Don’t you just hate it when you are totally engrossed in watching something online and suddenly, it just stops to buffer? I mean it’s 2018! Why haven’t we reached the age of lightning-fast internet as yet? But hold your tantrum right there, because the booming blockchain tech could be the answer to our internet problems. There is a blockchain platform in town that comes with a vision to create a decentralized internet. Skycoin seeks to resolve the serious problems pertaining to the centralization of the internet at the hands of big corporations and governments.

Skycoin is a rather ambitious cryptocurrency project that has been in the phase of constant development for nearly 7 years now, with the first commit dating back to 2013 by early developers of Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Instead of a single coin, it is actually an entire ecosystem based on an innovative next-generation blockchain technology. Skycoin picks up from the centralized web protocols to set up a decentralized, scalable and fast Internet system – the Web 3.0.

Components of Skycoin

The unique thing about Skycoin is that it is more than just a cryptocurrency. In fact, it consists of five major components and each of them addresses a specific issue pertaining to the centralized web system and in turn, presents a solution in Skycoin’s blockchain-powered web space.

Skywire

It is Skycoin’s net neutrality resolution, offering private web surfing. Skywire clients run a Virtual Private Network (VPN) server that connects users to the Skywire network. This decentralized internet setup functions as an advanced alternative to the existing Internet.

Skyminer

It is a custom VPN server, which provides the infrastructure to fuel the Skywire network. Essentially, Skyminer is a Linux server with an integrated router and networking capabilities. The server has a quad-core ARM processor, 16 GB of RAM and 128GB of solid-state storage space. It also has an 8-core Mali450 graphics card.

Fiber

Fiber is basically the blockchain architecture behind the Skycoin. Being an open decentralized blockchain network, it also eliminates mining rewards.

Skysuite

It is a collection of all the decentralized applications (dApps).

Skycoin

Skycoin was founded by some of the earliest contributors behind Ethereum and Bitcoin. Synth started working on his vision of a new Internet back in 2012, after leaving Bitcoin. So it kind of makes sense that the native cryptocurrency of the platform is Bitcoin-based, but unlike Bitcoin, because Skycoin cannot be mined. Why? Because it doesn’t rely on Proof-of-work (PoW) consensus like Bitcoin where computers spend their energy and processing resources, and are rewarded in coins. It is also not a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) currency where users are rewarded for simply holding Skycoin in their wallets. Skycoin has its own, custom consensus method called Obelisk.

How Does the Obelisk Consensus Method Work?

Houwu Chen, one of Ethereum’s creators and a Ph.D. from the Tsinghua University, created the Obelisk protocol. The idea behind Obelisk algorithm is that nodes agree based on a Web-of-Trust consensus. Influence is distributed over the network, which creates a web of trust. In order to completely eliminate mining, each node on the network connects to a list of nodes that it sees as trustworthy. Nodes are ranked by the amount of connections that they have with other nodes. This works as a social proof where the trust in nodes is strengthened based on their popularity in the network.

Features of Skycoin

Extremely Fast

Skycoin takes pride in itself for being one of the fastest cryptocurrencies the market has to offer, with a transaction speed of only 2 seconds.

Secure

Backed by tried and tested cryptographic standards, Skycoin ensures robust security for all transactions, warding off threats like duplication, reversal and malleability.

Anonymity

Skycoin will adopt the CoinJoin protocol, which will mix multiple transactions from different wallets in order to provide complete anonymity and privacy to every transaction.

Sustainable

The platform presents a solution to avoid the heavy computational energy required in the PoW mechanism. Skycoin actually functions with a meager 30-watt cell phone processor.

Incentivized

The Skywire component presents the users with the opportunities to earn and use Skycoin. Skycoin token holders also receive Coin Hours. This is a separate currency paid to the holders for every hour they have a Skycoin in their wallets.

Backed by Real Assets

The cryptocurrency is backed by a real asset, in the form of bandwidth, which facilitates its practical usage.

Advisors Behind Skycoin

You can read its whitepapers here.