The word around the crypto community is that Chainlink and the Pepe meme are a match made in heaven. And although the discussion goes full-on esoteric, Chainlink is one of the best-performing crypto projects associated with big names in the mainstream business world.
Whether it has some grand-scale internet hoodoo behind it or not, let’s see what’s going on with Chainlink.
What is Chainlink?
First of all, Chainlink is a decentralized oracle network that provides off-chain data to on-chain resources. It is a major blockchain interoperability project that acts as a middleware for different environments by making a connection between them.
Chainlink doesn’t just offer interoperability by connecting blockchains; it is also meant to connect decentralized environments with centralized environments.
Many decentralized apps work with data that is external to them. And in many cases, the data comes from centralized sources that can be easily manipulated or are just incorrect.
Chainlink is looking to solve this issue through oracle nodes that are meant to form a trustless and robust network. In this network, the off-chain data can be easily accessed and verified. The node operators have their historical and real-time performance immutably stored on the network for all to see.
The complex use cases that Chainlink can support are numerous, with some of them being in these fields:
- Insurance;
- Market data;
- Retail payments;
- Events data.
How Does Chainlink Work?
The Chainlink smart contracts offer projects that need to access off-chain data the possibility to get everything they need from external resources and correlate them with APIs and data pools through the use of oracles.
The Off-Chain Architecture
The off-chain architecture plan started from Chainlink’s beginning as a project that offered oracle services to the Ethereum Network.
The Chainlink Core powered a network of oracle nodes that handled blockchain interactions with external resources, from any industry, in real-time. And for most of it, Chainlink’s off-chain architecture kept the same principles.
The On-Chain Architecture
The on-chain architecture is made of a network formed by independent nodes that collect data from oracles and reply to data requests coming from users’ request contracts.
Speaking about contracts, there are three main types of contracts built for the On-Chain Architecture:
- Reputation contract;
- Order-matching contract;
- Aggregating contract.
The reputation contract is meant to verify the reputation of the oracle service provider.
Next, the order-matching contract handles the requests from the oracle providers based on the Service Level Agreement (SLA) parameters.
And the aggregating contract gathers responses from the oracles providers and concludes the final results for the Chainlink query.
The Chainlink Security
Chainlink Security is made of 4 key security services:
- The validation system;
- The reputation system;
- The certification service;
- The contract-upgrade service.
The first three systems are established to guide users, while the last is optional.
The validation system monitors nodes on the Chainlink network and rates them based on availability and correctness.
In Chainlink’s validation system, availability refers to the node’s ability to respond to messages specifically for the purpose of uptime statistics.
Correctness is measured by comparing multiple node responses on a given assignment. Therefore, any deviation from the average answer will negatively impact a node’s correctness.
As for the reputation system, its main purpose is to provide an incentive for nodes to produce honest data promptly. It will contain on-chain history defining the majority of factors on which a node is rated. The reputation system keeps track of a node’s total number of assigned, completed, and accepted requests, the average response time, and the number of penalty payments.
The certification system is used to prevent nodes from cheating. It prevents freeloading, Sybil, mirroring, and other types of attacks. The certification system is meant to find and prevent these attacks by endorsing high-quality oracle providers.
And finally, the optional contract upgrade system allows users to have security updates applied to their smart contracts.
The LINK Token in the Chainlink Environment
LINK is the native currency of Chainlink and is also one of the best-performing altcoins. It is an ERC-20 token with additional ERC-223 functionality and is mainly used to compensate the off-chain nodes.
The value and demand of the token are determined by the number of operators available that provide off-chain services to Chainlink. The more the LINK token is used in the Chainlink environment, the more valuable it should become.
Moreso, the LINK token started 2021 at around $11.30 in January and reached an all-time high of $52.28 in May, proving that exponential growth of almost 500% was still possible in that year, at a time when the crypto market was already slowly, slowly starting to decline because of the pandemic.
Big Names Associated with Chainlink
Being associated with big players from the business world, Chainlink received some votes of trust that helped develop its project further and influenced the growth of the LINK token.
In June 2019, Google Cloud integrated Chainlink oracles in their analytics data Warehouse. Through the Chainlink-Google Cloud collaboration, the companies aimed to make it easier for developers to build technologies by letting them access cloud data on public blockchains using oracles.
In the same month, Oracle’s software giant announced the partnership with Chainlink intending to help startups use Chainlink’s oracles to monetize their APIs on the Oracle Blockchain Platform.
Also, in July 2020, Deutsche Telekom’s T-Systems became a Chainlink node operator.
Chainlink joined hands with UNESCO in January 2021 to raise awareness and knowledge of blockchain, smart contracts, and oracle technology. They will create educational resources and development programs openly available and easily accessible to people and companies worldwide as a result of this collaboration.
Around the same time, Chainlink and UNICEF began collaborating to empower communities through blockchain technology. This relationship opened up new social and economic opportunities by enabling greater transparency and more efficient coordination than is possible with more traditional systems.
Chainlink 2.0
Meanwhile, Chainlink has planned additional features that have started to be implemented around January and February 2022. As the roadmap showcases, the company is preparing a major update, Chainlink 2.0.
The 2.0 update proposes a long-term, multi-year plan for continuously developing Chainlink’s decentralized oracle network and the platform’s capacity to facilitate the rapid growth of smart contract use cases.
The significance of this development update is that DONs (Decentralized Oracle Networks) will come together to establish an off-chain computational layer capable of coordinating hybrid smart contracts.
