Chainlink VRF Is Live on Polygon, Providing Developers With a Secure Source of Verifiable Randomness
As the number of decentralized applications launched on Polygon (formerly Matic) continues to rapidly increase, we are actively working to provide developers with additional infrastructure and the most in-demand tooling required to make unique smart contract use cases a reality. To support this goal, we are proud to announce that the Chainlink Verifiable Random Function (VRF) is now live on the Polygon Mainnet, giving smart contract developers native access to the most secure and provably fair source of on-chain randomness in the blockchain industry.
We recommend Chainlink VRF to all Polygon developers needing access to a secure, fair, and cost-efficient source of randomness within their smart contract applications. Chainlink VRF allows for the creation of advanced smart contract applications with unique user experiences, such as custom in-game item drops with a provable level of scarcity or randomly generated artwork and NFT attributes that are fairly awarded to users.
Coupled with the previously launched Chainlink Price Feeds, Polygon developers now have access to the industry’s leading price oracles and verifiable RNG, two of the most important off-chain resources when building highly scalable and provably secure DeFi protocols and on-chain gaming dApps. The sky’s the limit with Polygon and Chainlink, and we can’t wait to see what kind of externally connected smart contract designs developers create.
To get started testing and building smart contract applications using Chainlink VRF on Polygon, visit https://docs.chain.link/docs/vrf-contracts.
What is Chainlink VRF?
Many decentralized applications require randomness to create unpredictability and fairness, however, obtaining access to a tamperproof and probably unbiased source of randomness is challenging. For example, on-chain random number generator (RNG) solutions like blockhash are vulnerable to arbitrary manipulation like miners withholding blocks, while off-chain RNG solutions are opaque and require trust in the off-chain data provider.
Chainlink Verifiable Random Function is an RNG solution purpose-built for smart contracts, where a user-supplied seed value and oracle node private key are used to generate a random number, as well as an on-chain cryptographic proof to confirm the integrity of the VRF process. By combining the proof and seed, users can independently confirm that all entropy produced by Chainlink VRF is authentic and tamperproof. Since neither the oracle nodes nor smart contract developers are able to tamper with the RNG process, users receive strong assurances that Polygon applications relying on Chainlink VRF are provably fair and unbiased.
For more information on Chainlink VRF and the mathematics behind its security, refer to Chainlink’s deep-dive article on the subject.
The Advantages of Chainlink VRF on the Polygon Network
Polygon is a layer-2 scaling aggregator that enables the creation of low-cost and high-throughput smart contract applications through a hybrid Plasma and Proof of Stake sidechain network design. Polygon’s high-performance and low fee infrastructure serve as an ideal platform for both DeFi and on-chain gaming applications that need to operate at scale to support mass adoption.
With the launch of Chainlink VRF on Polygon, smart contract developers can now create highly scalable applications connected to a secure source of randomness, which can be queried repeatedly in a cost-efficient manner. This combination of Polygon’s scalability and the Chainlink Network’s time-tested security gives developers the most optimal full-stack smart contract solution for powering high-throughput and provably secure DeFi, NFT, and on-chain gaming applications. Some potential ideas include:
- Seeding specific collectible traits, original loot boxes, and rare in-game artifacts
- Introducing random elements within gameplay like map generation, critical hits, and matchmaking
- Selecting random winners in on-chain lotteries or jurors for on-chain governance
- Whitelisting random addresses for in-demand token launches or generating queues for attending popular events and buying rare items
We plan to continue working with the Chainlink team to ensure developers have access to all the external resources required for their smart contract applications.
Polygon Co-Founder Jaynti Kanani expressed excitement on the integration, saying:
“As more and more gaming and NFT applications launch on the Polygon Network to save on gas fees, it has become clear that a secure source of on-chain randomness is a fundamental requirement to unlock a variety of smart contract designs. Chainlink VRF provides Polygon developers the most secure form of verifiable randomness, ensuring applications always operate in an unbiased and provably fair manner.”
Commenting on the Polygon-Chainlink VRF integration, Etherlegends CEO Curran Mulvhill stated:
“This is a game-changing integration that every blockchain game-developer/player should be paying close attention to. Combining L2, Polygon, and Chainlink’s VRF, we can now do even more to implement these random functions into core elements of our game architecture, beyond just the fairness of distribution. This opens the door to several more use cases in Ether Legends and all blockchain randomness elements coupled with affordability.
On Polygon the cost of consuming VRF is made far cheaper through Polygon’s scalability improvements, creating a frequency of response where a lot more use cases will be enabled. I think this is quite important as our current game and reward implementation with polygon is free for all players to receive rewards. The VRF will only enhance the user experience and build trust with the community, enabling the fair game elements fused with the security of blockchain.”
Transmute team founders, 0xFaust & 0xConcorde also went on to say:
“As a decentralized gaming project, we were already relying on Chainlink VRF on Ethereum as a trustworthy source of randomness. However, the recent transaction cost increase became a very serious problem, causing our project to grind to a halt only a few days after launch. We were already working on migrating our platform to the Polygon Layer2 network, but the release of VRF on Polygon on such short notice comes as exceptionally good news, as now we will no longer have any gas-related problems or constraints. As such, our users will enjoy the decentralized, trustless gaming at virtually no cost, as often as they want, courtesy of Chainlink and Polygon.”
About Chainlink
If you are a smart contract developer and want to take advantage of the Chainlink VRF feature, visit their developer documentation and join the technical discussion on Discord. If you want to schedule a call to discuss the integration more in-depth, reach out here.
Chainlink is an open-source blockchain abstraction layer for building and running decentralized oracle networks that give smart contracts on any blockchain access to secure and reliable data inputs and outputs. It provides oracles to leading DeFi applications like Synthetix, Aave, and Bancor; numerous blockchains such as Ethereum, Polkadot, and Tezos; as well as large enterprises including Google, Oracle, and SWIFT.
Website | Twitter | Reddit | YouTube | Telegram | Events | GitHub | Price Feeds | DeFi
About Polygon (Formerly Matic)
Polygon is the first well-structured, easy-to-use platform for Ethereum scaling and infrastructure development. Its core component is Polygon SDK, a modular, flexible framework that supports building and connecting Secured Chains like Plasma, Optimistic Rollups, zkRollups, Validium etc and Standalone Chains like Matic POS, designed for flexibility and independence. Polygon’s Layer 2 Chains have seen widespread adoption with 90+ Dapps, ~7M txns and ~200K unique users.
If you’re an Ethereum Developer, you’re already a Polygon developer! Leverage Polygon’s fast and secure txns for your Dapp, get started here.
