Welcome to the Witnet ecosystem!¶
The Witnet protocol enables a network of computers to act as a decentralized oracle that retrieves, attests and delivers information in behalf of smart contracts in a tamper-resistant way.
This Decentralized Oracle Network (DON) maintains and distributes a block chain data structure that serves as a common ledger for the operation of the protocol as well as for the wit token, which is central for incentivizing the network players to abide by the protocol and make them liable for any misbehavior. — Witnet Whitepaper
Active network participants earn wit tokens for fulfilling the data retrieval, attestation and delivery tasks coming from different smart contract platforms such as Ethereum.
Node operators, a.k.a. Witnesses¶
The Witnet blockchain is free, open, and neutral. That is, You can run your own node and mine blocks on the Witnet blockchain. Every node maintains the history of all the transactions on the blockchain.
Additionally, every node in the Witnet network can participate in witnessing, i.e. earning wit tokens in exchange of retrieving, aggregating and delivering data points from public APIs into smart contracts.
Developers¶
The Witnet ecosystem welcomes developers of all kind of backgrounds: from people who contribute to Witnet-Rust or Sheikah to those who want to connect their Ethereum smart contracts to external APIs. Developers can:
- Build Witnet clients.
- Build applications to interact with a Witnet client.
- Write Ethereum smart contracts that use Witnet.
- Contribute to Witnet-Rust or Sheikah.
Witnet Foundation¶
Witnet Foundation is the independent entity currently in charge of funding the development of Witnet-Rust and Sheikah, as well as fostering the thriving ecosystem around the Witnet protocol.
Other stakeholders¶
The Witnet community is open to everyone. Even if you are not a developer or node operator, there are many things you can do to spread the word!