The journey of Chainlink 2.0 launched with the introduction of staking in the latter part of 2022. This step represents a significant milestone and aims to establish an additional layer of crypto-economic stability within the Chainlink ecosystem.
The Meme Magic
But what’s going on with meme magic, and what does it have to do with the LINK token? Before diving into that, we need to talk about the history of the Pepe the Frog meme, its owner, and a few more important details.
SIDENOTE. Don’t mistake Pepe the Frog with Pepecoin. Chainlink and Pepecoin have nothing to do with each other.
Who is the Owner of Pepe the Frog?
First, let’s clarify the situation. No specific individual or entity owns Pepe the Frog. Artist Matt Furie created the character as part of his “Boy’s Club” comic series. However, Pepe gained widespread popularity online and was subsequently adopted and modified by various online communities.
As a result, Pepe became a meme and cultural phenomenon that transcended any single ownership or control. The meme is now considered part of the public domain and is freely used and shared by internet users worldwide.
But you’re probably wondering what steps launched Pepe the Frog in such a way that it became an international meme. Well, let’s see the history of Pepe the Frog.
The History of Pepe the Frog Meme
The Pepe the Frog meme originated in the early 2000s as a character created by artist Matt Furie for his comic series called “Boy’s Club.”
The character, depicted as a laid-back and chill frog, gained popularity on various internet platforms, especially imageboards like 4chan and Reddit.
Over time, in order to perpetuate the humor, enthusiasts took it upon themselves to forge “Rare Pepes” – innovative renditions of the meme that had yet to grace the internet. This peculiar trend gave rise to a pseudo-economy, where the scarcity of a particular Pepe image determined its desirability and worth.
As new Pepe variations emerged incessantly, the meme’s influence expanded and eventually permeated mainstream culture. Consequently, the joke became a shared experience, embraced, and understood by everyone. This meme was often used to express certain things, even on the crypto forums.
Nonetheless, in recent years, Pepe the Frog has faced controversy. Some extremist groups adopted it as a symbol, leading to associations with hate speech and bigotry.
As a result, platforms like the Anti-Defamation League designated Pepe as a hate symbol. This association sparked debates and discussions about the meme’s meaning and impact on online communities.
However, the meme has remained widely used on the internet and increasingly in the crypto space because the majority of users of Pepe the Frog have been, and continue to be, non-bigoted.
Chainlink’s Meme Magic
Well, the word around the campfire is that meme magic is a thing, and Chainlink is to reach $1,000 per LINK because of it.
The first connection between Chainlink and Pepe the Frog stems from the “slightly less awful /Biz/ forum” on 4chan — an online space known for its lively discussions on meme cryptocurrencies.
In the early days of Chainlink, the use of Pepe the Frog memes was widely prevalent within the community.
These memes served as a means of humor and self-expression, with community members playfully attributing magical qualities to the memes (because Pepe the Frog was inspired by an Egyptian god, Kek), jokingly suggesting that they were casting spells to promote the growth of Chainlink.
Furthermore, a magnetic element arose from a cryptic insider known as Assblaster, who enticed the community by revealing fragments of information about Chainlink. The user, who purportedly operated under a strict non-disclosure agreement (NDA), remarkably bestowed generous and exclusive insights into the project.
The Chainlink team, seeing the association between the meme and Chainlink on the 4chain forum, exploited the power of this meme and started using it in the community. Thus, over time, Chainlink’s price has gradually increased thanks to this internet meme and the “spells” made by the 4chain community, becoming one of the highest in the industry based on market capitalization.
That’s how Pepe came to be considered a Chainlink meme.
With this in mind, some online communities treat Pepe as a god and employ a technique that involves charging a symbol that acts as a proxy for a clandestine plan.
Going back to Chainlink and Pepe, the “spells” of the 4chain community are not so visible today in the Chainlink community.
FAQ
Where Does Pepe the Frog Come from?
The brilliant mind behind this meme is none other than Matt Furie, who holds the distinction of being its creator. Fascinatingly, many online communities have attributed his inspiration to the renowned Egyptian deity, Kek, hence the subsequent associations that Pepe the Frog is actually Kek.
What Does the Frog Meme?
The frog meme, commonly known as Pepe the Frog, holds various meanings and interpretations depending on the context. Created by artist Matt Furie as a character in the comic series “Boy’s Club,” Pepe gained popularity and eventually became a widespread internet meme.
Pepe the Frog has been associated with a range of emotions, from humorous to sad, and has been used to express various sentiments such as joy, sarcasm, frustration, and even political opinions. Over time, different versions and variations of the Pepe meme have emerged, each with its own unique connotations and symbolism.
However, it’s important to note that Pepe the Frog has also been misappropriated by certain online communities and used in ways that promote hate speech or offensive content. Due to this misuse, Pepe’s image has become associated with negative connotations in some contexts.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, we are in no position to say if this meme magic is real or not. Yet, we do have to take into consideration what we really know.
Text plus image works a hell of a lot better than text alone. You are six times more likely to have a message imprinted on your mind when the message is associated with a relevant image rather than text alone.
This is the reason why the power of memes is immense.
And Chainlink is not the first cryptocurrency to exploit the power of Memes. Perhaps the most known cryptocurrency for using a meme is Dogecoin.
Dogecoin used the doge meme and became famous by creating their brand around a photo of a Shiba Inu that looks like a canine Mona Lisa.
