Chainlink Labs Taps Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt as Strategic Advisor

| Updated
by Godfrey Benjamin · 3 min read
Chainlink Labs Taps Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt as Strategic Advisor
Photo: OFFICIAL LEWEB PHOTOS / Flickr

Having Eric Schmidt as one of its advisors is undoubtedly a great advantage for Chainlink as he brings his broad experience serving as the CEO of tech giant Alphabet from 2001 to 2011. 

Chainlink Labs, the outfit responsible for creating the industry standard for building, accessing, and selling oracle services needed to power hybrid smart contracts on any blockchain has tapped Eric Schmidt as its strategic advisor. As announced by Chainlink Labs, Schmidt’s role will be centered on guiding the development of the next generation of oracle innovation to usher in mainstream adoption of the protocol.

“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.

Blockchain systems are closed systems as they have no point of linkage to off-chain real-world data. In a bid to connect to the millions of non-blockchain systems, Chainlink has developed a number of functional oracles that pull and aggregate data from the real world in order to trigger smart contracts built on blockchains.

Chainlink is secured by a number of independent nodes including but not limited to Deutsche Telekom’s T-Systems, Swisscom, and the Associated Press. Chainlink’s positioning in today’s blockchain world is very pivotal as it helps in securing over $80 billion worth of value locked in smart contracts and applications built atop numerous leading blockchains.

The Oracle protocol recently announced the launch of the Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP), a tool that helps define the standards upon which developers can “build secure services and applications that can send messages, move tokens, and initiate actions across multiple networks”.

Chainlink Labs and the Eric Schmidt Advantage

Having Eric Schmidt as one of its advisors is undoubtedly a great advantage for Chainlink as he brings his broad experience serving as the Chief Executive Officer of tech giant Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOGL) from 2001 to 2011.

During his time at Google, Schmidt transformed the firm from a startup to a publicly-traded company after pulling $23 billion in its IPO back in 2004. Under his leadership, Google expanded its product suite to include Gmail, Google Maps, Chrome, Adsense, and Fiber with the firm acquiring key technologies and services like YouTube and Android.

Beyond Google, Schmidt has a broad range of experiences in other organizations and he served as the chairman of the Department of Defense’s Innovation board, and as chairman of the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence amongst others. He is particularly excited to join Chainlink Labs, helping to advance the protocol’s innovative works.

“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.”

The news of Eric Schmidt joining Chainlink Labs as its strategic advisor has sent the price of LINK, the network’s native token to $22.10, up 9.23% in the past 24 hours. With the growth trajectory in view, Chainlink is on track to print more ambitious growth trends in the near future.

Altcoin News, Blockchain News, Business News, Cryptocurrency News, News
Related Articles