Metadata oracle node

Cardano metadata oracles (nut.link) are the first generation of oracles providing external data sources to the blockchain, that the developers can use.

At the moment, there is no operator-friendly node, making it hard for people to participate. By having a node that can be easily run by multiple operators, we would achieve both higher reliability of endpoints and higher degree of decentralisation.
We want to build an open-source, feature-rich, yet operator-friendly, node software. By doing so, we would lower the barrier of entry for new oracle operators and build the foundation of oracle pools.

External data provided by oracles is critical for developers and is a major dependency for dApps creations on Cardano.
You probably all know our proof of concept metadata oracles called https://nut.link/. At this time, we have five independent oracle operators that have provided more than 4 000 data points already!

The nut.link metadata oracles has been featured in:

• Ergo Launches Oracle Solution for Cardano (ADA) to Foster Interoperability https://btcmanager.com/ergo-oracle-solution-cardano-ada-interoperability/
• First steps towards interoperability with Cardano oracles https://ergoplatform.org/en/blog/2020-11-09-first-steps-towards-interoperability-with-cardano-oracles/
• First Cardano Oracles/What is an oracle? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaIk0sK-3Ps&

## Potential
We would like to see more than 100 independent operators by end of this year, with datapoints consumed not only by wallets, but also by the dApps deployed within the Cardano ecosystem. But we need to start with an oracle node!

## Deliverables
Within 2 months of receiving the funding, we will release the beta version, engaging with early adopters from the community. We will deliver the stable release within 4 months from the funding.

Deliverables of the metadata oracle node are broken down below:

• Support for metadata oracle registration and data posting
• Data source definitions templates that are easy to share within the operators' community
• Fetching and scraping of data with error handling and retries
• Transaction construction, including dynamic fee estimation
• Support for full local Cardano node (using `cardano-cli`) or remote API endpoint (lightweight metadata oracle client)
• Prometheus style endpoint for monitoring and Grafana integration

Licensed under the open-source Apache License 2
We will maintain the project for at least a year and use project Catalyst in the future to extend it if there will be an interest from the community.

## Relevant experience
We have experience with oracles on UTXO blockchains. We launched the first metadata oracle on Cardano, and we were the first community public oracle pool on Ergo blockchain.

Five Binaries is an infrastructure development company. We're Cardano pioneers - with the first Cardano block minted on an aeroplane, first stake pool on the ITN and the first Shelley transaction on the mainnet.

We are trusted by customers such as Emurgo, Trezor or Ergo Foundation. To get in touch or find more information about us, please visit https://fivebinaries.com/.

## Budget
We estimate it will take us 190 engineering-hours to complete the deliverables and we plan to allocate three people to this project.

• 8 engineering-hours – planning, specification and administration
• 52 engineering-hours – engineering and development
• 6 engineering-hours – infrastructure and release
• 4 engineering-hours – testing and QA
• 120 engineering-hours – maintenance (bug fixes and security updates) phase for one year

Our rate, which comprises of our engineers' salaries, infrastructure costs, office rent, accounting and taxes is 100 EUR per hour.

We pay our people well, because they are both skilled and exceptionally experienced in the industry. And last but not least, because we respect them and want them to feel good and appreciated while working on Cardano.