The Oracle Problem Persists

Smart contracts are blind to external reality. They only see on-chain state. Oracles provide external data but introduce trust. The oracle problem is fundamental and unsolved.

Chainlink dominates through network effects and reputation. Decentralized oracle networks reduce single points of failure. But the data sources themselves might be centralized. Garbage in, garbage out regardless of delivery mechanism.

Economic security helps. Staked collateral that gets slashed for bad data. But what's bad data? Who decides? The arbitration problem nests inside the oracle problem.

zkTLS offers a different approach. Prove data came from a specific server cryptographically. No trusted intermediary needed. But you're still trusting that server's data is accurate.

On-chain data is the cleanest. Prices from DEXs, state from contracts. No oracle needed. But not everything has an on-chain source. Real world assets need real world data.

The best approach is minimizing oracle dependencies. Design protocols to need less external data. Use on-chain sources where possible. Accept the trust assumptions where unavoidable but make them explicit.