General Overview of Skale Network

What is SKALE Network?

SKALE Network is an open source elastic blockchain platform designed specifically for scaling Ethereum with a layer 2 expansion solution that is fully compatible with the Ethereum main network. Its block generation time reaches sub-second level, each SKALE chain throughput can achieve 2000tps, and can deploy full-state smart contracts, support decentralized storage, implement Rollups solutions and EVM machine learning.

SKALE Labs, the core team behind the SKALE Network, announced over 40 integration partners and validators, in addition to the Dapps that joined the SKALE Innovator program and are currently building on the platform.

SKALE is a key element within the Ethereum ecosphere given the advantages offered by its forward-looking protocol design decisions. Key features include EVM compatibility, full Solidity language support, BLS cryptography, an RRI-based pooled security model, and having much of its operational management running in the Ethereum network. This combination of compatibility and connectedness with the Ethereum mainnet enhances SKALE’s effectiveness as a high-throughput execution layer for Dapp developers, protocol designers, and other crypto-based builders.

SKALE revealed its integrations with major wallets and auth providers, data storage solutions, data explorers, oracles, validators, and blockchain API connectors, along with support for the most commonly used token standards and developer tools used by the Ethereum community. This support makes it possible to use SKALE to build and run Dapps with near-zero learning curve while taking advantage of native commonality with and connectivity to the Ethereum mainnet.

SKALE provides developers with Ethereum-as-a-service functionality, with the ability to run small, medium, and large sized SKALE chains, each connected to and compatible with the Ethereum mainnet. Each SKALE chain can support up to 2,000 transactions per second with full EVM-compatibility which implies faster commit times and drastically reducing operating costs.

Brief History about SKALE Network and its Co-founders

Co-founders Stan Kladko and Jack O’Holleran were connected by friends at Signia Venture Partners and Floodgate in 2017 when they were both looking to build a company in the crypto space. Both were seeking to build decentralized applications and ran into similar issues with scaling and creating a user experience that would not be a bottleneck to growth. Stan came up with the initial SKALE architecture and mechanics as a way to scale the different applications he was working on. During his initial collaborations with Jack, they realized there was a potential market opportunity to create a new high-throughput layer that could work alongside Etheruem and allow new dApps to overcome scaling bottlenecks. Existing blockchains were in need of a scaling solution as the market for new decentralized applications like decentralized exchanges (DEXs), search, and e-commerce was growing rapidly.

That’s when SKALE was born. On Jan. 1, 2018, Jack and Stand formally launched the SKALE Project and received support and seed backing from Signia Ventures and Floodgate. SKALE went on to get support from several other investors in the crypto and blockchain space, including Winkelvoss Ventures, Multicoin Capital, Hashed, and Hashkey, among others.

After two and a half years of development and testing, SKALE announced its phased mainnet rollout plan. Part of this plan was to host a public SKL token sale through ConsenSys Codefi's Activate platform. SKALE became the first project to use Activate's new Proof-of-Use framework for utility tokens, which requires sale participants who purchase tokens to actively “prove their use” of the token (i.e., stake on the network) before they’re allowed to transfer or redeem them.

SKALE launched the first phase of its mainnet on Jun. 30, 2020, which was a restricted version that did not support any staking or token transfer. This was followed by the ConsenSys Activate token sale, which concluded in September 2020 with nearly 4,000 participants across 90 countries. Mainnet Phase 2 launched support for delegation and staking with over 46 validator organizations on Oct. 1, 2020. Mainnet Phase 3, the final phase of mainnet launch, occurred December 1, 2020, coinciding with the unlocking of the tokens that completed their Proof-of-Use period. At that point, the tokens became available on a variety of exchanges including Binance, Huobi, and Uniswap.

SKALE Token (SKL)

SKALE created their own ecosystem currency in form of a crypto token, this token was created with its value and has a total supply, circulating supply, and tokenomics. SKL is the currency of the ecosystem which can be used as a transfer of value from one user to another.
SKALE network will also be able to use this token as compensation for community contributors and team members working towards the growth of the Network. Users using the Network services will also pay with SKL tokens which means, the currency of the SKALE Network is the only acceptable means of payment within the Network.
SKALE token has a symbol (SKL) and it represents the right to work in the network as either a validator or a delegator. Users on SKALE Network use a subscription model to make payments for renting the resources of the network(computations, storage, and bandwidth) for a noted specified amount of time in form of an Elastic Sidechain.
SKALE validators stake their SKL token into the network and this gives them the automatic right to run nodes and earn through fees and tokens via inflation while Delegators in the network can delegate their SKL token to validators to earn rewards based on the amount of token delegated.

