Introducing Chainlink Build: Supercharging dApp Growth Through Cross-Ecosystem Incentives

As part of the rollout of Chainlink Economics 2.0, we’re excited to announce the launch of Chainlink Labs’ Chainlink Build program. Chainlink Build aims to accelerate the growth of early-stage and established projects within the Chainlink ecosystem by providing enhanced access to Chainlink services and technical support in exchange for commitments of network fees and other incentives to Chainlink service providers, such as stakers. This alignment of economic incentives between communities helps foster the mutual, long-term success of both ecosystems. 

To kickstart Chainlink Build, a number of Chainlink ecosystem participants—Space and Time, Truflation, and bitsCrunch—have confirmed their participation in the program. Build participants will be committing multiple percentage points of their total token supply to the Build program to accelerate their ecosystem growth and drive dApp innovation. 

Chainlink Build not only enables newer projects—commonly during their pre-revenue stage—to integrate Chainlink services before they have achieved broad usage and adoption, but it also helps foster accelerated growth in existing Chainlink ecosystem projects that already have growing user bases. Support from Chainlink Build allows Web3 developers to build dApps from the onset that are highly secure and support more advanced use cases, which in turn increases their chances of generating larger and more sustainable flows of user fees that can help support the Chainlink Network. As Chainlinked projects expand their operation, grow their teams, and begin to generate notable amounts of revenue, dApps may transition to a longer-term revenue-sharing model with service providers in the Chainlink ecosystem. 

Build can also help participating projects deploy custom Data Feed DONs, get priority access to alpha and beta versions of new Chainlink services, bolster the cryptoeconomic security of oracle networks they rely upon, obtain technical support from expert service providers, and more. 

Chainlink is uniquely positioned to drive the success of these projects and future participants given it has a rapidly expanding user ecosystem across Web2 and Web3, a vibrant community of builders and subject matter experts, and a generalized, blockchain-agnostic tech stack that enables a wide variety of hybrid smart contract use cases. Chainlink also supports a variety of existing oracle services for secure and efficient dApp development, along with ecosystem resources to create custom oracle solutions that drive Web3 innovation.

Chainlink powering Web3 innovation
The Chainlink Network empowers Web3 innovation by enabling hybrid smart contracts supported by increasingly advanced oracle services.

Helping dApps Maximize the “Chainlink Effect”

Chainlink Build (previously referred to as the Partner Growth Program) empowers projects to fully tap into the “Chainlink effect,” a dynamic where projects that join the Chainlink ecosystem accelerate their adoption the more they utilize key oracle services and engage with the Chainlink community. The Chainlink effect was instrumental in helping grow the Total Value Locked (TVL) of many leading dApps across several blockchain ecosystems.

Rather than spending valuable time and resources building oracle infrastructure from scratch, developers that integrate Chainlink have been able to accelerate their go-to-market timeline and focus internally on their application’s core business logic. For DeFi applications in particular, a Chainlink integration for market data helps increase user assurance in the dApp’s security and reliability. Furthermore, the wider Chainlink community is often a major value-add in helping protocols become more well-known and widely adopted.

For example, Aave joined the Chainlink ecosystem during its pre-launch stage and received technical support when integrating Chainlink Price Feeds as the price oracle solution for its decentralized lending protocol. This cross-ecosystem collaboration enabled Aave to successfully support 16 crypto-assets at mainnet launch—a record number at that time in DeFi. Aave was able to offload oracle development work to Chainlink and focus on new innovative functionalities and DeFi primitives such as flash loans, stable borrowing rates, and aTokens. 

“Part of composability is that you don’t have to build everything by yourself. Chainlink [is] part of this whole composability idea. It’s vital.” — Stani Kulechov, Founder and CEO of Aave. 

The Chainlink community also played an important role in supporting Aave through the usage of its dApp and word-of-mouth marketing to other potential users in Web3. Aave has since grown to become the largest lending market protocol by TVL in DeFi, with deployments across seven different blockchain networks—all powered by Chainlink Price Feeds. Aave is just one example of 1,500+ projects that have joined the Chainlink ecosystem and boosted their adoption as a result.

