Renowned business leader to guide scaling strategy as Chainlink emerges as the global standard for connecting blockchains to real-world data and systems
Chainlink Labs, the organization developing the global standard powering mainstream blockchain adoption, announced that Eric Schmidt, former Google CEO, has signed on as a strategic advisor to guide the team working to build a world powered by truth.
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By their nature, blockchains and the smart contracts built atop them are unable to connect with real-world data and systems. Chainlink solves this problem through the use of oracle networks that pull and aggregate data from the real world in order to trigger smart contracts built on blockchains. Made up of independent node operators like Deutsche Telekom’s T-Systems, Swisscom, the Associated Press, and more, the Chainlink Network is responsible for triggering and securing more than $80 billion worth of value locked in smart contracts and applications built atop numerous leading blockchains.
“Blockchain networks and Chainlink oracles are at a crucial inflection point in terms of growth and adoption. Eric’s experience and insights around building global software platforms for next-generation innovation will be invaluable as we help developers and institutions usher in a new age of economic fairness and transparency.” said Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov.
A business leader and software engineer, Schmidt previously served as Google’s chief executive officer from 2001 to 2011, growing the company from an early Silicon Valley startup to arguably the most important technology company on the planet. Under his leadership, Google dramatically scaled its infrastructure, conducted a successful $23 billion IPO, launched popular product offerings like Gmail, Google Maps, Chrome, Adsense, and Fiber, and acquired key technologies and services like YouTube and Android. Additionally, Schmidt served as chairman of Google until 2015, as chairman of the Department of Defense’s Innovation board, and as chairman of the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence. He has also served on the boards of Alphabet, Apple, Princeton University, Carnegie Mellon University, and the Mayo Clinic.
Schmidt is currently co-founder of Schmidt Futures and chairman of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, among other initiatives. He has recently written a book, “The Age of AI: And Our Human Future,” alongside former U.S. Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger and computer scientist Daniel Huttenlocher.
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“The launch of blockchains and smart contracts has demonstrated tremendous potential for the building of new business models, but it has become clear that one of blockchain’s greatest advantages — a lack of connection to the world outside itself — is also its biggest challenge,” said Schmidt. “Chainlink is a secret ingredient to unlocking the potential of smart contract platforms and revolutionizing business and society. I am excited to be helping the Chainlink Labs team build a world powered by truth.”
Recently, Chainlink has announced the Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP), which provides a universal, open standard for developers to build secure services and applications that can send messages, move tokens, and initiate actions across multiple networks. As a blockchain agnostic network, Chainlink will be at the center of what is increasingly a multi-blockchain ecosystem.