I used to not pay much attention to oracles, just treating them as background systems. Until that one time, I saw a protocol's code was perfectly fine, but because the price feed data was delayed by a few seconds, it ended up trapping users. That moment made me realize: smart contracts don’t play polite—they execute exactly according to the information they receive.

This led me to a deeper question—the blockchain itself is essentially blind. It has no idea what the outside world’s prices are, what the weather is like, or any real-world information. The so-called trustlessness depends on the data fed into it being reliable.

But what is reality? Too many oracles treat data as mere numbers, completely unaware of how chaotic the real world is—exchanges occasionally malfunction, APIs get stuck, and when certain tokens have low liquidity, quotes can be outrageously off. Pursuing the idea of getting "correct" data from a single source is fundamentally flawed.

The truth isn’t just a cold, hard number; it’s a verification process.

Recently, I’ve been paying attention to APRO because its approach directly targets this chaos. It doesn’t obsess over the accuracy of a single data source; instead, it has designed a continuous verification and consensus mechanism. The system cross-checks data from multiple angles, remains alert to outliers, and focuses on the temporal patterns of data rather than snapshots at a single moment.

Two design details are particularly worth mentioning:

**1. Dual Mode of Push and Pull**

This is not just a functional parallel but a shift in mindset. The Push mode sends updates at regular intervals like a heartbeat, making it especially suitable for lending protocols and perpetual contracts where price data is needed every second. The Pull mode acts like a readily available notary office, querying data only when truly necessary, which is more economical for less frequent interactions.

**2. Rigor in Data Verification**

It’s not simply pulling prices from multiple exchanges; it involves layered validation of the data itself. Outlier detection, rationality checks on time series, and comprehensive liquidity considerations—all integrated into standard system procedures.

In essence, APRO aims to solve a fundamental contradiction: executing incorrect information perfectly is less valuable than ensuring the information being executed is reliable. In front of smart contracts, there’s no room for ambiguity or "I didn’t mean to." Once the price feed is flawed, the consequences are users’ funds.

This is also why oracle security often becomes the weak link in the entire ecosystem. Blockchains can be hacked, and oracles can be compromised. But blockchain attacks are technical against technical; oracle issues are problems with the information itself—this hurdle is even harder to cross.