Analysing the key features of Witnet compared to Redstone

The oracle problem has been a cause for concern over the years; in 2020, oracle price manipulation was really a concern for many. Thus, without a reliable oracle, smart contracts can be vulnerable to hacks, corruption, and monetary loss. This was one of the reasons why Witnet, a decentralised oracle that is true to the censorship-resistant nature of blockchains, was conceived and has been true to its purpose ever since.
As clearly understood, oracles are essential for smart contracts to function, as they provide the necessary data from the real world to trigger contract execution. However, traditional oracles are centralised and can be vulnerable to manipulation and censorship. Witnet solves this problem by creating a decentralised network of nodes that provide data to smart contracts in a secure and tamper-proof manner.
Witnet is a decentralised Oracle network that provides secure and reliable data feeds to smart contracts. It is a next-generation oracle that leverages state-of-the-art cryptographic and cryptoeconomic techniques to provide smart contracts with secure data input.
Redstone is a decentralised data ecosystem that provides fast and accurate data information in a decentralised fashion using an innovative approach to provide on-demand data fetching. It offers a radically different design of Oracles, catering to the needs of modern DeFi protocols.
Redstone is a modular Oracle tailored to your dApp’s needs, and it delivers the data you need at high frequency and with the inherited security of the destination chain.
Witnet and Redstone are both decentralised blockchain networks that aim to provide a secure and efficient platform for data storage and retrieval. However, there are some key differences between the two platforms.
Blockchain
Witnet is an actual Layer 1 blockchain, and it is custom built from the ground up for data storage and retrieval primarily. Witnet is a decentralised Oracle Network (DON) that maintains and distributes a blockchain data structure that serves as a common ledger both for the operation of the protocol and for the wit token (which incentives the network players to abide by the protocol and ensures they are liable for any misbehaviour). Witnesses are in charge of validating transactions in the network and bundling them into blocks that get appended to the blockchain periodically.
WHEREAS.
RedStone is a new and innovative Oracle system that is made to give decentralised applications (dApps) and smart contracts reliable, up-to-date data feeds across different EVM Layer 1 (L1) and Layer 2 (L2) blockchain networks. It doesn’t have its own blockchain per se but leverages the Arweave blockchain as cheap and permanent storage for their data.
RedStone proposes a completely new modular design where data is first put into a data availability layer and then fetched on-chain. This enables the broadcast of numerous assets at a high frequency to a less expensive layer, only putting them on chain when the protocol requires it.
RedStone delivers the data you need at high frequency and with the inherited security of the destination chain.
Consensus Mechanism
Witnet uses a hybrid mechanism called a Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus mechanism and a proof of stake (though it is not compulsory to stake at this level), but it is currently migrating to being a fully consensus proof-of-stake blockchain. This new consensus mechanism will make things extremely efficient. This is to align with the current industry trend favouring energy efficiency and environmentally friendly consensus mechanisms, which totally aligns with Witnet’s dedication to sustainability and innovation within the blockchain space. The new Witnet’s Proof of Stake consensus mechanism will use sophisticated algorithms to select nodes anonymously. These nodes are required to stake WIT tokens to participate, offering a customizable approach to decentralisation levels. In Witnet 2.0, a node’s eligibility is determined by a function called “power,” derived from its total stake multiplied by stake age. This power is reset upon task completion, ensuring a continual rotation of nodes to prevent the concentration of control. To incentivize honest behaviour and discourage malicious actions, nodes face economic consequences, risking the potential loss of staked funds. The commit and reveal scheme further enhances data integrity in data requests. Nodes post collateral, commit to the provided data, and later reveal it publicly. This process adds an extra layer of trustless participation. Notably, Witnet encourages broad and trustless engagement by allowing anyone to run an anonymous node in the network.
WHEREAS
Redstone uses a Proof-of-Reliability (PoR) consensus mechanism. This consensus mechanism is to ensure it is highly scalable and secure, ensuring the reliability and immutability of the data it provides. RedStone Oracle leverages this consensus mechanism, POR, which incentivizes data providers to submit accurate and reliable information. The PoR mechanism works by introducing a reputation system for oracles. Each data provider is assessed based on the accuracy and reliability of the information they submit. Those with a higher reputation score have a greater chance of being selected to provide data to the network. This ensures that only trusted oracles are rewarded and incentivizes data providers to consistently deliver accurate data.
Scalability
The Witnet protocol assigns tasks to witnesses to minimise attack vectors and incorporates sharding for efficiency, scalability, and cost control, while Redstone uses a blockDAG (Directed Acyclic Graph) mechanism to improve scalability. Sharding is a technique for dividing the network into smaller partitions, while blockDAG is a type of blockchain that does not have a single, linear chain of blocks.
Privacy
Witnet uses zero-knowledge proofs to protect data privacy, while Redstone uses homomorphic encryption to protect data privacy. Zero-knowledge proofs allow a prover to prove that they know something without revealing the information itself, while homomorphic encryption allows data to be processed while it is still encrypted.
Use Cases
Witnet is primarily designed for data storage and retrieval. The Witnet protocol creates an overlay network that connects smart contracts to any online data source. Sport results, stock prices, weather forecasts, randomness sources, or even other blockchains can be easily queried (preferably through APIs). while Redstone is designed for modern Defi protocols including decentralised data storage, decentralised applications, and smart contracts. They are used for more than one thousand pricing data feeds, including tokens, facilitate decentralised trading, and enable the automation of various financial protocols, stocks, ETFs, and commodities.