Can a Smart Contract Itself Act as an Oracle?
A smart contract can technically act as a limited, on-chain oracle by reading data from another contract or recording internal blockchain data, but it cannot independently fetch external, off-chain data. For instance, it can read the balance of a token or the result of a prior on-chain vote.
However, for real-world information like the USD price of Bitcoin, a dedicated external oracle service is required to bridge the data gap.
Glossar
Smart Contract
Code ⎊ The contract is fundamentally self-executing code deployed on a distributed ledger, embodying the terms of the agreement in an immutable format.
External Oracle Service
Provider ⎊ An external oracle service is a specialized third-party provider responsible for sourcing, aggregating, and cryptographically signing off-chain data for consumption by smart contracts on a blockchain.