arXiv subjects

Giulio Caldarelli

Publications and source records attributed to Giulio Caldarelli.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

The Dodona Protocol: A Living Design Science Experiment on Blockchain Oracles

The oracle problem, broadly understood as the difficulty of reliably incorporating external information into blockchain-based systems, has been widely examined by scholars and practitioners. Recent comparative research has shown that several challenges of modern blockchain oracles, including attributability, accountability, integrity, and query design, mirror procedural and epistemic constraints already present in ancient oracular institutions such as the Delphic Oracle. Yet the translation of these insights into applied oracle design remains largely unexplored. This paper introduces the Dodona Protocol, a modular, chain-agnostic oracle service inspired by procedural patterns identified in ancient and modern oracle systems. Named after the Oracle of Zeus at Dodona, one of the oldest oracular sanctuaries in ancient Greece, the protocol operationalizes principles such as structured consultation, access control, attributable resolution, constrained query formats, reputational accountability, and tiered service availability. Its first module implements a query and dispute resolution mechanism in which a named expert resolver provides binding answers to structured questions submitted by petitioners. The oracle does not claim to reveal objective truth; rather, it produces outcomes that parties have agreed in advance to accept. The paper presents the design rationale, architecture, and comparative positioning of the Dodona Protocol. It frames the protocol as a living research experiment within the Design Science Research tradition, where the deployed system functions as the research artifact and operational data support structured analysis, iterative refinement, and peer-reviewed dissemination. In doing so, the paper seeks to bridge the gap between oracle theory and oracle practice.

cs.CR↗

arXiv2026

How DeFi Protocols Choose Oracle Providers: Evidence on Sourcing, Dependence, and Switching Costs

As data is an essential asset for any DeFi application, selecting an oracle is a critical decision for its success. To date, academic research has mainly focused on improving oracle technology and internal economics, while the drivers of oracle choice on the client side remain largely unexplored. This study addresses this gap by gathering insights from leading DeFi protocols, uncovering their rationale for oracle selection and their preferences regarding whether to outsource or internalize data-request mechanisms. Data are collected from founders, C-level executives, and oracle engineers of 32 DeFi protocols, whose combined total value locked (TVL) exceeds 55% of the oracle-using DeFi segment. The study leverages a one-time mixed-method survey, using tailored question paths for in-house versus third-party oracle users. Quantitative answers are summarized, compared across groups, and examined through Spearman rank-order correlations to explore pairwise associations among evaluation dimensions, while open-ended responses are inductively coded into keywords and broader themes to triangulate common selection motives and switching challenges. Insights support the view that protocol choices are tied to technological dependencies, in which the immutability of smart contracts amplifies lock-in, hindering agile switching among data providers. Furthermore, when viable third-party solutions exist, protocols generally prefer to outsource rather than build and maintain internal oracle mechanisms.

cs.CR↗

arXiv2026

From Multi-sig to DLCs: Modern Oracle Designs on Bitcoin

Unlike Ethereum, which was conceived as a general-purpose smart-contract platform, Bitcoin was designed primarily as a transaction ledger for its native currency, which limits programmability for conditional applications. This constraint is particularly evident when considering oracles, mechanisms that enable Bitcoin contracts to depend on exogenous events. This paper investigates whether new oracle designs have emerged for Bitcoin Layer 1 since the 2015 transition to the Ethereum smart contracts era and whether subsequent Bitcoin improvement proposals have expanded oracles' implementability. Using Scopus and Web of Science searches, complemented by Google Scholar to capture protocol proposals, we observe that the indexed academic coverage remains limited, and many contributions circulate outside journal venues. Within the retrieved corpus, the main post-2015 shift is from multisig-style, which envisioned oracles as co-signers, toward attestation-based designs, mainly represented by Discreet Log Contracts (DLCs), which show stronger Bitcoin community compliance, tool support, and evidence of practical implementations in real-world scenarios such as betting and prediction-market mechanisms.

cs.CR↗

arXiv2025

Two thousand years of the oracle problem. Insights from Ancient Delphi on the future of blockchain oracles

The oracle problem refers to the inability of an agent to know if the information coming from an oracle is authentic and unbiased. In ancient times, philosophers and historians debated on how to evaluate, increase, and secure the reliability of oracle predictions, particularly those from Delphi, which pertained to matters of state. Today, we refer to data carriers for automatic machines as oracles, but establishing a secure channel between these oracles and the real world still represents a challenge. Despite numerous efforts, this problem remains mostly unsolved, and the recent advent of blockchain oracles has added a layer of complexity because of the decentralization of blockchains. This paper conceptually connects Delphic and modern blockchain oracles, developing a comparative framework. Leveraging blockchain oracle taxonomy, lexical analysis is also performed on 167 Delphic queries to shed light on the relationship between oracle answer quality and question type. The presented framework aims first at revealing commonalities between classical and computational oracles and then at enriching the oracle analysis within each field. This study contributes to the computer science literature by proposing strategies to improve the reliability of blockchain oracles based on insights from Delphi and to classical literature by introducing a framework that can also be applied to interpret and classify other ancient oracular mechanisms.

cs.CR↗

arXiv2025

Can Artificial Intelligence solve the blockchain oracle problem? Unpacking the Challenges and Possibilities

