We’re excited to announce that VenturePunk’s NFT Gift Exchange Santa.fm has integrated Chainlink Verifiable Random Function (VRF) on Ethereum mainnet. By integrating the industry-leading decentralized oracle network, we now have access to a tamper-proof and auditable source of randomness needed to shuffle the pool of NFT gifts. Before the randomization, each gift’s token ID in the array is tied to the same NFT gift that the user submits. We then use VRF to fairly shuffle the array so each present redeems a different NFT. Ultimately this creates a more exciting and transparent user experience, as users will be in for a surprise on Christmas day when their gift NFTs are revealed.

The way it works is pretty simple—folks who want to participate in the NFT gift exchange will deposit their NFTs into a pool. The one participation requirement is that deposited NFTs will need to be from a verified collection on OpenSea. Once the gift NFT is deposited, the user receives an unopened gift NFT in exchange. The reveal of the gift NFT and “unwrapping” will happen on Christmas morning after all deposited NFTs are randomly assigned to gift NFTs using VRF.

In order to randomly allocate deposited NFTs to gift NFT token IDs, we needed access to a secure random number generator (RNG) that any user could independently audit. However, RNG solutions for smart contracts require several security considerations to prevent manipulation and ensure system integrity. For instance, RNG solutions derived from blockchain data like block hashes can be exploited by miners/validators, while off-chain RNG solutions derived from off-chain APIs are opaque and don’t provide users with definitive proof about the integrity of the process. 

After reviewing various solutions, we selected Chainlink VRF because it’s based on cutting-edge academic research, supported by a time-tested oracle network, and secured through the generation and on-chain verification of cryptographic proofs that prove the integrity of each random number supplied to smart contracts.

Chainlink VRF works by combining block data that is still unknown when the request is made with the oracle node's pre-committed private key to generate both a random number and a cryptographic proof. The Santa.fm smart contract will only accept the random number input if it has a valid cryptographic proof, and the cryptographic proof can only be generated if the VRF process is tamper-proof. This provides our users with automated and verifiable assurances directly on-chain that the NFT gift randomization process is provably fair and was not tampered with by the oracle, outside entities, or the VenturePunk team.

”The VenturePunk team chose to use Chainlink VRF to help ensure that the NFT allocation process is fair and secure, bringing a new level of transparency and reliability to our platform. We're excited to continue building with Chainlink services on future projects."  –Jordan Lyall, Founder and CEO at VenturePunk

About Chainlink

Chainlink is the industry-standard Web3 services platform that has enabled trillions of dollars in transaction volume across DeFi, insurance, gaming, NFTs, and other major industries. As the leading decentralized oracle network, Chainlink enables developers to build feature-rich Web3 applications with seamless access to real-world data and off-chain computation across any blockchain and provides global enterprises with a universal gateway to all blockchains.

Learn more about Chainlink by visiting chain.link or reading the developer documentation at docs.chain.link. To discuss an integration, reach out to an expert. 

About VenturePunk 

VenturePunk is a Web3 product studio focused on innovation and rapid experimentation in the areas of decentralized finance and digital culture. Santa.fm is a project by VenturePunk.

Learn more about VenturePunk by visiting venturepunk.com or reading our newsletter at venturepunk.substack.com where we share interesting Web3 perspectives, experiences, and insights.