Web3 Leader Spotlight: Harry Papacharissiou
This week, we caught up with Harry Papacharissiou, Developer Advocate Manager at Chainlink, the leading provider of secure and reliable open-source oracle solutions. He offers valuable insights on the architecture of Chainlink, its future in web3 and the most important skill for a web3 developer.
How does Chainlink maintain the security and reliability of its oracle network? Are there any measures in place to prevent potential vulnerabilities?
Chainlink’s security comes from its robust architecture, cutting-edge technology, and defense-in-depth approach. By using a decentralised network of oracles sourcing data from multiple data sources, and coming to consensus on the result of that data, the security, reliability, and trust-minimisation properties of the blockchain are also extended out to the data source and data delivery layer as well. This means that a decentralised application is not relying on a centralized solution or single data point. Chainink’s decentralised oracle network also performs computations that are unsuitable for executing on-chain due to costs, scalability, or other concerns. These computations can be performed off-chain and then relayed on-chain.
What are some notable real-world use cases or projects that have integrated Chainlink, and how has it impacted those industries or sectors?
Chainlink is an enabler for new verticals and use cases in Web3. When Chainlink Data Feeds went live in 2019 and started to deliver price data on-chain, DeFi started to take off. The more data that Chainlink brought on-chain, the more use cases were unlocked and the more DeFi thrived. A similar thing happened with Chainlink VRF (verifiable randomness). Once developers had a secure source of pseudo-randomness, Web3 gaming started to rise in popularity. And now we’re at the very early stages of seeing a similar thing with Chainlink Functions, where developers are starting to use more Web2 data and services in their Web3 applications.
How do you see the future of Chainlink and its impact on the broader blockchain and smart contract landscape?
Chainlink services are being consolidated into a Web3 services platform. So the long-term vision is that it will maintain its position as the industry-standard Web3 services platform that developers use for everything from off-chain data and computation to randomness, automation, cross-chain messaging, MEV protection, and more. Think of it as an AWS or Google Cloud Platform for Web3.
What's the most important soft skill required to be a successful engineer in web3? And why?
Focus. This industry is very distracting, as you have a lot of noise and a lot of hype, and you have to do your own research to really build up a strong knowledge base that can help you get oriented to what's going on. Being able to maintain an unflinching focus so that you can be as productive and innovative as possible is key.
