The simultaneous deployment of several Elastic Sidechains, which are highly flexible blockchains that allow users to choose their chain’s size, consensus protocol, virtual machine, parent blockchain, and extra security measures, is critical to the SKALE design. Users construct their Elastic Sidechain after configuring it and paying a monthly membership fee in SKALE (SKL) tokens to enable the provisioning and deployment of dApps. Staking payouts and network governance are also made easier using the ERC-777 SKL token.
What is SKALE Network?
The SKALE Network is an Ethereum Layer-2 scaling method that allows developers to circumvent Ethereum mainnet congestion by shifting development off of the main chain and onto neighboring, SKALE-managed sidechains. Through the use of distinct, dApp-specific SKALE blockchains, SKALE enables decentralized application (dApp) deployment in a stable, high-throughput, cost-effective environment. The SKALE Network’s native utility token, SKL, is used to pay for the creation of these blockchains. Staking and platform governance are also done with the SKL token.
The SKALE design includes interoperable “Elastic Sidechain Networks” with wide bandwidth and low latency that substantially enhance the number of transactions that can be effectively performed across the Ethereum network. SKALE uses this approach to boost performance, allowing Ethereum-based dApps to compete with Web2 apps in terms of cost and bandwidth. By reducing traffic on the Ethereum mainnet, SKALE Network sidechains help to enhance overall scalability. Before getting into the SKALE Network’s intricacies, it’s important to understand how scalable sidechains work in the blockchain environment.
SKALE Network: roots and history
Jack O’Holleran and Stan Kladko, both of whom have extensive expertise in the software sector, formed SKALE Network.
SKALE’s co-founder and CEO, O’Holleran, is a technology entrepreneur with a focus on blockchain and decentralized platforms. At Aktana, the bio-sciences firm he co-founded in 2008, he continues to serve as a strategic advisor.
O’Holleran started his career as an account executive at Good Technology, according to his LinkedIn page. Before joining Motorola’s business development and product strategy group, he spent two years there.
Prior to co-founding SKALE, Kladko worked as a technology executive in San Francisco’s Silicon Valley for 16 years and got a Ph.D. in physics.
How does SKALE Network work?
SKALE Network is a decentralized “elastic” blockchain network that is open-source and designed to scale Web3 apps. SKALE chains (also known as “dynamic shards”) are application-specific blockchains that live one layer above the Ethereum blockchain. SKALE chains may be rented by developers as a private Ethereum-compatible smart contract platform with quicker block times and the capacity to process more transactions per second. SKALE chains can run full-state smart contracts, enable decentralized storage, execute rollup contracts (a layer-2 scaling solution), and perform machine learning algorithms utilizing the EVM, according to core developer SKALE Labs (Ethereum Virtual Machine). SKALE Network, in conjunction with Ethereum, seeks to enable Web3 apps to compete with conventional apps in terms of cost and performance.
Sidechains are self-contained blockchains that are connected to their parent network or main chain. To sustain smart contract communication, sidechains use a two-way communications peg between the two networks, making them compatible. A developer working on an Ethereum sidechain, for example, would be able to access the Ethereum mainnet and vice versa. As demonstrated by SKALE, the most typical sidechain functionality includes batching network transactions and processing them on the sidechain before returning them to the main chain (in this case, Ethereum) for en masse confirmation. This boosts the primary network’s performance and scalability by a factor of ten.
Developers can use sidechains to test new, potentially unstable software without disrupting the main chain. For example, if a project first deploys a new dApp iteration on the sidechain and it fails, the damage does not affect the main chain’s front-facing application.
To alleviate congestion on the main chain, developers can deploy dApps on sidechains. In times of network congestion, for example, Ethereum gas prices rise, making transactions more expensive and time-consuming. Sidechains offload network activities off the main chain, lowering gas costs and improving overall performance.
Sidechains are accountable for their own security as distinct blockchains. Only the sidechain is susceptible in the case of a compromise; the parent chain is unaffected.
Why choose SKALE Network?
The SKALE Network aims to improve the security and decentralization of Ethereum-based applications.
On the SKALE Network, token holders are rewarded for working to increase the platform’s scalability and security by serving as a consensus mechanism.
The SKALE Network was the first project to launch a token using ConsenSys Codefi’s Activate platform, which is meant to let clients establish decentralized networks and manage, administer, and utilize their tokens all in one place. Activate was created to provide new rules for utility token distribution and to ensure that networks are fully operational as soon as tokens are sold. This method is believed to help clean up the image of the initial coin offering market, which has been plagued by frauds.
SKALE intends for its token to be widely utilized and avoid any fraudulent behavior by introducing a token that fulfills regulatory criteria.
Ethereum is notoriously slow when it comes to verifying and authorizing transactions. According to the developers, using the SKALE Network dramatically enhances the pace at which Ethereum validates transactions since SKALE can perform up to 2,000 transactions per second per chain.