The blockchain oracle problem, which refers to the challenge of injecting reliable external data into decentralized systems, remains a fundamental limitation to the development of trustless applications. While recent years have seen a proliferation of architectural, cryptographic, and economic strategies to mitigate this issue, no one has yet fully resolved the fundamental question of how a blockchain can gain knowledge about the off-chain world. In this position paper, we critically assess the role artificial intelligence (AI) can play in tackling the oracle problem. Drawing from both academic literature and practitioner implementations, we examine how AI techniques such as anomaly detection, language-based fact extraction, dynamic reputation modeling, and adversarial resistance can enhance oracle systems. We observe that while AI introduces powerful tools for improving data quality, source selection, and system resilience, it cannot eliminate the reliance on unverifiable off-chain inputs. Therefore, this study supports the idea that AI should be understood as a complementary layer of inference and filtering within a broader oracle design, not a substitute for trust assumptions.

cs.CR↗

arXiv2024

Cool, But What About Oracles? An Oracle-Based Perspective on Blockchain Integration in the Accounting Field

The Bitcoin Network is a sophisticated accounting system that allows its underlying cryptocurrency to be trusted even in the absence of a reliable financial authority. Given its undeniable success, the technology, generally referred to as blockchain, has also been proposed as a means to improve legacy accounting systems. Accounting for real-world data, however, requires the intervention of a third party known as an Oracle, which, having not the same characteristics as a blockchain, could potentially reduce the expected integration benefit. Through a systematic review of the literature, this study aims to investigate whether the papers concerning blockchain integration in accounting consider and address the limitations posed by oracles. A broad overview of the limitations that emerged in the literature is provided and distinguished according to the specific accounting integration. Results support the view that although research on the subject counts numerous articles, actual studies considering oracle limitations are lacking. Interestingly, despite the scarce production of papers addressing oracles in various accounting sectors, reporting for ESG already shows interesting workarounds for oracle limitations, with permissioned chains envisioned as a valid support for the safe storage of sustainability data.

cs.CR↗

arXiv2024

Investigating Assumptions and Proposals for Blockchain Integration in the Circular Economy. A Delphi Study

Given the rising interest in the circular economy and blockchain hype, numerous integrations were proposed. However, studies on the practical feasibility were scarce, and the assumptions of blockchain potential in the circular economy were rarely questioned. With the help of eleven of the most prominent blockchain experts, the present study critically analyzed technology integration in many areas of the circular economy to forecast their possible outcomes. Delphi's technique is leveraged to reach a consensus among experts' visions and opinions. Results support the view that some circular economy integrations are unlikely to succeed, while others if specific conditions are met, may prove to be successful in the long run.

cs.CY↗

arXiv2023

From Reality Keys to Oraclize. A Deep Dive into the History of Bitcoin Oracles

Before the advent of alternative blockchains such as Ethereum, the future of decentralization was all in the hands of Bitcoin. Together with Nakamoto itself, early developers were trying to leverage Bitcoin potential to decentralize traditionally centralized applications. However, being Bitcoin a decentralized machine, available non-trustless oracles were considered unsuitable. Therefore, strategies had to be elaborated to solve the so-called oracle problem in the newborn scenario. By interviewing early developers and crawling early forums and repositories, this paper aims to retrace and reconstruct the chain of events and contributions that gave birth to oracles on Bitcoin. The evolution of early trust models and approaches to solving the oracle problem is also outlined. Analyzing technical and social barriers to building oracles on Bitcoin, the transition to Ethereum will also be discussed.

cs.CR↗

arXiv2022

Formalizing Oracle Trust Models for blockchain-based business applications. An example from the supply chain sector

Blockchain technology truly opened the gate to a wave of unparalleled innovations; however, despite the rapidly growing load of hype, the integration into the business, apart from a few applications, seems to be coming at a slower rate. One reason for that delay may be the need in the real-world applications for the so-called trust model. Trust models are rarely mentioned in blockchain application proposals despite their importance, which creates skepticism about their successful developments. To promote trust model implementation and help practitioners in its redaction, this article provides an outline of what a trust model is, why it is essential, and an example of how it is elaborated. The discussed example comes from a case study of a dairy company that implemented blockchain for the traceability of its products. Despite being tailored on a traceability project, the redaction and elements of the trust model, with few adjustments, could be easily readapted for other applications.

econ.GN↗

arXiv2021

Wrapping trust for interoperability. A study of wrapped tokens

As known, blockchains are traditionally blind to the real world. This implies the reliance on third parties called oracles when extrinsic data is needed for smart contracts. However, reintroducing trust and single point of failure, oracles implementation is still controversial and debated. The blindness to the real world makes blockchains also unable to communicate with each other preventing any form of interoperability. An early approach to the interoperability issue is constituted by wrapped tokens, representing blockchain native tokens issued on a non-native blockchain. Similar to how oracles reintroduce trust, and single point of failure, the issuance of wrapped tokens involves third parties whose characteristics need to be considered when evaluating the advantages of crossing-chains. This paper provides an overview of the wrapped tokens and the main technologies implemented in their issuance. Advantages, as well as limitations, are also listed and discussed.

econ.GN↗