Since the early days of Solana, Switchboard and Jupiter have been working together to enhance DeFi. Our collaboration has helped make DeFi more reliable and efficient for users, not only in terms of data but as a whole. We’re excited to continue this journey, with Jupiter’s use of jupSOL with our new LST task type and more coming. But before spoiling anything, let’s explore what Switchboard is all about.
What is Switchboard?
Switchboard is a permissionless oracle network that provides dApps with real-world data on supported blockchains. By leveraging Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) and a unique On-Demand model, Switchboard ensures secure, verifiable, and low latency data delivery tailored to the needs of blockchain ecosystems.
Oracles are crucial for blockchain applications and allow smart contracts to interact with on or off-chain data. Oracle models often fall into two categories: push and pull. The push model updates data on-chain at regular intervals, which can be inefficient and costly. The pull model, on the other hand, retrieves data upon user request, reducing resource usage and shifting the cost burden to users.
Switchboard offers a push model, Switchboard Push, as well as a first-of-its-kind on-demand oracle model, Switchboard On-Demand. This model combines the efficiency of pull-based systems with the customizability of push-based systems, allowing for just-in-time data fetching that conserves resources and ensures maximum data freshness.
Switchboard On-Demand
Switchboard On-Demand builds on top of the pull model, where data is fetched only when a user requests it. This model is designed for cost optimization, low latency, and high security, making it ideal for high-fidelity financial systems. Users can specify how data from on-chain or off-chain sources is ingested and transformed, ensuring data remains as fresh and accurate as possible.
Unlike traditional oracles, our On-Demand model eliminates the need for an intermediate data layer by employing just-in-time data fetching. This approach guarantees that data such as price feeds, randomness, and sensitive information is always up-to-date when it reaches the user.
Security & TEEs
Switchboard leverages economic security and TEEs, such as Intel SGX, to provide hardware-level verification for the execution of oracle processes. This helps ensure that critical data collection and aggregation are conducted in a protected environment, safeguarding against tampering and malicious interference while allowing Switchboard to support permissionless, custom data feed creation.
Applications and use cases
Our flexible and robust design supports a wide range of use cases:
- Financial data feeds - push or on-demand. Provide secure, real-time price data for decentralized exchanges and lending protocols.
- Provably fair randomness. Generate verifiable randomness for gaming and lottery applications.
- Confidential data. Securely incorporate private data or attestations behind API credentials in your data feeds
We offer comprehensive tools for developers, including a user-friendly UI, as well as SDKs for Rust and TypeScript. These tools streamline the process of creating, managing, and monitoring data feeds, enabling developers to build highly customizable oracles tailored to their specific needs.
Jupiter x Switchboard
In 2022, we partnered and integrated with Jupiter. This integration allows publishers to build data feeds that ensure the best price for token swaps by leveraging Jupiter’s optimal routing capabilities. The JupiterSwapTask, a specialized task type in Switchboard, enables seamless access to liquidity from protocols like Raydium, Orca, Meteora, Lifinity and many more. The JupiterSwapTask is available today for Switchboard Push and Switchboard On-Demand for anyone to create a data feed.
This month Switchboard introduced the SanctumLstPriceTask, a native Sanctum integration which in conjunction with Jupiter, lets users quickly and permissionlessly create their own Sanctum based LST price feed incorporating redeemable value! Recently, Jupiter has started using our new LST task type for jupSOL, a sanctum based liquid staking token, enhancing data accuracy and improving the DeFi experience.
Anyone can now reference the jupSOL data feed to integrate into their protocols. More is coming, and we can’t wait to share these updates. Stay tuned for what’s next.
Conclusion
Switchboard is changing the game for oracles with the On-Demand model, delivering a flexible, secure, and efficient solution for decentralized data management. Our work with Jupiter shows our dedication to providing real-time, accurate data that strengthens the DeFi ecosystem.
We’re excited about what’s next and can’t wait to share more innovations that will push the boundaries of what’s possible in DeFi. Stay tuned for updates and new features that will take your on chain experience to the next level.
To learn more about integrating Switchboard into your projects, visit our documentation. Follow us on Twitter or join our Discord to stay updated with our latest news and developments.