Chainlink Expands Reach with New Features on Soneium Network
Chainlink officially announced that its two new features, Functions and Verifiable Random Function (VRF), are now live on the Soneium network. These features enable Web3 applications to seamlessly integrate real-world data and verified randomness into their smart contracts.
Functions and VRF are officially live on @soneium, a next-gen blockchain from @SonyBlock Solutions Labs and member of Chainlink Scale.
Building on the previous launch of CCIP, Data Streams, and Data Feeds on Soneium, devs now have the toolkit required to build next-gen dApps. https://t.co/IHg9JLC9cd
— Chainlink (@chainlink) April 2, 2025
Verifiable Random Function (VRF) and Functions Explained
VRF is a solution for verifiable randomness, and this is particularly crucial for blockchain games, lotteries, or NFT drops that have to be equitable. Imagine you take part in a digital lottery and wish to know that the outcomes are really random, not the result of application owner control. Well, VRF guarantees that.
On the other hand, Functions provide the ability for smart contracts to connect to external APIs, opening up wider opportunities for data integration.
Chainlink Expands Reach, Soneium Gains Power
This integration makes Soneium even more confident in competing with other blockchain networks. Chainlink appears to be quite committed to this partnership.
Earlier, they had added Data Streams, Data Feeds, and Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) features to Soneium. Developers on the network can now create more complicated apps like DeFi, games, and NFT marketplaces by adding VRF and Functions.
However, it’s not just Soneium that benefits. Chainlink itself is increasingly expanding the reach of its technology to various blockchain ecosystems. This step seems to indicate that they really want to become the main “data bridge” in the Web3 space.
Chainlink Brings RLUSD and Swiss Stocks On-Chain
On the other hand, Ripple announced on January 7, 2025, that they had used the Chainlink standard to deliver RLUSD stablecoin price information straight to the blockchain. Therefore, it’s not only about regular stablecoins but also about how the price may stay reliable and open. A sort of digital price tag unalterable.
Then, on January 24, 2025, it was BX Digital and BX Swiss’s turn to partner with Chainlink to bring Swiss stock price data to the blockchain realm. That way, stock price information is no longer only in the traditional financial system, but can be accessed directly via smart contracts.
Simplifying Crypto Payments for Everyone
Furthermore, CNF has reported that Chainlink has launched the Payment Abstraction feature on its mainnet. Essentially, users can pay for Chainlink services not only with LINK tokens, but also using other crypto assets such as stablecoins or gas tokens.
The system will automatically convert the payment to LINK behind the scenes. For developers and companies, this clearly reduces the hassle of manual conversion.
If we were to use an analogy, this feature is like you shopping online and being able to pay using anything—from digital wallets, debit cards, to reward points—but the store still accepts the one type of money they want.
As of press time, LINK has swapped hands at about $13.23, down 2.77% over the last 24 hours and corrected 15.42% over the last 7 days.