Chainlink ecosystem growth
As of Q3 2022, there are now over 1,500 projects in the Chainlink ecosystem.

Chainlink Build is a program that aims to supercharge the Chainlink effect for dApps through the alignment of cross-ecosystem incentives. Participating projects in Build commit to pay network fees and provide incentives to the service providers in the Chainlink community, such as Chainlink stakers, that provide projects with key benefits and services. The economic incentives provided to Chainlink ecosystem participants can help encourage their participation in that dApp’s ecosystem, such as by engaging in the project’s governance processes, staking the native tokens on their respective staking mechanisms, and becoming vocally supportive members of their community. 

In return for joining the Chainlink Build program, participating projects can tap into some of the following benefits (subject to applicability):

  • Prioritized Access: Gain access to a select collection of Chainlink services under alpha and beta releases before the full mainnet release in order to accelerate the development of advanced dApp functionalities that are made possible by cutting-edge oracle solutions.
  • Enhanced Security: Boost the security of Chainlink services that are supported by Chainlink Staking by providing incentives to LINK stakers. With Staking v0.1, this begins with ETH/USD on Ethereum, but is planned to expand to more feeds in the future.
  • Advanced Technical Support: Receive direct support from service providers in the Chainlink ecosystem regarding oracle solutions. This includes dedicated calls with ecosystem experts who can help scope out new product and engineering requirements.
  • Custom Data Feeds: Gain access to custom Data Feed DONs that meet unique use case requirements and are powered by the same high-quality Chainlink node operators that already help secure tens of billions in value via Price Feeds. 
  • Higher Quality Data: Get help accessing a wide array of industry-leading data providers who can help diversify the data sourcing and tamper-resistance of custom Data Feed DONs, which can include additional forms of metadata in the future. 
  • More Robust Data Feed Monitoring and Maintenance: Ensure the utmost reliability of custom Data Feed DONs through maintenance and monitoring support for the operation of DONs. This can include the development of new infrastructure to meet unique user requirements. 

Ultimately, the benefits of Build help further the development of dApps that create real value-add services for people around the world. As dApps become more successful, they increase their ability to generate larger amounts of user fees, which can contribute to supporting the consumption and long-term economic viability of Chainlink services. It’s a two-way value that supports sustainable economics in both ecosystems.

Chainlink Build is looking to support category winners, development teams behind game-changing Web3 technology, and projects providing unique solutions or contributions to the Chainlink ecosystem. With 1,500+ projects in the Chainlink ecosystem and $20B+ of value secured, Chainlink is only scratching the surface of how oracle technology and the Chainlink ecosystem can further the success of projects building toward a more trust-minimized world. If you’re an early-stage or established project and want to maximize the advantages of Chainlink, reach out to join the Build program using this Typeform

Chainlink Build is one key program within the wider rollout of Chainlink Economics 2.0—an array of programs that focus on improving data security and utility while also reducing the operating costs of oracle services, increasing user fees that are paid to Chainlink service providers, and enabling a broader scope of service providers such as stakers to participate in the Chainlink ecosystem. To learn more about Chainlink Economics 2.0 and the evolution of LINK as a productive asset, visit chain.link/economics.

Chainlink Economics 2.0
Chainlink Economics 2.0 is a new era of sustainable growth, cryptoeconomic security, and deeper value capture in the Chainlink Network.

To learn more about Chainlink, visit the Chainlink website, subscribe to the Chainlink newsletter, and follow the official Chainlink Twitter to keep up with the latest Chainlink news and announcements.

Disclaimer: This post is for informational purposes only and contains statements about the future, including anticipated programs and features, developments, and timelines for the rollout of these programs and features. These statements are only predictions and reflect current beliefs and expectations with respect to future events; they are based on assumptions and are subject to risk, uncertainties, and change at any time, including the discontinuance of any announced program or feature without notice. There can be no guarantee that any of the contemplated programs or features will be implemented as specified nor any assurance that actual results will not differ materially from those expressed in these statements, although we believe them to be based on reasonable assumptions. All statements are valid only as of the date first posted. The statements in this post also may not reflect future developments due to user feedback or later events and we may not update this post in response.

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