The Amoveo Oracles are a great example of an elegant solution to a complicated technical issue of fetching information from the outside world to a blockchain platform.
Despite all the complications discussed in section 1, some blockchains are still using automated oracles. For instance, DAI stablecoin utilises Target Rate Feedback Mechanism (TRFM) to stabilise its exchange rate, which is pegged to the US dollar. The mechanism detects when DAI’s rate deviates from the price of dollar and adjusts it accordingly.
Still, exchange rate adjustment is a very specific task which only requires fetching financial information about a single asset — the US dollar. In contrast, Amoveo’s oracles are a vastly more complicated tool tasked with answering users’ questions. That is why Zack Hess chose not to rely on automated oracles, and instead opted to incentivize the network’s participants to act as reporters. To facilitate this, he set up a betting system that incentivises users to only report the truth and most of the time leaves dishonest reporters on the losing side. Moreover, he also created additional means of correcting mistakes, such as doubling a bet and forking the entire network.
The concept of incentivising users to fetch information to the blockchain network isn’t new, a similar concept is implemented in Augur (REP). However, Augur is built on the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain, which makes Augur’s oracles expensive and almost completely rules out the possibility of solving conflicts through forking. That would require forking the entire gigantic Ethereum network, which definitely will not be supported by the vast majority of its users.