Skycoin Synth Speaks: Skywire, Blockchain 3.0, and the Future Business & Telecommunications
Tags: Net Neutrality, Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, Blockchain, Skycoin

Building The Web 3.0 Infrastructure

In the move away from the current centralized Internet, we will see decentralized options for applications and services like Amazon, Facebook and Twitter. This shift will not only happen at the services level but also at the Internet infrastructure level. Currently, large telecom companies such as Comcast and Time Warner build the infrastructure to relay Internet data, and they bill their customers every month to maintain that infrastructure. We built Skywire to enable a decentralized Internet both on the infrastructure and application level.

Skywire, our flagship application, will ultimately be a community-owned Internet.

The idea is that people will run their own Internet infrastructure, including the hardware and the antennas. They are going to start building out a new network to replace the current Internet monopolies like Comcast.

An Incentivized Mesh-Internet & Closed-Loop Economy

We often get the questions: “Why are people going to pay for these nodes?” or “Why are they going to share their Internet with their neighbor?” or “Why are they going to use these decentralized applications?”. The answer is simple, people will get paid to do so.

On the Skywire network, if you provide network services such as bandwidth, data storage or computation, you will receive coins. If you are using those resources from other people in the network, then you will spend coins for those resources. This makes Skywire a functional closed-loop economy and a sustainable ecosystem.

Mesh-networking is already an established technology with extensive real-world applications. An example is the Guifi open access network, which has about 33 000 active nodes. Skywire is based on Guifi but written from the ground-up with several networking improvements. What sets Skywire apart and what will make it grow exponentially is the monetary incentive that users will receive.

This incentive layer is achieved by integrating our blockchain technology, Skycoin, which works in symbiosis with the mesh-net hardware.

The Skywire protocol and the Skycoin blockchain both run on our hardware platform, the Skyminer. This means that Skycoin transactions can be forwarded peer-to-peer on the mesh-network, completely bypassing ISPs and governments, making Skycoin the only cryptocurrency that is impossible to block by a malicious third party.

Skywire is going to be the first application of blockchain in the real world with day-to-day use.

Skywire is going to be the first application that makes blockchain mainstream, where people can actually see antennae on people’s rooftops. People will be able to track how much bandwidth they are producing and how much bandwidth they are consuming. People will see all the use-cases of Skywire with its encrypted messaging and file sharing. If people have excess computation power, they will be able to rent it to the network. They will be able to run a hardware-VPN.

We are producing different applications for different verticals and the goal is always to get as many people as we can onto the platform, using Skywire, Skycoin and the ecosystem in their daily lives.

Skycoin Fiber Platform

In addition to Skywire, we see a lot of platform growth coming in companies launching their own blockchains and blockchain applications using our Fiber architecture. We already have 30 companies in the process of launching coins on our Skycoin platform.

The benefits for companies launching their projects on Fiber is that they immediately get access to all the innovation we have put into Skycoin thus far. Companies launching on Fiber receive their own blockchain that they own and control, a blockchain that is compatible with our programming language CX, a dedicated hardware platform to run their blockchain, as well as mobile, desktop and hardware wallets.

We have also developed support for non-fungible assets on the blockchain, enabling companies to offer blockchain-based gift cards and coupons. We have a compatible point-of-sale system in development, which is very attractive to businesses that want to start exploring blockchain as they receive a fully vertically-integrated solution. To promote this solution, we are going to do regular meet-ups and CX hackathons.

Comprehensive Platforms Over App Coins

We believe that the third generation of blockchain is going to be dominated by comprehensive platforms and we will see fewer single-purpose “app coins”. In its first generation, every blockchain was written from scratch. The second generation allowed quick issuing of tokens (i.e. ERC-20) which allowed ICOs to do rapid fundraising. In the third generation of blockchain, companies will receive their own vertically integrated blockchain solution with all the benefits mentioned above without needing to do any programming.

Further, we are working on projects that will allow timeshares, mining rights, futures securities, derivatives, and electricity metering to be conducted on Fiber.

There are several benefits to companies receiving their own blockchain. One is control, to be able to roll it back in case of hacks or bugs. It will also be much more cost-effective. Launching a smart-contract on NEO costs 500 GAS (currently $7760). There are no transaction fees on our platform.

We have four companies implementing Fiber for blockchain power grids. We are building blockchain power meters for these companies. These companies want people who produce electricity to receive coins and people who consume electricity to pay in coins. This is similar to the closed-loop economic model we are using for Skywire.