Oracles for number values
11-15, 15:30–16:00 (Asia/Bangkok), Stage 2

We will overview the history and state of research on how to design a cryptoeconomic oracle that outputs a number value. One wants such tools for price oracles, but also for bringing other information on-chain, e.g. the damages to award from an on-chain insurance contract. We will look at approaches ranging from Vitalik's 2014 SchellingCoin proposal to ideas drawing from social choice theory, including based on recent research. We will explore tradeoffs including resistance to several attacks.

William George has a PhD in mathematics from the University of Toronto. His thesis was on number theory problems related to elliptic curve cryptography. William began actively researching problems related to blockchains during postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Toronto and at École Polytechnique (Palaiseau, France). William has been doing crypto-economics research for the blockchain-based dispute resolution platform Kleros since 2018.