Community update December 2021

Hi all! I have exciting news and updates to share. The core team, validators community, dev community, and broader community have been working HARD and we have been making a lot of progress. Despite the recently rocky macro conditions, SKALE could not be in a better position for growth.

After recently launching the first 4 dApps on the network, we now have one final network upgrade to push prior to the major dApp partners going live. This upgrade is currently scheduled for the latter half of next week barring any unforeseen issues in the last stages of TestNet. This is the moment we’ve been waiting for...

SKALE is about to step into the next stage of growth. Execution is taking place in every area of this project. We’re soon going to see it come to life in terms of TVL, NFT’s minted, and transaction volume. We have been working for over 4 years to get to this point and we could not be more pumped about helping our dApp partners go live and start changing the world.

Not only are we excited about the short term, but we are even more excited about the long term potential and product market fit. We are currently seeing amazing close rates of ~80% of qualified opportunities. This is in part due to great execution by the BD/SE team and community. It is also due to these critical factors:

1. Capacity: SKALE can scale

Partners see that SKALE is future proof and will scale to support them. There are already more EVM blockchains live in SKALE than any other network with 4 active chains running and pooling security. In minutes a new Chain can be autonomously created in the SKALE Network in a decentralized manner by a set of smart contracts on the Ethereum Mainnet. Most blockchains have a finite number of transactions they can support. SKALE can grow in a limitless fashion as more nodes join the network.

As demand for blockchains, NFTs, DeFi, tokenization, Social tokens, Web3 applications, blockchain enabled games/play2earn/Metaverse grows, so will the demand for more EVM blockchains with strong pooled security principles. SKALE has the supply to support individualized growth while pooling security across all applications.

2. Ethereum Native

Ethereum developers care about the future of Ethereum. SKALE is part of the Ethereum community. Not only is SKALE compatible and interoperable with Ethereum, but it is built on Ethereum. Critical network functions run on Ethereum which create a decentralized Revenue Share. SKALE adds value back to Ethereum in terms of fees while other EVM chains suck value out of Ethereum and create a parasitic dynamic. This is a huge value prop when speaking to Ethereum devs.

3. NFT Optimized

Roughly 50% of all active deals we are working are NFT related. We have a major value proposition for NFT creators as they can mint NFTs with zero cost onchain and they can store files natively on the blockchain rather than needing to trust centralized computation or IPFS systems. NFTs will live on SKALE in gaming/metaverse partners, Web3, Art/digital collectibles, Defi, and more.

4. High Performance

SKALE is FAST and cost effective. dApps achieve full finality in less than 4 seconds. This creates a phenomenal user experience while opening up even more use cases for blockchains.

Now for the update…

Q421 PROJECT UPDATE

GTM

• The last 3 months have been non-stop in terms of new deals, partnerships, and leads. The core team’s Business Development and Solutions Engineering teams have never been busier. The leads are flooding in and every person is working around the clock. We are now actively hiring for more roles across these teams. Titles include: BD Channel manager, BD executive, Solutions Engineer, Technical Solutions Engineer, and Partner Solutions Engineer.

• NFTs are BOOMING! Over 50% of all deals are now NFT-related! SKALE has the secret sauce to winning these deals.

• The team is inundated with inbound opportunities. Many of these are brought forth by early supporters and community members. Thanks!

• The team is winning roughly 4 out of every 5 qualified deals which is an amazing win rate in any industry. I’m very excited about the rollout and announcement of these new deals over the coming weeks.

• The next stage of growth is all about team expansion and channel growth. More on the channel to come, which is going to be the secret weapon in the SKALE arsenal.

• The community is also stepping up and playing a crucial role in education, awareness, content creation, and social media presence. I am honored and thankful that so many people are digging in and taking ownership of this project. It takes a village to grow a network and this village has turned into a city.

• The rollout plan has also been to start small and slow, find any issues that only show in a live environment, then push hard with a fully optimized solution. The plan is being executed to design. The first four dApps are now live and following the next upgrades this month another 15+ will follow. Just behind those applications are another 75 projects we are working with in NFT, DeFi, Web3, and gaming

Marketing

• SKALE’s Marketing efforts continue to evolve and grow. The team is creating a massive flow of content with 3-4 major releases per week. Social media numbers are growing by the day. We also realize there is room for growth and are revamping the internal core team structure and adding even more great talent to the team.

• Spring Dunn, a seasoned marketing executive with over a decade of experience in B2B and Crypto joined the team 3 weeks ago as a Director of Marketing. She is leading the efforts to revamp the SKALE website and bring more focus to growth and marketing execution.

• We are hiring 3 more marketers and are very excited about the next stage of marketing at SKALE. Job titles include: Director of Product Marketing, Social Media Manager (Ninja), and Marketing Operations Manager.

• The website has been close to completion for some time. However, launching a new website with brand redesign is a critical success factor. Considering the importance of this release and the addition of our new Marketing Director we are pushing back the release date so that we can bring the most impactful website to fruition as soon as possible. The team is working hard to get it released and an update will be given soon on the new site and updated brand image. (I am not happy about this delay but it will be worth it!!)

Product and Engineering

The product is also now in a highly performant and stable position with 4 dApps running without any issues on Mainnet. That being said, there are two “Power Boosts” (ie - agile upgrades) being pushed to the Network next week that will open the floodgates for the next set of dApps. I’m now calling these PB1 and PB2 as they are so critical to the next wave of dApp deployment.

• PB1 will be an upgrade to SKALED (SKALE Daemon) which will include two new features and 5 bug fixes that will optimize network performance and stability.

• PB2 will be focused on IMA and will include 4 critical fixes that will optimize NFT transfers, fix a critical issue regarding gas reimbursement with NFT SKALE>ETH transfer, and end-user transaction transfers.

Traction

Here are a few highlights over the last 3 months:

• 16 new partnerships were announced that span Partners, Dapps and Exchange listings, 8 of which were NFT related.

• Covey, Ivy.cash, 360 NFT, and Solydaria went live on SKALE Mainnet

• Wharton Business School has selected SKALE as one of seven blockchain projects to be selected for a Business School blockchain program. This was a major vote of confidence in the SKALE Network.

• MyEtherWallet launched as the first mobile staking solution and OKEx was the first exchange to launch SKL staking

• SKALE was listed on Bitstamp, KuCoin, Changelly, Flexa and Bitrue

• SKALE announced partnerships with Curate, Ruby.exchange, CryptoCrusades, NF Trade, gigster, KnitFinance and Sportium

• Gemini highlighted the fundamentals of the SKALE Network.

• Stan, Christine, Chadwick, and Marcos continue to post technical video series content from Code&Dapps and some great content in our Math for the Impatient interviews, which is gaining a nice following!

• Special note, we have two great pieces on NFTs First - The Most Popular NFT Categories on the SKALE Network Today and second - The Advantages of Building NFT Solutions on SKALE.

• We participated in Messari Mainnet and NFT.NYC, both of which were smashing successes and included several speaking slots aimed at pushing out our message and making sure we're in front of all the right folks for moving the needle.

Finishing Strong and Setting up 2022 for Success

We’ve made a lot of progress, but are just getting started. Many of you have been a part of this community for over a year. I personally appreciate all of your support, patience, and commitment to this project. We are building something that has immense potential in what will be the largest industry of the future. We are finally ready to take it to the next level. Let’s go!!!!