Chainlink Announces New Decentralized Computing Capabilities With Functions Beta and Automation 2.0 on Mainnet

• Chainlink Functions enables developers to connect dApps to any API and run custom serverless compute with just a few lines of code; includes integrations with Space and Time, The Graph, and more

• Chainlink Automation 2.0 offers verifiable offchain computation, enabling users to securely automate high-value jobs at up to 1/10th of the gas cost; users include Oku Finance, Sommelier, and more

Chainlink, the industry-standard Web3 services platform, announced today that Chainlink Automation 2.0 and Chainlink Functions (Beta) are now live on mainnet, unlocking advanced offchain computation and data connectivity capabilities across multiple blockchain ecosystems. The new version of Chainlink Automation lets developers offload any smart contract computation offchain in a verifiable and ultra-reliable manner, allowing them to automate even the most intricate Web3 use cases, saving up to 90% in gas costs. At the same time, Functions allows smart contracts to access any real-world API in a serverless manner. Developers can now access any public or access-controlled API data, AI models, cloud services, and legacy systems to build entirely new types of Web3-enabled applications and experiences.

Chainlink Automation 2.0 and Functions represent a paradigm shift in Web3 app development involving offchain computation and real-world data connectivity powered by Chainlink decentralized oracle networks (DONs). Both Chainlink Automation and Functions enable developers to access advanced offchain computation while maintaining the trust minimization and cryptographic guarantees of the underlying blockchain. In response to the demands of Web3 developers, the most sought-after features include automating smart contracts, enhancing their computational capabilities while maintaining cost-efficiency, and seamlessly connecting them to any desired API. With these launches, those demands have become a thing of the past.

“Bringing the next hundred million users onchain requires a seamless developer experience that enables developers to create advanced applications that have the highest standards for security and verifiability,” stated Sergey Nazarov, co-founder of Chainlink. “This is why we’re excited to expand the capabilities of the Chainlink platform with Functions and Automation 2.0 to unlock advanced offchain computation use cases underpinned by the proven security of Chainlink.”

Since the launch of testnet in March 2023, Chainlink Functions has seen significant interest from the developer community, with 2,800+ builders signing up to build with serverless compute and unmatched data connectivity that unlocks many novel use cases. With Functions, it is now easier than ever to build new apps. Developers can seamlessly create, fund, and manage their subscriptions using an NPM package or monitor, deploy and interact with all of their functions through an easy-to-use UI. Additionally, developers can now configure execution time, number of requests, payload size, and other parameters, as well as control who can call their function. This enables developers to gate contract initiation and allow any EOA to trigger the Functions request. Functions also leverages a threshold encryption scheme to enhance API secrets’ security in a decentralized manner.

“Space and Time has natively integrated with Chainlink Functions to allow our users to send zk-proven query results onchain,” said Scott Dykstra, CTO & Co-Founder at Space and Time. “The integration enables smart contracts to leverage the Space and Time data warehouse and ask data-driven questions without spending more gas onchain. Space and Time and Chainlink are bridging the gap between onchain and offchain systems to unlock new use cases for DeFi, Web3 gaming, dApp developers, and the enterprise adoption of blockchain technology.”

“Chainlink Functions and subgraphs on The Graph Network make it easy to access traditionally offchain data with blockchain-native methods,” said Kyle Rojas, Director of Global Business Development at The Graph. “Now, smart contract developers can leverage the data integrity guarantees of both Chainlink Functions and The Graph’s decentralized network, unlocking new, advanced decentralized use cases.”

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“We are excited about the potential of Chainlink Functions connecting Chainalysis’s APIs to smart contracts at the protocol level, making it easier for the Web3 developer community to protect their dApps using Chainalysis data and unlock new innovative use cases,” said Pratima Arora, Chief Technology Officer at Chainalysis.

Chainlink Automation is the industry standard for smart contract automation, providing enterprise-grade reliability and performance across a near-infinite range of trigger options.

Before Automation 2.0, developers simulated conditional functions offchain and revalidated them again onchain for maximum security when the conditions were met. This worked, but it was complex and expensive. Now, developers can simply leverage Chainlink Automation’s cutting-edge consensus model to access secure, reliable, and verifiable offchain computation with the highest standard of cryptographic guarantees. Specifically, developers can offload work to Chainlink Automation to boost performance and reduce onchain costs.

Automation 2.0 offers an expanded set of triggers, unlocking new ways to connect multiple dApps. For example, Automation now enables smart contracts to react to log events emitted onchain, acting as a powerful messaging bus that’s similar to the pub/sub messaging bus used to connect microservices in Web2.

“We’ve used Chainlink Automation to run basic onchain liquidators for Interest Protocol, to implement trustless onchain limit orders for Uniswap v3 in Oku, and have more applications in the works,” said Getty Hill, Co-Founder of GFX Labs. “The Chainlink Automation 2.0 network is the most dependable and decentralized platform, safeguarding and securing the value inherent in the interactions of Oku and Interest Protocol users, ensuring their execution is both timely and secure.”

“Sommelier is using Chainlink Automation 2.0’s secure offchain computation to drastically reduce user vault deposit/withdraw costs by shifting the gas burden to offchain calculations,” said Josh Kessler, Head of Growth at Sommelier.Finance.

Automation 2.0 and Functions are underpinned by the same industry-standard infrastructure as other battle-tested Chainlink services, which leverage a pool of time-tested, provably reliable node operators that have collectively enabled $8.5T+ in transaction value and maintained unparalleled uptime levels, even during record levels of network congestion and market volatility. Developers can now write and test Functions in their browser using the Chainlink Functions Playground. If you’d like to get started building right away, explore the developer documentation for Automation and Functions.

Beyond the mainnet rollout of Chainlink Functions and enhancements to Chainlink Automation, Chainlink announced the upcoming launch of VRF 2.5, the newest version of its Verifiable Random Function (VRF), which is Web3’s most widely used random number generator (RNG) with 17 million transactions completed. VRF 2.5 will include two major improvements: native gas token billing and a substantial UX improvement for upgrading to future VRF versions.

Altogether, this novel suite of compute services within the Chainlink platform—combined with the network’s proven history of security and reliability—enables developers to realize a multitude of next-generation Web3 use cases that rely on advanced offchain computation.

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