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About UMA
Founders and History
- Founded in 2018 by Allison Lu and Hart Lambur, ex-Goldman Sachs traders
Unique Features
- Optimistic oracle (OO) design concept, introduced in 2014 by Vitalik
- Uses “true unless disputed” pattern with tokenholder vote to resolve disputes
- Flexible, unique dispute resolution involving human input
Token Information
- 108,858,567 UMA tokens in supply (as of September 2022)
- 68,947,415 UMA tokens in circulation (as of September
About UMA: Empowering Decentralized Finance
Meet the Visionaries Behind UMA: Founders’ Profiles
UMA was co-founded in 2018 by Allison Lu and Hart Lambur, two former Goldman Sachs traders, with the ambitious vision of creating a global marketplace that is universally fair, accessible, secure, and decentralized.
The team drew inspiration from traditional finance derivatives to conceptualize an open-source protocol, empowering individuals worldwide to craft and deploy trustless financial contracts with unparalleled autonomy.
What Sets UMA Apart?
Oracles occupy a pivotal position within the blockchain infrastructure, facilitating seamless communication between the external realm and on-chain ecosystems in a trustless manner. Their significance extends to various facets of the blockchain industry, including decentralized finance (DeFi) and Web3 applications, where their role is nothing short of vital.
An optimistic oracle, such as UMA’s, employs a “true unless disputed” paradigm, wherein a tokenholder vote serves as the arbiter in resolving disputes. Any individual can propose a response to a data request, which is subsequently accepted as veridical if it remains uncontested during a predetermined verification period. Notably, this “optimistic” design diverges from a price-feed oracle, where prices are streamed on-chain and are instantly ratified as final.
This innovative oracle design concept has been evolving since 2014, when Vitalik first shared his vision on the subject. Over the years, it has undergone several refinements. The optimistic design pattern pioneers an opportunity for human intuition to intervene, a crucial aspect for Web3 projects that often necessitate arbitrary data that cannot be readily codified.
Today, the OO offers a versatile and distinctive dispute resolution mechanism, capable of addressing any type of query or data, leveraging human insight, in contrast to price feed oracles, which are limited to transmitting periodic price updates onto blockchain networks.
The Circulating Supply of UMA Tokens: An Overview
As of September 2022, the total supply of UMA tokens stood at 108,858,567, with a circulating supply of 68,947,415 tokens.
The UMA token has been listed on prominent exchanges for an extended period. This token serves as a guarantor of economic assurances to protocols that leverage UMA’s Optimism Oracle (OO). The UMA community, comprising token holders, assumes a pivotal role as voters, providing the human element in resolving disputes or addressing queries through the OO’s final arbitration. Furthermore, tokens are utilized to cast votes on protocol upgrades and allocate funds within the UMA DAO. In return, active and accurate voters are incentivized with a yield for their participation.
How Does UMA’s Optimistic Oracle Ensure Security?
In UMA’s Optimistic Oracle system, three key actors are involved: the contract requesting the data, the participant providing the data, and a potential disputant, who can contest the data if they disagree with its accuracy.
In the event of a dispute, UMA token holders are tasked with resolving the matter within a 48-hour timeframe. Should the disputant’s claim be deemed valid, they will receive a portion of the proposer’s deposit as a reward for their efforts. Conversely, if the disputant’s claim is deemed invalid, they will forfeit their deposit, with a portion of it being allocated to the proposer. The oracle’s voting process is comprised of three distinct phases: open voting, voting confirmation and reveal, and the rewards claim period.
Rewards will accrue interest as they are redeemed. Upon claiming these rewards, the tokens are deposited directly into users’ wallets, thereby activating them as voting tokens that incrementally amplify the user’s voting influence with each successive vote.
UMA’s smart contracts are specifically tailored to cater to the needs of developers building decentralized applications. Furthermore, all UMA token holders are empowered to participate in UMA’s innovative optimistic oracle. Notably, the UMA token, built on the Ethereum blockchain, can be securely stored in wallets such as Metamask, Trezor, or Ledger, which must be connected to the UMA voting Dapp to facilitate seamless voting.
Notably, all of UMA’s oracle contracts have undergone rigorous auditing by OpenZeppelin, a testament to their commitment to security and transparency. This esteemed auditing firm has also reviewed the contracts for Across Protocol and Outcome’s Optimistic Governor, Optimistic Distributor, and other key components.
Where to Acquire UMA?
The UMA token is readily available for purchase on prominent centralized cryptocurrency exchanges, such as Binance and Coinbase, as well as decentralized exchanges (DEXs) like SushiSwap and Uniswap.
Introducing UMA: A Revolutionary Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Solution
UMA’s optimistic oracle (OO) is a pioneering solution that empowers the recording of any verifiable truth onto a blockchain, earning it the moniker “a human-powered truth machine” due to its remarkable flexibility in handling ambiguity. This versatility expands the design space possible in web3, thereby securing a diverse ecosystem of web3 applications, including cross-chain bridges, insurance protocols, prediction markets, and customizable DAO tooling products.
The Across bridge, Polymarket prediction markets, and Outcome.Finance DAO tools are all safeguarded by the robust security of UMA’s Optimism Oracle (OO).