On Friday, September 11, 2020, the public token sale of SKL, which powers the SKALE Network’s Ethereum scaling Network, concluded. 3,736 people from 90 different countries purchased 167,139,884 SKL at $0.03 USD/SKL, creating a broad network of participants that spans the globe and significantly increases network security ahead of the SKALE Network’s Phase 2 mainnet launch on October 1st.
Starting on September 24th, individuals will receive their SKL tokens, and immediately be able to start staking on Codefi Activate and earning rewards for their help in securing the SKALE Network. Today, over 50 dApps are currently building on SKALE, ranging from games to DeFi to streaming audio and more. There are also already 21 validators who participated in onboarding, training, and are qualified to run the Phase 1 and 2 of the SKALE Network mainnet. A shortlist of validators offering their services on the Activate platform will be revealed in the coming days. SKL token holders will be able to select from these validators, and immediately start earning awards for supporting the SKALE Network.
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. The SKALE Network is an Ethereum-as-a-service Layer 2 solution that gives developers access to fast, secure, easy to configure, and fully decentralized chains — with gas fees magnitudes less than what users are paying now on the Ethereum Mainnet. As Jack O’Holleran, Founder of the SKALE Network wrote back in February, “We have a big vision, we want to see multiple million daily active user dApps coming out over the next year, and we are passionate about helping Ethereum achieve its first billion consumers.”
Maximally distributed launches to actual users foster a sustainable network
While the process of conducting token launches that truly enable successful decentralized networks to “activate” is still nascent, Activate, by ConsenSys Codefi proudly shared a common vision to launch a fair and distributed token offerings with the SKALE Network. This helped facilitate one of the most distributed token offerings yet to be seen in the cryptocurrency industry. At ConsenSys, we believe that establishing global standards for utility token offerings is the best way of creating fair token distributions, as well as the legal and regulatory ambiguity that decentralized projects entail.
Activate’s Token Launch Standards ensured that only the most qualified networks were selected and launched in the most accessible, transparent, and fair manner. Adherence to a more compliant KYC policy brought the final number of approved participants to 4,533 with $53,300,000 in purchase intent, which was more than ten times the total token availability. Rather than let a handful of whales scoop up all the tokens and potentially dump them later, or dominate the network rewards, the sale aimed to have the most number of individual participants possible and make the SKALE Network a self-sustaining endeavor.
Bringing its utility token to a global audience is equally important to SKALE, as their technology will be a crucial scalability platform for Ethereum, helping take user adoption of Ethereum-based applications to 1 billion people.
The breadth of participation is even more powerful because all purchasers are programmatically and contractually required to actually use the tokens for their intended purposes on the SKALE Network. This “Proof of Use” requirement means that token holders cannot transfer their tokens for any reason other than to participate in and bootstrap the network. Once the users have done so, for example by staking for at least 60 days, only then will their tokens become unlocked.
What’s Next
All tokens will be distributed on September 24th. Purchasers will immediately be able to claim and stake their tokens on the Activate platform and ahead of the first epoch commencing on October 1st. Stay tuned for the release for the Activate staking guide and FAQ.