SkyCoin SKY (Cryptocurrency)

SkyCoin is a complete ecosystem of blockchain technology which was launched with an aim to promote the actual use of cryptocurrency and public ledger technology, instead of speculating on its valuation. The platform has been continuously developing for more than 7 years, though it was officially launched in the year 2017 by a group of developers who were earlier involved in Bitcoin and Ethereum.

SkyCoin is different from other popular cryptocurrency networks, like Bitcoin, in many ways.

It uses its own specific distributed consensus algorithm, called Obelisk, instead of other commonly used algorithms like proof of work (POW) and proof of stake (POS). Obelisk uses the concept of ‘web of trust dynamics’ which distributes influence over the network and makes consensus decisions depending upon the influence score of each node. Each node subscribes to a select number of other network nodes, and the density of a node’s network of subscribers determines its influence on the network. The method is non-energy-intensive, and does not need high computing power or high stake like those in POW or POS algorithms.

SkyCoin works on the CoinJoin protocol, which increases the user’s privacy and anonymity by having multiple participants agreeing to form a single transaction where some of the outputs have the same value. As more participants make a joint payment, there is no way for other non-involved participants to know who made the payment, thereby increasing the user’s security and maintaining anonymity.

The blockchain platform also operates its own native cryptocurrency called SkyCoin, which trades under the symbol SKY in the cryptocurrency marketplace. It can be traded against popular cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC), LiteCoin (LTC), and DogeCoin (DOGE), along with US dollars (USD).

SkyCoin operates as an ecosystem of blockchain and includes various artifacts that it supports. For instance, a blockchain application called SkyWire is being developed as a feature that will not only decentralize the Internet and bandwidth at the hardware level but will also provide for storage and computation in a decentralized manner. Holding one SkyCoin for an hour in the SkyCoin wallet entitles the holder to one Coin Hour. This is another currency on SkyCoin network that can be used to trade bandwidth and other services within the SkyCoin platform.

SkyCoin operates its own initial coin offering (ICO) platform called Fiber, a decentralized messaging system called Sky-Messenger, a decentralized social media channel called BBS, and its own programming language called Golang.

SkyCoin supports 300 transactions per second (TPS), transaction execution time of fewer than 2 seconds, and offers a secure network that is safe from the 51% attack.

Though the “mining” term is commonly used in relation to the SkyCoin network, there is no real mining performed on the network. It simply refers to the contribution of bandwidth, storage, and computation to the SkyCoin network by the various participants who are rewarded an by allocation of Skycoin tokens and Coin Hours for their efforts.