From Maker's "shadow" to an independent bloom, the Oracle Machine Chronicle has raised $12 million to regain new life.

Original | Odaily Daily Report (@OdailyChina)

Author | Dingdang (@XiaMiPP)

On March 25, the oracle service platform Chronicle announced the completion of a $12 million seed round financing, led by Strobe (formerly Blocktower Venture Capital), with follow-on investments from institutions such as Brevan Howard and 6th Man Ventures. At first glance, this may seem like just an ordinary financing news, but upon deeper understanding, you'll find that Chronicle's story is far more exciting than it appears.

Chronicle is not a new player in the oracle space, but an industry veteran deeply rooted in on-chain data verification and the RWA sector. It started in the MakerDAO ecosystem and has undergone dual tests of technology and market, now developing into an independent decentralized oracle network that provides high transparency data support for DeFi, RWA, and TradFi institutions. This financing also signifies that Chronicle is officially stepping onto a bigger stage.

Basic Overview

As an important data provider in the Web3 ecosystem, Chronicle has built a complete decentralized data infrastructure based on years of technological accumulation, with core technologies including:

• Chronicle Dashboard: Provides end-to-end data verifiability, ensuring users can trace the source of data and enhance transparency. Its verification network consists of 22 decentralized nodes, including industry-renowned participants such as Infura and Etherscan. This distributed architecture avoids single points of failure while enhancing data reliability through multi-party verification.
• Scribe: Optimizes the efficiency and cost of data updates by introducing Schnorr signature aggregation technology. It addresses the issues of long signature verification time and high Gas fees in traditional oracle systems, enabling Chronicle to provide high-quality data services at a lower operational cost.
• Verified Asset: is the oracle solution designed by Chronicle for the RWA (Real World Assets) track, focusing on securely and efficiently bringing the price and status data of off-chain assets (such as U.S. Treasury bonds, real estate data, etc.) on-chain. It is not just a technical tool, but also a key link in the fusion of DeFi and TradFi (traditional finance).

These technologies are widely used in the Sky ecosystem and provide data support for Web3 projects such as M^ 0 (focused on currency protocols), Centrifuge (asset tokenization platform), Superstate (on-chain investment tools), and Securitize (security tokenization), further highlighting Chronicle's competitiveness in the field of cross-ecosystem data services.

The Chronicle team is also experienced, with founder Niklas Kunkel having developed early oracle solutions within the MakerDAO ecosystem back in 2017, and leading key projects such as OasisDEX and DSProxy. Growth lead Jen Senhaji was also responsible for market expansion at MakerDAO, giving Chronicle dual advantages in technology and market.

The $12 million from this round of financing will mainly be used for product research and development as well as technological innovation. Chronicle plans to launch new products in the next 12 to 18 months to promote the development of DeFi and RWA sectors.

From a single ecosystem to diversified cooperation

The relationship between Chronicle and Sky Protocol is both a microcosm of the modular evolution of the MakerDAO ecosystem and a demonstration of the trend towards the independence of Web3 oracles.

Initially, Chronicle was only used as an oracle component within the MakerDAO ecosystem, responsible for providing price data support for SAI (the predecessor of DAI). At that time, Chronicle's role was relatively simple, mainly serving the stablecoin operation within MakerDAO, and failed to form an independent market competitiveness. However, with the rapid development of the DeFi ecosystem, the oracle solution of a single ecosystem can no longer meet the needs of the industry.

In the process of MakerDAO moving towards modularity, Chronicle has gradually been granted greater independence, especially after its official transformation into Chronicle Labs in 2023, as it is no longer limited to the Maker ecosystem but has begun to provide data services for the entire DeFi and RWA sectors.

This transformation does not mean that Chronicle and Sky are parting ways; on the contrary, their collaboration model can become more diversified. This diversification is reflected not only in the depth of technical support but also in the breadth of collaboration forms. For example, as independent communities, the two can share resources and achieve ecological synergy. Chronicle's decentralized node network can provide Sky's users with a more transparent data verification experience, while Sky's stablecoin traffic can also benefit Chronicle, enhancing its influence in the DeFi community. This "you have me, I have you" diversification model has evolved the relationship between Chronicle and Sky from a single dependency into a more resilient and creative partnership.

Chronicle The Meaning of Independence

The independence of Chronicle is closely related to the "Endgame" plan proposed by Rune Christensen in 2022. This plan promotes the evolution of the MakerDAO ecosystem through modular architecture, decentralized governance, and RWA integration, and the independence of Chronicle is a key step in this strategy.

By stripping away the oracle functionality, Sky focuses on stablecoins and governance optimization, avoiding resource redundancy. Chronicle can independently expand the market and open up external revenue sources, which can reduce the maintenance burden of the Sky ecosystem, with a clearer division of labor between the two.

Independence also brings with it changes in governance and market strategy. Chronicle is no longer limited by the governance frameworks of MakerDAO or Sky, but will be able to chart its own development path, such as interfacing with more L2 networks (e.g., Arbitrum, Optimism), or exploring deeper collaborations with TradFi institutions. In the future, it may further expand in areas such as decentralized data marketplaces, on-chain identity verification, and even AI combined with blockchain data to become a core pillar of Web3 data infrastructure.

In addition, post-independence Chronicle is more likely to attract outside capital, with 71% of the funding coming from U.S. investors. The addition of these institutions not only brings financial support, but also provides an important endorsement for Chronicle's future market expansion, regulatory compliance, and institutional cooperation. In particular, the addition of Brevan Howard means that Chronicle has the opportunity to open up more cooperation channels with traditional financial institutions, further promote the on-chain listing of RWA assets, and provide more transparent and compliant on-chain data support for the integration of DeFi and TradFi. It is worth mentioning that although the funds do not flow directly into Sky, they may also indirectly benefit the Sky ecosystem.

Of course, Chronicle as an independent entity means that its development direction is more determined by the market rather than being directly influenced by Rune or Sky. It may further expand its range of services to target more blockchain ecosystems, rather than just relying on Sky. This means more collaboration opportunities for Sky, but it also needs to adapt to Chronicle's broader market positioning.

How can ordinary users participate in the Chronicle ecosystem?

Ordinary users can obtain Chronicle-related points through the Sky ecosystem, which may be part of the future Chronicle incentive mechanism. Specific participation methods include:

1. Through Sky.money

• Visit sky.money to participate in staking or providing liquidity using USDS.
• Chronicle points may be related to these operations, and specific rules are to be further disclosed by the official.

2. Through Spark.fi

• Deposit USDS or participate in lending on Spark Protocol.
• The community speculates that Chronicle points may be linked to TVL contributions, and the level of participation may affect future rewards.

3. Follow official updates

• Follow the official Chronicle X account (@ChronicleLabs) and Discord for the latest information.
• Stay updated on the changes in the points mechanism and incentive programs.