# Why Pyth? By [Pike](https://paragraph.com/@pikedao) · 2023-09-08 --- Pike is ushering in a new wave of natively cross-chain applications that intrinsically operate across multiple ecosystem in real time and while innovative, introduces a whole suite of hurdles, both technical and otherwise. **Price Feeds** are a crucial aspect of DeFi, and more so for a lending market where liquidations, collateral ratios and borrowing of assets are all reliant on having robust oracle infrastructure - which is compounded in both difficulty and necessity by the fact Pike requires this data for assets across networks. As many oracle teams work to enable functionality to Base, and roll out pairs - there’s already a protocol with inherent cross-chain data availability, live across countless networks with hundreds of assets and with an unique approach to price feeds - [**Pyth Network**](https://pyth.network/)**.** What is Pyth? ------------- Very simply, Pyth Network is an Oracle that publishes market data to several blockchains, with each price feed consisting of an aggregate of various prices, with exceptionally frequent updates (multiple times a second). Typically, oracles utilize a “push-based” model where the operator is constantly “pushing” price updates to each network, paying gas fees for each update (as it’s fundamentally a transaction). While this has worked in the past, there is a fundamental tradeoff between cost and scalability, with the more feeds that are being supported, the more expensive it is and this can become exponential when supporting additional networks. As a result, the Oracle has to make compromises to control costs, whether it be to support fewer assets, across less networks and have fewer updates accordingly. In contrast, Pyth has introduced an on-demand and “pull-based” model for price updates - where instead of constantly pushing updates on-chain regardless of demand, **Pythnet Price Feeds** allow users and builders to pull prices _only when they’re needed_. ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/fd0f6de3420a3ce7f0623a671be08eed55a7db3c9463fe8e2770ab8a9fe8cea4.png) It does this by constantly streaming price updates off-chain (where there are no limitations of blocktimes or gas) and are signed to verify authenticity by creating a Wormhole message (so it can be utilized cross-chain easily). When a particular price is needed on any supported chain, users can bundle multiple actions into a single transaction which simultaneously takes the price from Pyth, and uses it within the dApp function. Because off-chain updates are effectively free, the price can be updated significantly more quickly, and also be able to be offered to countless networks, with hundreds of assets - providing far more functionality to end-users and builders! What does this mean for Pike? ----------------------------- ### **Inherent Cross-Chain Functionality** Pyth’s on-demand model allows for new price-feeds to be onboarded constantly, and across countless support networks - crucial as the Layer 2 narrative picks up momentum. With traditional “push” oracles, each new price feed on each individual chain is it’s own separate deployment, and getting data on one chain about an asset on another network is more or less not possible at scale as a result. With Pyth, when a new asset on any chain (or financial market in general) is supported, by nature, all of the chains Pyth supports have instant access to that data (as it’s being streamed off-chain in real time). As a result, Pike is not limited to when X asset on Y chain is supported on Z chain, and instead has instant access to new price feeds across the board, and simply has to begin supporting the asset internally. If there’s a new asset on e.g. Optimism that is growing in popularity and there is demand for it to be usable as collateral, as well being able to borrow it - Pyth is able to create a data feed for it extremely quickly. Since there are no on-chain commitments, the price feed is able to be up and running off-chain for minimal cost, and the onus is on Pike to pull this data when needed, and pay accordingly. ### **Low Latency** Since Pyth streams it’s price feed data off-chain, it’s not limited to the blocktime, transaction fee requirements or confirmations associated with data hosted on-chain. Due to how expensive certain chains can be for transacting this data, push-based Oracle providers often either throttle the frequency of updates, or alternatively, simply choose a handful of assets and chains to support. Pyth in contrast, updates their price feeds once a second, which is static and not affected by anything occurring on-chain - meaning this low latency operates 24/7 regardless of the market. This allows Pike to always have access to exceptionally accurate price data, giving users confidence when dealing with liquidations, health factor of outstanding debts, and calculating loan to value ratios. ### **Reliability** Continuing from the benefit of having low latency, often networks can become congested and because push-based oracles are always pushing their data on-chain by design, it runs the risk of transactions failing (in a worst case scenario) or paying unavoidably high transaction fees. This can result in slow to update price feeds, which can mean outdated data, compounded further by market volatility, and reduces their reliability - often when needed most. On the other hand, Pyth’s off-chain updates are inherently not affected by blockchain congestion and better yet, as the user, you can choose specifically when to pay the higher gas fees, and to what degree. Furthermore, you’re able to automate a lot of these based on rules, whether it be to minimize expenditure on fees, or predetermine how often you’ll take a new price depending on set variables. **What’s next?** ---------------- We’re building Pike because we think true interoperability benefits everyone in DeFi and we’d love for you to play a role in our development. We will be launching a testnet campaign to enlist the DeFi community’s help in stress-testing Pike and giving users the ability to experience native cross-chain lending firsthand as hosted on Base. Stay tuned for an announcement outlining the campaign details in the coming weeks. Sign up for our [waitlist](https://form.jotform.com/231499072938468) for access to news, announcements, and updates. If you have ideas, questions, or just want to chat crypto, join our [Discord](https://discord.gg/yUmg8QC37U) group to say hello, or follow us on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/PikeFinance). [ Pike | Universal Liquidity Protocol ----------------------------------- A next generation money market 一 Earn, borrow and build applications on any chains. https://www.pike.finance ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/160401bd1cabdcdcd07958e086680a6efc415612de4554fa1462bc285e268e5a.png) ](https://www.pike.finance/) --- *Originally published on [Pike](https://paragraph.com/@pikedao/why-pyth)*