Band Protocol is a cross-chain data oracle platform that aggregates and connects real-world data and APIs to smart contracts.
Band Protocol provides a standard framework for the decentralized management of data, serving as a fundamental query layer for applications that requires access to off-chain information. This eliminates the critical centralizing trust and points of failure that traditional oracles introduce to decentralized applications with other designs.
Band Protocol initially launched as an ERC-20 project on the Ethereum blockchain in September 2019 but transitioned to the Cosmos network in June 2020 with the release of Band Protocol 2.0. The new protocol is built on BandChain using the Cosmos SDK. Oracle nodes on BandChain not only relay data but are also involved in block production/validation, giving them a dual role.
BAND is the native token of the Band Protocol ecosystem and is used as collateral by validators involved in fulfilling data requests, as well as the main medium of exchange on BandChain — being used to pay for private data.
Band Protocol is designed to offer permissionless oracle creation, allowing anybody to start servicing data requests. It also offers extremely simple smart contract integration, allowing developers to begin using data from Band Protocol oracles with just a few lines of code by calling on a predefined interface.
