InputOutput (IOKH), the technology company behind the Cardano open-source blockchain project, announced in the ongoing Cardano Summit 2021 that it has partnered with decentralized blockchain oracle network Chainlink.

Tremendous Respect for Cardano

As per the announcement, the partnership will see Cardano integrate Chainlink’s oracles to support developers as they prepare to start building smart contracts for decentralized finance (DeFi) applications.

Recall that Cardano became compatible with smart contracts for the first time after the Alonzo network upgrade, which went live on September 12, 2021.

Commenting on the partnership, Niki Ariyasinghe, head of blockchain partnerships at Chainlink Labs, noted that the oracle network has a “tremendous amount of respect for the Cardano ecosystem,” especially the technical team behind the project and the collaborative nature of the community.

Perfect Timing

Ariyasinghe believes the timing is perfect for the collaboration considering smart contracts are only just coming to Cardano, while Chainlink helps facilitate the transfer of tamper-proof data from off-chain sources to on-chain smart contracts.

“A lot of this comes down to timing. Cardano obviously has had an extended period where it had different drops of upgrades and the most recent is Alonzo – really about enabling smart contracts. So for us this is really like the right time to engage with the Cardano ecosystem,” he added.

He added that the integration could enable hundreds of billions of dollars of value locked to be secured on the Cardano Protocol, especially in the DeFi sector.

Cardano Unveils Multiple Partnerships

Meanwhile, Day 1 of the ongoing Summit has ushered in several announcements and strategic partnership deals between Cardano and other entities.

As reported earlier, Charles Hoskinson announced that the project has teamed up with DISH’s telecom services, in an effort to boost adoption for the blockchain while transforming the entire model of the telecom industry.

The project also revealed that global land restoration and tree planting verification company Veritree will now secure its records using Cardano’s blockchain following a strategic partnership.

Others on Cardano’s list of partnership announcements include leading esports and gaming platform Rival, a fintech venture studio and fund UBX, and finance identity-based solution AID:tech.