SKALE Crash Course
Before looking to what Skale Network is bringing to blockchain world, let us look at the promises of Blockchain and Decentralized technology.
Truth Machine
Blockchain is a data structure where data is immutable. There is no “edit” function, all transactions are just “append”. It is like triple-entry accounting, where there is not only debit and credit but also a link to the previous entry. This makes data on blockchain untamperable (at least that is what a blockchain as data structure is). The more decentralized a network become, the more secure and resilient it is from attacks.
Blockchain offers traceability and auditability of data. This does not mean that all data on a blockchain is public, with encryption techniques, blockchain allows privacy of data while keeping data integrity that can be proven. On a global scale, this “truth machine” can allow many interesting use cases that are not possible before.
Serverless and Self-Sustaining Network
Unlike tradational computing or data storage, blockchains can run serverless, meaning that there is no single point of failure or centralized server that where the liveness of the network is depended. Anyone, anywhere at anytime can run a node.
On a decentralized, permissionless blockchain, there is no single company owning the network. Anyone can built on top of it, anyone can be a stake holder. With a reward system properly laid out on the network, the network can grow organically and govern itself as a sustainable source of truth.
Smart contracts
The idea of smart contracts is not new. It is where a contract can be executed between two parties without needing another middleman to confirm it. It is however first demonstrated by Ethereum blockchain, allowing powerful decentralized applications (dApps) such as decentralized marketplaces, lending platforms and so on also know as Decentralized Finance or DeFi.
What is Skale ?
Skale is an opensource protocol that allows developers to build decentralized applications running on a blockchain protocol that can be customized for their requirements. Skale is not a single chain solution, it is a protocol where different chains can take advantage of speed and scale while leveraging the ecosystem of Layer 1 blockchains such as Ethereum Mainnet.
This SKALE Explainer video give you a glimpse of its potential: “Imagine if every dApp can run its own Ethereum Blockchain…”
SKALE currently is EVM compatible, Solidity smart contracts can be easily ported to SKALE. As SKALE envisioned themselves as an elastic blockchain soon we can have many other virtual machines supported by SKALE to cater more developer share.
Why Ethereum?
Ethereum is the first Layer 1 that Skale will support. This allow EVM- compatible DApps to run on SKALE by just adding a few lines on code. Actually, the SKALE Manager which is an entry point to to build on SKALE is built on Ethereum.
Skale chains are fully compatible with Ethereum Mainnet and existing Ethereum developer tools.
Jack O’Holleran, the CEO of Skale describes Skale as a super DApp on Ethereum. With many DApps and developers building on Ethereum, and being the next to Bitcoin in market capitalization, it is undeniable fact that the strength of Ethereum is its ecosystem. Skale will took care of where Ethereum falls short to deliver. Skale will provide developers the ability to build DApps at minicule to zero gas fees, sub-second finality and at high throughput.
SKALE allows the developer to rent a chain and customized it according to their needs. This allow zero transaction fees and the U.I is abstracted from users allowing mass adoption of blockchain technology.
Though Ethereum is the first blockchain Skale will support, the team is envisioning Skale as an elastic blockchain that supports other Layer 1 smart contracts platform in the future.
Why do we need Skale when Ethereum 2.0 is coming?
Ethereum 2.0 will not solve all the problems users and developers have. Ethereum 2.0 at launch will not provide thousands of tps and near instant finality. Ethereum gas fees will still be unpredictable as Ethereum 2.0 is is still dependent on a single chain. SKALE on the other hand, allow DApps to scale base on their requirements, they can customized the block size, number of nodes and transaction fees. SKALE also offers decentralized storage which Ethereum or other Smart Contract platforms fail to economically provide.
With Skale, developers can create user-friendly DApps where the users will not be even aware that they are using a blockchain. Skale offers an highly-customizable environment for developers’ application needs.
How Skale solves the blockchain trilemma
It was said that there is always be a drawback on solving the blockchain trilemma of Security, Decentralization and Scalability. SKALE makes it possible to have the three, scale (speed and throughput) while being decentralized and secure.
Skale leverages already proven technologies to make this possible:
Containerization & Virtualization
A single node in Skale Network can be a validator of many different chains. This is made possible thru containerization & virtualization, where a node is virtualized into many subnodes. This allows many sidechains to run on the network, a thousands of validators can also produce a thousands modular blockchains.
Random Rotation
Unlike other blockchain protocols, SKALE nodes does not need store and process all the same data. Nodes are randomly selected to a subset and also randomly rotated and appointed to secure a sidechain. This allows thousands of nodes on the network while maintaining high throughput. At the same time, the network become more decentralized as the number of validators increases.
The Technology
Leaderless Consensus
SKALE consensus is leaderless, this means that no validator can manipulate the outcome of transactions. When executing smart contracts, the order of events is very important. In the market this is very needful to never allow manipulation. Leaderless consensus is the heart of real decentralization.
Byzantine-Fault Tolerant
The Byzantine agreement problem is a problem left unsolved until the advent of blockchain. Bitcoin’s Proof-of-Work is the first to demonstrate Byzantine-Fault Tolerance. Skale is also a BFT which means that the network is resilient even 1/3 of nodes fail or are bad actors.
Asynchronous Protocol
This means that Skale does not need every part of the network all the time to be lively participating on a single, global network. Skale will continue to operate even when there is a disconnect, even for an indefinite period of time. Skale can recover and reconnect from disconnection on that part of the network anytime.
Read more on SKALE Whitepaper here.
The SKL Token
Currently, SKL is listed in Binance, Huobi, CRYPTO.COM, Uniswap, and a number of other exchanges. See SKALE on Coinmarketcap, Coingecko, and Blockfolio.
Uniswap SKL-ETH trading pool: https://info.uniswap.org/pair/0xf232d640a5700724748464ba8bd8bed21db609a6
SKL token contract: https://etherscan.io/token/0x00c83aecc790e8a4453e5dd3b0b4b3680501a7a7
SKL is an ERC-777 Ethereum token standard.
Why ERC-777?
ERC-777 token standard is more suited for the function of the SKL token. It allows delegation of your tokens for staking without needing to send tokens tokens to a smart contract. You can store your SKL to an address of your choice while still receiving rewards. ERC-777 is also backwards compatible with ERC-20.
Token Utility
Because SKALE is Proof-of-Stake protocol, validators need to stake SKL to participate in the network and receive rewards in SKL for securing SKALE sidechains and executing smart contracts. Developers also need to pay in SKL to have access to resources that they need when deploying and renting a sidechain.
SKL will also we a governance token on the network. Token holders will have a say on on-chain voting and be active participants on the direction SKALE will take.
SKALE Token Unlock Schedule
Interactive Token Unlock Schedule
To Lean more about SKL token, Validators and Delegator:
Validator and Delegator Economics
Skale Labs and N.O.D.E. Foundation
Though SKALE is initially developed by Skale Labs, in the near future, the team wants the development of SKALE to be community-owned led by the non-for-profit N.O.D.E. Foundation. Skale Labs will remain committed to support development of SKALE as one of its “community”.
Read more about this statement here.
Vision of Skale
Skale CEO envisions SKALE to be the “AWS Elastic Computing (EC2)” of Blockchain. The platform where mainstream decentralized applications will run on a future where Web3 will be the norm and not the tech companies owning users’ data.
Website: https://skale.network/
Telegram: https://t.me/skaleofficial
Github: https://github.com/skalenetwork
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SkaleNetwork
