Many people think that the oracle data obtained from the blockchain is real-time, but this idea might lead you to pitfalls.

Take APRO, a decentralized oracle, for example. It allows anyone to act as a data validator by submitting reports to the chain with signatures and timestamps. It sounds very democratic, but there's an easily overlooked detail: these reports are only valid for 24 hours.

In other words, your contract may verify a report, but that doesn't mean the data is fresh. The timestamp could be from yesterday or even the day before. Verification passing and data being current are two entirely different things.

How exactly should you use this? Smart contracts can have four different approaches:

First is real-time mode — pulling, verifying, and applying the latest prices within the same transaction. This is suitable for high-frequency traders and scenarios requiring immediate settlement, where timeliness is critical.

Second is historical querying — locking in the price at a specific timestamp. Very useful for audits or settlement verification, ensuring data consistency.

Third is decoupled usage — separating price updates from business logic. Similar to traditional push-mode oracles, this approach is more flexible and saves gas.

Finally, read-only on-chain stored data — this is the riskiest approach. If no one actively submits new reports, you might be reading prices from months ago. It can be used in certain scenarios, but must be approached with caution.

The key point is: never confuse "verification passed" with "data being the latest." Even if an APRO report is over 24 hours old, the signature can still verify, but your application might already be making decisions based on outdated data.

This actually reflects the essence of decentralized oracles — they give the application the authority to judge data timeliness. You need to proactively choose the appropriate data acquisition strategy based on your business scenario. Greater power comes with greater responsibility.