With $12 million in financing, how strong is Chronicle after it leaves its “mothership” Maker?

Say goodbye to Maker's "backstage worker" identity, Chronicle is going to make a big move in Web3?

On March 25, the oracle service platform Chronicle announced the completion of a $12 million seed round of financing, led by Strobe (formerly Blocktower Venture Capital), followed by Brevan Howard, 6th Man Ventures and other institutions. On the surface, this seems to be just an ordinary financing news, but after a deeper understanding, you will find that Chronicle's story is much more exciting than it seems.

Chronicle is not a new oracle player, but an industry veteran who has been deeply involved in on-chain data verification and RWA tracks. It started in the MakerDAO ecosystem and has experienced the dual tests of technology and the market. Now it has developed into an independent decentralized oracle network, providing highly transparent data support for DeFi, RWA and TradFi institutions. This financing also means that Chronicle has officially stepped onto a bigger stage.

Basic Overview

As an important data provider in the Web3 ecosystem, Chronicle has built a complete set of decentralized data infrastructure based on years of technological accumulation. Its core technologies include:

Chronicle Dashboard: Provides end-to-end data verifiability to ensure that users can trace the source of data and improve transparency. Its verification network consists of 22 decentralized nodes, including well-known industry players such as Infura and Etherscan. This distributed architecture avoids single point failures and enhances data reliability through multi-party verification.

Scribe: By introducing Schnorr signature aggregation technology, the efficiency and cost of data updates are optimized. It solves the problems of long signature verification and high gas fees in traditional oracle systems, enabling Chronicle to provide high-quality data services at a lower operating cost.

Verified Asset: It is a oracle solution designed by Chronicle for the RWA (real world assets) track, focusing on safely and efficiently introducing the price and status data of off-chain assets (such as US Treasury bonds, real estate data, etc.) to the chain. It is not only a technical tool, but also a key link for the integration of DeFi and TradFi (traditional finance).

These technologies are not only widely used in the Sky ecosystem, but also provide data support for Web3 projects such as M^0 (focused on currency protocols), Centrifuge (asset tokenization platform), Superstate (on-chain investment tools), and Securitize (security tokenization), further demonstrating Chronicle's competitiveness in the field of cross-ecological data services.

Chronicle's team is also experienced. Founder Niklas Kunkel developed early oracle solutions in the MakerDAO ecosystem as early as 2017, and led key projects such as OasisDEX and DSProxy. Growth leader Jen Senhaji was also responsible for MakerDAO's market development, giving Chronicle the dual advantages of technology and market.

The $12 million in this round of financing will be mainly used for product research and development and technological innovation. Chronicle plans to launch new products in the next 12 to 18 months to promote the development of DeFi and RWA.

From a single ecosystem to diversified cooperation

The relationship between Chronicle and Sky Protocol is not only a microcosm of the modular evolution of the MakerDAO ecosystem, but also shows the trend of independence of Web3 oracles.

Initially, Chronicle was only an oracle component within the MakerDAO system, responsible for providing price data support for SAI (the predecessor of DAI). At that time, Chronicle's role was relatively single, mainly serving the stablecoin operation within MakerDAO, and failed to form independent market competitiveness. However, with the rapid development of the DeFi ecosystem, the oracle solution of a single ecosystem can no longer meet the needs of the industry.

In the process of MakerDAO's move towards modularization, Chronicle has gradually been given greater independence, especially after it was officially transformed into Chronicle Labs in 2023. It is no longer limited to the Maker ecosystem, but began to provide data services to the entire DeFi and RWA track.

This transformation does not mean that Chronicle and Sky will part ways. On the contrary, their cooperation model can become more diversified. This diversity is not only reflected in the depth of technical support, but also in the breadth of cooperation forms. For example, as independent communities, the two can share resources and collaborate on the ecosystem. Chronicle's decentralized node network can provide Sky's users with a more transparent data verification experience, and Sky's stablecoin traffic can also feed back to Chronicle, enhancing its influence in the DeFi community. This diversified model of "you have me, I have you" has evolved the relationship between Chronicle and Sky from a single dependence to a more flexible and creative partnership.

The significance of Chronicle's independence

Chronicle's independence is closely related to the "Endgame" plan proposed by Rune Christensen in 2022. The plan promotes the evolution of the MakerDAO ecosystem through modular architecture, decentralized governance, and RWA integration, and Chronicle's independence is a key step in this strategy.

By stripping off the oracle function, Sky focuses on stablecoins and governance optimization to avoid duplicate resource allocation. Chronicle can expand the market independently, open up external sources of income, reduce the maintenance burden of the Sky ecosystem, and the division of labor between the two is clearer.

Independence also brings changes in governance and market strategies. Chronicle is no longer limited to the governance framework of MakerDAO or Sky, but can independently formulate development routes, such as connecting with more L2 networks (such as Arbitrum, Optimism), or exploring in-depth cooperation with TradFi institutions. In the future, it may further expand in the fields of decentralized data markets, on-chain identity authentication, and even AI combined with blockchain data, becoming the core pillar of Web3 data infrastructure.

In addition, the independent Chronicle is more likely to attract external capital. In this round of financing, 71% of the funds came from US investment institutions. The participation of these institutions not only brings financial support, but also provides important endorsements for Chronicle's future market expansion, regulatory compliance, and institutional cooperation. In particular, the addition of Brevan Howard means that Chronicle has the opportunity to open up more cooperation channels with traditional financial institutions, further promote the on-chain of RWA assets, and provide more transparent and compliant on-chain data support for the integration of DeFi and TradFi. It is worth mentioning that although the funds did not flow directly into Sky, they may also indirectly benefit the Sky ecosystem.

Of course, as an independent entity, Chronicle also means that its development direction is more determined by the market rather than directly affected by Rune or Sky. It may further expand its service scope and face more blockchain ecosystems, rather than relying solely on Sky. For Sky, this means more cooperation opportunities and the need to adapt to Chronicle's broader market positioning.