in a push or pull functionality, can be treated like any other cross-chain message. Our intention is to finish our Cardano integration (which is scheduled for completion on mainnet in January) and immediately move onto this project. Our team has heard from several community members and dApps that this would be something that they'd be interested in utilizing.

[Milestones] Project Milestones

Milestone Title

Single Feed Relay Prototype (Base testnet → Cardano Testnet)

Milestone Outputs

Construct a relay service that reads one Chainlink price feed on Base (e.g. ADA/USD, ETH/USD, USDC/USD) on a schedule.

Cardano preprod oracle script plus UTxO storing that feed’s value, decimals, timestamp, and source metadata.

Output displayed on command line interface (CLI) that prints:

• “Source” value from Base
• “Destination” value from Cardano, side-by-side.
• Short architecture and trust model document describing the data path, who is trusted, and basic failure modes.
• Public GitHub repository link (VIA Labs)

Acceptance Criteria

A reviewer will be able to clone the repo, configure RPC endpoints, run using the CLI, and see matching values from Base and Cardano. Verified by on-chain explorers.

The provided architecture will explain:

• Which Chainlink feed is used (name and contract address).
• How often it is polled.
• What happens if Base or the relay is temporarily unavailable.

Evidence of Completion

• GitHub link with relay code, oracle script, and CLI.
• PDF/markdown of the architecture and trust model.
• Short screen-recorded demo showing Base vs Cardano values and the oracle UTxO.
• Cardano preprod transaction hashes / explorer links for at least several updates.

Delivery Month

1

Cost

37500

Progress

30 %

Milestone Title

Multi-Feed Relay & Developer Integration

Milestone Outputs

• Relay extended to support at least 5 price feeds from Base (e.g. ADA, BTC, ETH, USDC, USDT).
• Finalized oracle data format and a small helper library so Cardano smart contracts can easily read the feeds.
• A reference dApp on Cardano preprod that uses at least one of these feeds in a real check (for example, a simple collateral/borrow safety check).
• Basic monitoring and cost notes, including:
  • Typical update frequency per feed.
  • Example logs for successful and failed updates.
  • A short write-up estimating Cardano fee costs for running N feeds at a given update rate.

Acceptance Criteria

A reviewer will be able to:

• See all configured feeds mirrored on Cardano preprod via the CLI or explorer, with correct mapping between asset and feed.
• Build and run the reference dApp and observe it reading live price data from the oracle.
• Clear instructions for the helper library where a Cardano developer could integrate a feed without needing to read the full codebase.
• Monitoring and cost notes are included in the docs

Evidence of Completion

• Updated GitHub repository with multi-feed support, helper library, and reference dApp.
• Demo video showing:
  • Several different feeds updating over time.
  • The reference dApp reacting to a price change.
  • Short PDF explaining data format, integration steps, and cost/monitoring summary.

Delivery Month

2

Cost

45000

Progress

60 %

Milestone Title

Data Validation, Proof of Reserve & Pilot dApp

Milestone Outputs

Expansion of the reference dApp into a pilot dApp that uses at least one price feed and one Chainlink Proof of Reserves feed in a flow that resembles a protocol use case.

• A circuit-breaker demo contract that changes behaviour based on the PoR status (for example, pausing minting or borrowing when reserves fall below a threshold).

Add validation rules for all mirrored feeds, including:

• Maximum age for a data point before it is considered stale.
• Simple deviation checks to catch extreme jumps and reject bad values.
• Automated tests covering the relay logic, validation checks, and PoR handling (unit or integration tests with documented commands to run them).

Acceptance Criteria

A reviewer will be able to:

• Inspect a feed on Cardano preprod and see that old data is rejected according to the documented rules.
• View the PoR oracle on preprod and confirm that its values and status match the upstream feed.
• Run the pilot dApp and see it behave differently when the PoR status is “healthy” versus “under-collateralized” (via a scripted or simulated scenario).
• Tests run successfully from the commands documented in the repository.

Evidence of Completion

• GitHub repo with validation logic, PoR integration, pilot dApp, and test suite.
• Test output (CI logs or screenshots of passing runs).
• Demo video walking through:
  • A normal update cycle, and
  • A PoR scenario where the circuit breaker engages.
• Preprod explorer links for the PoR oracle UTxO and example transactions.

Delivery Month

3

Cost

37500

Progress

90 %

Milestone Title

Self-Hosted Relayer Option, Complete Documention, & Close Out

Milestone Outputs

• Add a dedicated Cardano section in VIA Labs’ developer docs that explains the relay, shows how to integrate a feed into a dApp, and walks through running a self-hosted private relayer.
• Clean up and tag the relevant GitHub repos (relay, contracts, VIA Watcher, reference/pilot dApps) so they are in a state where interested integrating parties (dApps, development houses, hackathon goers) can reference.
• Produce the required Project Close-out Report and Close-out Video showing feeds live on preprod, VIA Watcher comparing Base vs Cardano, and the pilot dApp reacting to the data.

