From: thepipeline_xyz
Switchboard, an Oracle platform, was founded by Chris and Mitch in May 2021. The co-founders appeared on “The Pipeline” podcast to discuss their backgrounds, the origins and purpose of Switchboard, their early support for Monad, and their insights into the evolving crypto market and future opportunities [01:10:04].
Founders’ Backgrounds
The genesis of Switchboard stemmed from Chris and Mitch’s experiences and observations within the nascent crypto and tech industries [01:52:00].
Chris’s Journey
Chris, one of the co-founders, has been in crypto since 2013-2014, starting as an early employee at Circle [02:01:21]. He was the second person on Circle’s trading desk, witnessing its growth into a global 24/7 operation [02:11:00]. This experience reshaped his views on crypto and the potential of hard work [02:25:00]. In 2019, after his team was sold to Kraken, Chris ventured out to invest and build independently [02:33:00]. He became involved with the Solana ecosystem, recognizing the need for high-performance L1s and cheap chains to enable new use cases [02:46:00]. Initially, he aimed to build a product for trading everything on DEXs, a belief that was not widely accepted in 2018-2019 before DeFi summer [03:17:00]. This led to the realization that long-tail derivatives required an Oracle to support them, which became the foundation for Switchboard [03:40:00].
Mitch’s Journey
Mitch was introduced to Chris through a college friend in San Francisco [04:00:00]. He previously worked at Google Cloud, leading a team on VPC networking, and before that, in security for Google Hardware [04:14:00]. Feeling the corporate life wasn’t for him, Mitch joined Chris after a two-week prototype demo of an Oracle solution led to closing their seed round [04:26:00]. Mitch expressed gratitude for Switchboard’s growth, noting it now handles $2 billion in volume and over 2 million transactions daily, accounting for 3-7% of Solana’s traffic [04:52:00].
All in on Crypto
Chris noted that once you “go all in on crypto, you can’t go back” [05:13:00]. Building with a strong team is crucial, especially during stressful times [05:27:00].
What is Switchboard?
Switchboard’s core purpose is to address the limitations of existing Oracle solutions in the crypto market [06:11:00].
The Problem
Mitch explained that many traditional data providers were static and inflexible, making it difficult for users to bring specific data from desired sources [06:30:00]. Additionally, the data sourcing methods were often “black boxes,” which contradicts the transparent nature of crypto [06:40:00].
The Solution: Programmable Oracles
Switchboard’s mission is to create a fully transparent Oracle that anyone can build and customize [06:49:00]. It functions as an Oracle platform where users can:
- Build any data flow or stream [07:05:00].
- Pull, transform, combine, and repost data [07:07:00].
- List new assets and open new markets instantly [07:16:00].
Chris added that the previous frustrations stemmed from high transaction fees and a lack of access to high-quality, customizable Oracles [07:34:00]. These issues prevented the creation of new products and markets [07:39:00]. With lower transaction fees and faster chains, Switchboard enables “ephemeral markets” and products that were previously economically unfeasible on chains like Ethereum [08:00:00].
On-Demand Data
Switchboard is pushing for “on-demand data,” which requires virtually no on-chain setup to index information [12:24:00]. They prioritize the “poll model” where a data layer or information layer brings data onto the chain, with providers defining what goes to that layer [13:00:00]. Their free-form model removes restrictions on the data layer; users provide a schema, and the network brings it on-chain without any prior transactions [13:11:00]. A single blockchain transaction can hit the Oracle network, specify desired data and transformations, and atomically receive the result without latency [13:26:00]. This allows for ephemeral markets, such as supporting data for a game lasting only two hours, which would be uneconomical for larger providers [13:39:00].
Customization
Users can quickly create a customized data feed for a new index, such as the “meme coin of the day,” in seconds using Switchboard’s platform [14:26:00]. This ability to list new products fastest, similar to how Binance gained market share in 2017-2018, will be crucial for DeFi derivative platforms, lending protocols, and DEX markets [15:00:00].
Why Monad? (Synergy)
Switchboard was one of the earliest builder groups to recognize and support Monad’s potential [08:52:00].
- Technical Alignment: The idea of parallelizable EVMs and bringing high-performance architecture from other ecosystems to the EVM was “uniquely compelling” [09:34:00]. If successful, this unlocks new use cases [09:45:00].
- Market Alignment: Monad aligns with Switchboard’s thesis of enabling new products in crypto by combining speed and lower fees [09:52:00]. This opens up the market to a much broader community [10:00:00].
- Community: Monad’s strong community was a significant factor in Switchboard’s support [10:40:00]. This community-driven interest is “unprecedented” and helps foster crypto lore and culture [11:11:00].
Market Evolution & Future Outlook
Changes in Crypto Climate (2021 vs. Now)
Since Switchboard’s founding in 2021, Chris notes some shifts in the crypto climate [16:03:00]:
- Use Cases: Initially, there was an expectation for more non-price feed use cases, such as prediction markets and on-chain insurance, but the majority of Oracle activity remains primarily in DeFi derivatives and borrow/lend protocols [16:15:00].
