Home » Pyth Network, a fast, secure and decentralized blockchain oracle that stands out from its competitors

Pyth Network, a fast, secure and decentralized blockchain oracle that stands out from its competitors

by Tim

Pyth Network is an oracle that delivers financial data accurately and instantaneously between the various players in decentralised finance (DeFi). Pyth Network has its own data providers, thus drastically reducing the path taken by information, increasing its reliability and decreasing the associated costs. Find out in detail what sets Pyth Network apart from other blockchain oracles

Pyth Network, an oracle that delivers highly reliable data

Pyth Network is an innovative oracle whose key words are speed, reliability and security.

Developed on its own blockchain, Pythnet, Pyth can deliver highly reliable financial data on demand to any blockchain and decentralised application (dApp).

Pyth data is available on 13 blockchains ranging from Ethereum and its layer 2s such as Arbitrum or Optimism to the NBB Chain or Aptos or Cosmos. Moreover, the latter are already used by applications such as Synthetix and Cap Finance.

Today, as a consequence of decentralisation, for data to be displayed to users of an application, it must be retrieved, analysed and then sent back via various actors before being made public.

All this takes time, which is why users who need this information are not always faced with the price that is closest to its real value at the time. When you combine the time it takes for information to reach you with various variable factors such as the quality of an internet connection, the difference between the actual value of a piece of data and its displayed value, this can sometimes prove fatal, for example in the case of a flash-crash where a cryptocurrency can lose up to 80% of its value in a very short time.

And this is precisely where Pyth Network stands out from most of its competitors. Instead of aggregating several masses of data from various sources that have themselves received their data from another issuer, Pyth Network has its own data providers, thus eliminating intermediaries and mechanically reducing the time needed to transmit information.

Since the deployment of its mainnet in August 2021, Pyth Network has evolved considerably. Today, the oracle network provides more than 200 price feeds as close to the real world as possible on sectors as varied as US stocks, currencies, metals or cryptocurrencies thanks to data collected from 70 different providers

How does Pyth Network provide its data?

Pyth Network takes its name from the Greek Pythia, who in ancient times was responsible for delivering oracles to the priests of Apollo so that they could interpret messages believed to come from the deities.

Similarly, Pyth Network’s data publishers transmit in real time the value of assets (crypto-currencies or fiat currency for example) directly to the oracle (and its on-chain smart contract) to be aggregated into a consolidated value.

Thus, this clean design without intermediaries reduces latency and costs so that data can easily travel from the real world to the blockchain.

Diagram of the path taken by a piece of information for Pyth (top) and for a classic oracle (bottom)

Diagram of the path taken by a piece of information for Pyth (top) and for a classic oracle (bottom)


To do this, Pyth Network collects and aggregates data from over 75 publishers, before sorting it and issuing a single final data to the various “consumers” of the data. The sorting of this data is carried out via a smart contract aimed at delivering a price that is as close to reality as possible.

As we said earlier, Pyth Network has its own sources of information, a guarantee of reliability. Its various publishers deliver both on-chain and off-chain data, an aggregate that is not always disclosed free of charge or publicly, unlike those retrieved by most oracle networks.

For example, for the BTC/USDC pair, one of the benchmark pairs in decentralised finance, Pyth Network counts up to 32 sources of arbitrated data from both decentralised sources and sources operating in traditional finance.

In addition, most of the publishers on the Pyth Network have an international reputation, such as Binance, KuCoin, Amber Group, Bitstamp, bitbank, CoinShares, Huobi Global, Kaiko, Bybit and Jump Trading.

The recent addition to the list is Cboe Global Markets, a US exchange giant that owns the Chicago Boards Option Exchange (CBOE) and BATS Global Markets.

An efficient and innovative cross-chain oracle

Already fully operational on the Solana ecosystem, Pyth Network recently launched its cross-chain solution with Pythnet Price Feeds. This “second version” of Pyth Network is already available on more than 10 blockchains thanks to Wormhole, a protocol for interoperability between blockchains.

However, the most significant evolution with this second version is the introduction of a brand new oracle and data consumption model. This is known as the “pull model”.

Until now, all oracles have operated on a “push model”, i.e. the oracle itself has to bring/send data directly to the blockchain so that applications can use it. This entails a significant cost for the oracle (a single transaction on Ethereum can cost up to 100 dollars) and ultimately constrains the expansion of the oracle. Indeed, sending more data (either via more price feeds or faster price updates) will always cost more to the oracle and therefore to the users.

With Pyth’s on-demand model, sending data to a blockchain (say Ethereum) is delegated to the application itself. In practice, anyone can perform these on-chain price update operations because the Pyth Network smart contract is permissionless.

Thus, an application can request (and send) a new price on its blockchain at any time in order to operate. This design allows these applications to receive the most recent price possible.

This on-demand model uses Wormhole to verify and “transport” this data across multiple blockchains at the request of users. This allows Pyth Network and especially its users to benefit from the “same product” on each blockchain. Indeed, the more than 200 price feeds of Pyth Network are accessible on more than 10 blockchains.

Schematic of data transfer via Pyth Network and the Wormhole protocol

Schematic of data transfer via Pyth Network and the Wormhole protocol


For reference, Pyth is available (and permissionless) on all these blockchains:

  • Ethereum ;
  • Avalanche ;
  • Fantom;
  • Polygon;
  • BNB Chain;
  • Optimism ;
  • Arbitrum ;
  • Aurora ;
  • Celo;
  • KCC ;
  • Cronos ;
  • Solana.

Pyth will soon support zkSync, Starknet and many Cosmos Hub blockchains.

Among the users of Pyth network, we can underline the presence of the protocols Synthetix, Ribbon, Flexa Network, Aurigami, Cap Finance, Perpy Finance, Venus, Drift and Solend.

Conclusion on Pyth Network and its oracles

Thanks to its unique design, Pyth Network can offer the most up-to-date market data for the general public or for any DeFi player who wants to offer quality trading tools. Pyth Network’s oracles allow anyone to access updated price feeds several times per second in stocks, currency pairs, commodities as well as cryptocurrencies.

Building on its success with the Solana blockchain ecosystem, Pyth Network is now compatible with many blockchains through the Wormhole protocol messaging system.

The success of the Pyth Network, initially on Solana, has therefore spread to the majority of ecosystems. Gwendolyn Regina, the investment director for NBB Chain, praised Pyth’s “high-quality, uncompromising data for crypto price streams”.

Burt Rock, a member of Synthetix’s Spartan Council, added about the integration with Pyth:

“The off-chain oracle solution offered by Pyth allows Synthetix to offer highly competitive PERP markets with low fees, greatly enhancing Synthetix’ offering. “

Where data providers give access to sometimes incorrect prices due to their low refresh rates, and their sources charge exorbitant sums to reveal their information, Pyth Network delivers live and transparent prices for low on-chain fees due to its unique structure.

For its future, Pyth Network wants to continue to offer its data streams to as many decentralised applications and blockchains as possible. Within the next few months, Pyth Network should already have its name echoing in the Sui, Cosmos and ZK ecosystems. Furthermore, we can expect Pyth to grow significantly in terms of the price feeds it offers, as indicated by the recent support for ETFs.

The Pyth Network name is undoubtedly becoming a reference thanks to its unique system, which allows both users to unlock financial data that is usually inaccessible and data providers to be remunerated through an innovative means.

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