Acceptance Criteria

A reviewer can clearly see from the docs how a project would spin up its own relayer and push data to Cardano; can read the Cardano section in VIA’s docs and understand how to use the relay / VIA Watcher in a dApp; can verify that the repos are organized, documented, and tagged; and can access both the written close-out report and the final demo video.

Evidence of Completion

Links to:

• The self-hosted relayer documentation and VIA Watcher docs in VIA’s developer portal.
• The updated GitHub repos with a tagged release and current READMEs.
• The Project Close-out Report (PDF/markdown) and the Close-out Video (hosted publicly).

Delivery Month

3

Cost

30000

Progress

100 %

[Final Pitch] Budget & Costs

Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources

Total request: 150,000 ADA

Time denoted in man-days / person-days

Per milestone:

Milestone 1 – Single Feed Relay Prototype

• 37,500 ADA
• Month 1: architecture, single Chainlink→Cardano feed, core oracle pattern, basic docs and CLI.
• System architect: 10, blockchain engineer: 20, PM: 3

Milestone 2 – Multi-Feed Relay & Reference dApp

• 45,000 ADA
• Month 2: multi-feed support (≥5 feeds), finalized oracle format + helper code, reference dApp, monitoring + cost notes. This is the heaviest lift and rightly the most expensive month.
• System architect: 3, blockchain engineer: 20, front-end dev: 10, PM: 1.5

Milestone 3 – Validation, PoR & Pilot dApp

• 37,500 ADA
• Month 3: staleness/deviation checks, one Proof of Reserve feed mirrored, circuit-breaker logic, and a pilot dApp that uses price + PoR in a realistic flow.
• System architect: 3, blockchain engineer: 15, front-end dev: 14, PM: 1.5, BD: 3

Milestone 4 – Self-Hosted Relayer, Complete Documentation & Close-Out

• 30,000 ADA
• Month 3 (end of month): self-hosted relayer docs, Cardano section in VIA docs, VIA Watcher documentation, repo clean-up, and Catalyst close-out report + video.
• System architect: 1, blockchain engineer: 5, front-end dev: 5, PM: 3, BD: 3

[Final Pitch] Value for Money

How does the cost of the project represent value for the Cardano ecosystem?

This project provides a core a piece infrastructure that Cardano simply doesn’t have today. We will produce a live, documented Chainlink oracle relay from EVM (Base) into Cardano, covering both price feeds and Proof of Reserve while wiring this directly into smart-contract logic. Alongside that, this will deliver a clear pattern for how to represent shared oracle data on Cardano, tested across multiple feeds, plus helper code and examples so other teams can plug it in without re-inventing the wheel. The pilot dApp will show and end to end advanced example with prices driving collateral checks and PoR acting as a circuit breaker -- Perfect for any stablecoin, RWA, or bridge team to be comfortable bringing their assets to Cardano.

As a cross-chain messaging solution ourselves, we believe this project has major upside for adoption. If this relay is used by any stablecoin issuer or mid-cap RWA project comfortable deploying liquidity on Cardano because they can finally rely on the same Proof of Reserve signals their risk team already trusts, the ecosystem benefit dwarfs the grant. On top of that, the open-source contracts and documentation make this a "public good" for the Cardano ecosystem that can be used for dApps and hackers alike. On the enterprise side, this enables privacy of oracle data - allowing the implementing party to control their level of desired security.

[Self-Assessment] Self-Assessment Checklist

I confirm that evidence of prior research, whitepaper, design, or proof-of-concept is provided.

Yes

I confirm that the proposal includes ecosystem research and uses the findings to either (a) justify its uniqueness over existing solutions or (b) demonstrate the value of its novel approach.

Yes

I confirm that the proposal demonstrates technical capability via verifiable in-house talent or a confirmed development partner (GitHub, LinkedIn, portfolio, etc.)

Yes

I confirm that the proposer and all team members are in good standing with prior Catalyst projects.

Yes

I confirm that the proposal clearly defines the problem and the value of the on-chain utility.

Yes

I confirm that the primary goal of the proposal is a working prototype deployed on at least a Cardano testnet.

Yes

I confirm that the proposal outlines a credible and clear technical plan and architecture.

Yes

I confirm that the budget and timeline (≤ 12 months) are realistic for the proposed work.

Yes

I confirm that the proposal includes a community engagement and feedback plan to amplify prototype adoption with the Cardano ecosystem.

Yes

I confirm that the budget is for future development only; excludes retroactive funding, incentives, giveaways, re-granting, or sub-treasuries.

Yes

[Required Acknowledgements] Consent & Confirmation

I Agree

Yes