- Growth Areas: Significant growth has been observed in gaming (GameFi) and gambling (GambleFi), especially for applications requiring secure randomness [16:53:00].
- Product Types: Vault products saw a decline during the bear market but are starting to return [17:21:00].
- Liquidity & Volume: There is significantly more on-chain liquidity and volume now compared to 2021 [17:43:00]. This shift is expected to increase as UX and DeFi products improve, and on-ramp situations evolve [17:48:00].
Exciting Verticals & Applications
Switchboard is particularly excited to support:
- Ephemeral Markets: The idea that “everything will be tradable” is becoming a reality [18:23:00]. This includes the meme coin space, which may see more varieties on Monad and other ecosystems [18:40:00].
- Prediction Markets & On-chain Insurance: Chris remains a strong believer in these, especially given the inefficiencies in the traditional insurance market [18:55:00].
- Real World Assets (RWAs): This narrative is gaining traction, with projects like Ondo and Athena showing significant activity and rapid growth in stablecoin supply [19:52:00]. The most interesting aspect is bringing off-chain collateral securely on-chain, including new forms of wrapped Bitcoin into DeFi [21:17:18].
- Interest-Bearing Stablecoins: These are seen as having proven product-market fit, making stablecoins objectively better for payments and end-users than traditional Web2 rails [21:55:00]. This is uniquely enabled by crypto and functions best on high-performance, scalable blockchains [22:44:00].
- Seamless E-commerce: Chris envisions an “eBay of crypto” where NFTs represent goods, allowing for trading, buying, selling, and redemption for physical goods and services [32:18:00].
- Decentralized Social: The rise of platforms like Farcaster is particularly exciting [32:37:00].
Challenges in Data Feeds
Mitch highlighted challenges in supporting data feeds:
- Multiple Data Points: Accurately representing complex information requiring multiple data points (e.g., race results tables) and achieving consensus [26:13:00].
- Efficiency vs. Fidelity: Balancing gas efficiency and conciseness with trustless verification methods like ZK verification and hardware verification [26:52:00].
- Data Freshness & Front-running: Ensuring fairness and preventing front-running, especially with randomness or data that might be visible off-chain before being available on-chain [35:52:00].
Blockchain Technical Evolution
Mitch discussed how parallelized blockchains deal with read-write locking of storage, and how applications need to consider “lock contention” to maximize performance [27:59:00]. Monad’s innovation lies in its unique custom state database allowing asynchronous read and write to the state database [29:51:00]. Builders who deeply understand these innovations can achieve “1000x” performance, an “order of magnitude difference,” by optimizing applications to the state database level [30:38:00].
Future of Switchboard and Crypto
Chris’s personal thesis is that crypto activity on-chain will 100x over the next few years, creating massive demand for bringing real-world data on-chain [24:49:00]. To scale to these use cases, a customizable, flexible Oracle solution like Switchboard’s permissionless offering is essential, as interfacing with a BD team for every data feed is not scalable [25:06:00].
Mitch believes there could be a future where all nodes store history and consensus for each DApp, and cross-program connections build consensus for sub-maps of the network [39:53:00]. This could allow for infinitely mapping blockchain throughput [40:11:00].
Switchboard Product Offering & Future
Upcoming Features
- Monad Integration: Switchboard will be live on Monad from day one, ready to support new use cases like DeFi, lending protocols, prediction markets, and decentralized social media that need real-world data [33:16:00].
- Cheaper and More Secure Data: The new on-demand data model aims to be the cheapest way to verifiably bring data on-chain [34:13:00].
- Two-Tiered Security: Switchboard employs a two-tiered security layer involving verifiable hardware and ultimate Oracle consensus, making it the most secure solution [34:24:00].
- Confidential Runtimes (TEE): Using confidential runtimes like TEEs, users can provide API keys or secrets to their data feeds, and Oracles can access the data without revealing the keys to anyone, even Oracle operators [34:39:00].
- Optimizing for Different Use Cases: Switchboard plans to optimize for diverse use cases, not just the pull model, but also callbacks, to cater to the growing and varied needs of the space [37:54:00].
Outlook for the Next 5 Years
Chris believes the industry needs to focus on more things coming on-chain [38:36:00]. If stablecoin TVL grows significantly, it will drive massive payment activity and volume, flowing through the entire ecosystem [38:44:00]. The expansion of the on-chain economy is the ultimate goal [39:03:00].
Final Alpha
Chris’s final piece of advice emphasizes conviction:
“Having been in the industry for so long, there’s a lot of ideas that seem like they’re crazy, they seem like they’re ridiculous, but are proven right, you know, years later. […] I think a lot of crypto is really about having conviction and holding through and continuing to build even when you know there are certain events that may happen that may cause you to lose faith or lose conviction and think otherwise. And that doesn’t mean that you know you shouldn’t adapt, right? Markets change, you absolutely should adapt, but the core thesis, you know, the core beliefs of why we’re here, I think people need to stay true to this.” [42:07:00]
Mitch added that founders should defend their beliefs, especially against shorter-term market watchers [43:10:00].