Skale Token (SKL) is already listed on Binance, Huobi, Uniswap and recently got listed on Crypto.com. You can also track its price movements on Etherscan, CoinGecko and CoinMarketCap.

SKL Token Usage

SKALE Network is powered by its native SKL token which has the following use cases:

Staking: token holders can stake their SKL tokens to participate in consensus. As a result, they receive rewards for improving network security.
Payments: developers will need SKL tokens to pay for subscription access to using the elastic blockchain for their applications.
Governance: SKALE intends to be community-driven for future development, holders will receive voting power through their tokens. Meaning token holders will be able to vote to adjust economic parameters such as the pricing for subscription fees.

SKALE Achievements in 2020.

Successfully Completed 3 Phases of Mainnet Launch.

SKALE Labs was able to meet the deadlines to launch 3 phases of its mainnet network launches going from a Proof of Authority phase 1 to a fully decentralized Proof of Stake phase 3, with almost 4,000 stakers from 90 different countries on a network of over 150 nodes run by over 45 validator orgs.

Public Sale on ConsenSys Activate Platform.

SKALE ended its public sale on September 11, and sold more than 167 million SKL tokens, worth slightly more than 5 million US dollars. Then it announced on October 1 that it had entered the second phase of its mainnet.

We can confidently say that this is one of the most distributed token sales to have ever occurred in our industry. — ConsenSys Activate

The launch was the first public availability of SKL, a utility and governance token required to participate in the SKALE Network as a delegator, validator, or developer.

Exchange Listings

The SKL token went liquid at midnight UTC December 1 on three major exchanges. Binance and Huobi both stepped up in a major way to list the token. The community came together to provide liquidity and pooling for Uniswap.

Interviews and Events

SKALE Network was featured in various events and interviews. Providing information on Product updates, Tutorials, and Company Updates to industry influencers and the entire community at large.

Community Building & AMA’s

The SKALE community grew from about 100 people to over 10,000 people globally.

Co-founders Jack and Stan, spent time hitting telegram hard with 14 AMAs in 7 languages. These ranged in length from 1.5-2 hours, with the Binance English community alone submitting over 900 questions. Most importantly, this gave SKALE exposure to over 500,000 members of the Binance, Huobi, Pantera and WeChat communities. This occurred in December, after SKL Token went live.

AMA's were done in the following groups

Huobi: English - Chinese- Vietnamese - Russia - Turkish
Binance: English - Chinese - Traditional Chinese - Vietnamese - Ukraine - Russia - Turkish
Pantera - Korea
WeChat China
TOTAL REACH - 500,000

For more info: SKALE 2020 Year-in-Review

Conclusion

You should think of SKALE as a layer 2 solution as it exists above the main Ethereum blockchain. However, unlike Loopring it does not implement a zkRollup approach to speed up transactions. Instead, it uses a network of mini-chains, technically known as dynamic shards. These shards can complete token transfers and execute smart contract interactions simultaneously while operating independently from one another. Meaning that no dApp will slow down due to the high usage of another application on the network.

The network implements a Delegated Proof-of-Stake (DPoS) consensus algorithm which enables asynchronous transactions, meaning it can theoretically operate as fast as Elrond or Binance Smart Chain.

The project has a clear use case, Ethereum network is not scaling well to increased usage. We’re all aware of the high network fees eating away our DeFi farming profits. Along with the general slowness making for an unfriendly user experience. To enable developers to run their Ethereum applications with high performance and low costs – it’s easy to understand how the SKALE tech can quickly become adopted. Additionally, the design choice to provide dApps with their mini-chain will look very appealing to teams as it will not sacrifice decentralization.

That being said the competition is fierce when it comes to building a blockchain capable of scaling to real-world demand. There is even a long list of projects building Layer 2 solutions for Ethereum: Loopring, Polkadot, Matic, Plasma, Loom Network… there is no clear winner! Though, as we see above, the SKALE ecosystem is ready.

Learn more about SKALE by watching these Explainer Guides 1 & 2

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