Protocol Village: Switchboard Releases 'Oracle Aggregator,' Pichi Raises $2.5M

The latest in blockchain tech upgrades, funding announcements and deals. For the period of Aug. 1-7.

The latest in blockchain tech upgrades, funding announcements and deals. For the period of Aug. 1-7.

Thursday, Aug. 1

Switchboard Releases 'Oracle Aggregator,' to Help Prevent Price-Manipulation Attacks

Switchboard, a permissionless and customizable oracle network, has unveiled its new Oracle Aggregator allowing users to seamlessly "aggregate data across multiple oracle networks, including Chainlink and Pyth Network, hardening dApps against price manipulation attacks," according to the team: "In aggregating data off-chain, Switchboard’s new UI reduces the need for gas-intensive operations and increases data integrity. The new oracle aggregator also grants developers greater autonomy to select the exact sources they’d like to pull from and eliminate those that don’t meet their standards."

Pichi, Crypto Points-Trading Protocol, Raises $2.5M

Pichi Finance, a trustless points trading protocol offering price discovery to tokens pre and post-TGE, has completed a $2.5 million seed funding round, led by UOB Venture Management, Signum Capital and Mantle Network. According to the team: "The investment will be used to target new points programs, to create vaults to earn yield and points together, and to expand to other EVM chains. We're unlocking the value of points through a trustless marketplace for trading these rewards. Our ERC-6551 account solution addresses the issue of points being tied to individual accounts, so users can securely and easily trade points.”

Daylight, Aiming to Enable 'Virtual Power Plants,' Launches Testnet, Raises $9M in Fundraise Led by A16z

Daylight, building a decentralized protocol that will eventually allow users to build "virtual power plants" using "distributed energy resources" (DERs), has launched a testnet and announced a $9 million funding round led by the venture capital firm a16z. Framework Ventures and existing investors Lerer Hippeau, Lattice Fund and Escape Velocity also participated. According to an a16z crypto blog post, "The Daylight ecosystem is comprised of three core components:

Karak, Restaking Layer, Selects Space and Time's Coprocessor to Power Slashing

Karak, a universal restaking layer that previously raised $50 million, has chosen Space and Time’s coprocessor solution to power trustless slashing and rewards. According to the team: "Space and Time recently released its high-speed zero-knowledge prover, which ensures tamperproof computations at scale. Space and time is also building a Distributed Secure Service (DSS) on Karak. Space and Time logic allows for slashing logic to be defined much faster."

Shop-to-Earn Project Playbux Launches AI-Powered 'Real Intelligence,' to Predict Tailored Content for Users

Playbux, a crypto project for shop-to-earn and play-to-earn, has announced the launch of RI (Real Intelligence) tech, powered by AI. According to the team: "This technology improves user experience and meets their needs based on behavior and decisions. Playbux aims to advance blockchain gaming with AI with the RI Engine integrating a model based on human senses and cognition. The RI Engine adapts continuously with user interactions, aligning with evolving preferences and behaviors. By analyzing extensive sensory data, it predicts and delivers tailored content for users. It also aggregates data from users with similar profiles to offer group-specific recommendations."

Protocol Village is a regular feature of The Protocol, our weekly newsletter exploring the tech behind crypto, one block at a time. Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Wednesday. Project teams can submit updates here. For previous versions of Protocol Village, please go here. Also please check out our weekly The Protocol podcast.

CoinDesk’s Tech & Protocols team covers the latest in blockchain technologies, Web3 and decentralized finance (DeFi). We also offer analysis on crypto protocols, dapps and hardware, and provide updates on decentralized governance, staking and airdrops.

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