This is the 7th and penultimate post in our series, “Getting APIs on the Blockchain”. We have thus far, among other things, introduced the API Connectivity Problem and highlighted several major components of our solution — namely, first-party oracles and quantifiable security. This post highlights another major component of our design.

Much has been said — and much is yet to be said— about decentralized governance in the form of DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations). This is because, the more we discuss the various approaches to DAO operation, the more in need we are of an objective function in which to…

This is kind of a Part 2 to my post How Mesa DEX Works which I wrote on November 27th, three days before the API3 public token distribution. During the distribution — in fact, right at the beginning — a previously untapped exploit was used by an attacker to purchase approximately 1.6 million API3 tokens for relatively cheap, at $0.56 USD per token. This result in the API3 DAO to raise ~$680,000 less than expected under normal circumstances. (In case you’re wondering: the attacker resold all of those tokens on Mesa, at a higher price, within a day.)

In this…

This is the first post in our series, “Getting APIs on the Blockchain”.

There is a famous David Foster Wallace commencement speech titled “This is Water” where he offers a little parable of fish discussing water and briefly explicates the title with: “The most obvious important realities are often the ones that are hardest to see and talk about.” In the first blog post of this series, we will be talking about APIs.¹

APIs are everywhere — they permeate our digital world. The concept of an API is so inescapable in computer software that it’s ironically difficult to appropriately define…

► API3 wants to talk to you about providing your API to the blockchain◄

This is the final post in our series, “Getting APIs on the Blockchain”.

If you have been following this series from the beginning, I’m happy to say that you have already been introduced to the main elements and ideas behind API3’s design. This post simply shows how they fit together to solve the API Connectivity Problem.

In 2014, during my computer science masters, I had to write an 250-word “essay” for a scholarship application answering the question: “What do you think will be the future impact of data-driven computing on society?”

I re-read my response recently and found it interesting in light of modern day contexts. Note that this essay response was relatively controversial at the time and was the only selected essay with a negative sentiment.

As much as the analysis of larger and larger data sets has been touted as the future of computing, data-driven computing has the potential to have adverse effects if…

EDIT: I’ve written a Part 2 (“The Mesa DEX Exploit”) to this article that addresses the exploit that occurred during the API3 public token distribution event. I also amend some things mentioned in this article and include my updated thoughts on Mesa/Gnosis Protocol.

The API3 public token distribution will take place on Mesa DEX. There have been a lot of questions about how Mesa / Gnosis Protocol works and this article is meant to address that.

TL;DR

• If you bid $X and the total demand (for tokens at price ≤ $X) is less than the supply, then it is extremely probable…

This is the 6th post in our series, “Getting APIs on the Blockchain”.

Engineering is the art of modelling materials we do not wholly understand, into shapes we cannot precisely analyse, so as to withstand forces we cannot properly assess, in such a way that the public has no reason to suspect the extent of our ignorance.

— Dr. A. R. Dykes, British Institution of Structural Engineers

If we were to ask a structural engineer “How much can your bridge support?” and we were to receive the answer “I assure you, sir, it has 21 beams of the highest quality…

This is the fifth post in our series, “Getting APIs on the Blockchain”.

This particular article in our series might seem a bit out-of-place at first, so let me provide a bit of context. Previously we discussed the significance of APIs and the problem with connecting existing APIs to the blockchain. We then began to introduce some of the components of our solution via defining first-party oracles (and, in particular, comparing them with third-party oracles).

Now, why are we discussing staking? As we introduce the components of our solution to the API Connectivity Problem, eventually comes the elucidation of our…