SKALE Q2 Project Update: Building Through Adversity | SKALE

Hello all! I’ve been looking forward to sending an update to the SKALE Community for some time.

This is a historic time which has brought adversity to humanity and the global economy not yet seen by living generations. We are dealing with a global pandemic that brings new challenges to each and everyone of us in our personal and professional lives. It is easy in these times to lose focus, hope, and direction, and even the most focused are feeling the impact of isolation, working from home, and direct or indirect impact from the virus.

Despite these challenges, I am happy to report that the SKALE core team and community have been able to push through the adversity and have not lost direction. We had a rough month with many team members falling ill, and a few even hospitalized. That aside, we’ve managed to get to the next phase and are now completely back on track.

One thing I learned from my athletic career was that great teams perform well in difficult times. I have been incredibly proud of how each member of the core team has stepped up and taken on the challenge head first.

We all have empathy for the global situation and hardship, yet we have to remain focused on the goal. We also have to take a clear look at our work and separate the global situation from our day-to-day workflow. Using that lens, I can tell you that this team is excited and pumped for MainNet launch. Many years of hard work has gone into this - we are so close!!

SKALE Project Update

In Q1 we made an announcement that we would launch the MainNet in Q2 and are now doing everything in our power to make that happen. We remain focused on issuing tokens to the community through the ConsenSys Activate platform and kicking off the launch of a healthy, successful network. Due to the Virus the timeline is slightly delayed, but we are still on track for a Q2 launch.

Results speak louder than words. On that note, I’ll address recent accomplishments.

Engineering and Product

• Engineering has been rocking and rolling. The MainNet is on track for a Q2 launch!
• Code has been in feature freeze for some time while we continue to aggressively squash bugs. MainNet is coming soon. Please check out the code!
• Code now has been through two audits and we are finalizing remediation. Thousands of collective hours have gone into this from the SKALE core team, ConsenSys Diligence, QuantStamp, and other reviewers. Results of the audit will be published prior to MainNet Launch.
• In addition to the audit we will be hosting hacker awards through HackerOne with the goal of finding all threats and weaknesses prior to launch.
  

GTM

• SKALE Solutions Engineering now has 41 dApps signed up in the SKALE Innovator Program! We are incredibly honored to be working with so many great teams and developers. We are working VERY hard to bring the network to MainNet so these amazing teams can start cutting costs for their users by eliminating almost all gas fees, improving UX with sub-second blocktimes, and providing high throughput with great security.
• Marketing and Community hasn’t slowed down.
• SKALE has launched a virtual event series focused on dApp developers and validators.
• The first event of the series was a huge success. We invited 0x and TokenTrove (NFT marketplace for Gods Unchained that runs on 0x) for a technical conversation focused on blockchain gaming. You can watch a replay here.
• Next up - a conversation on dApps migration within Ethereum Layer 2. Please, reserve your spot here.
• SKALE is also excited to announce Block Insider - a limited series of events which will be bringing together the most interesting thinkers and builders in the industry.
• For the first event of the series, SKALE invited top investors and top PoS projects from around the world to talk about building in this challenging environment, and the impact of the global crisis on the entire PoS ecosystem. This event will feature speakers from Hashed, Cosmos, and Terra. Reserve your spot here.
• SKALE is also working on a global virtual tour in support of the MainNet launch. Stay tuned for updates via Telegram and Twitter.
• SKALE has been actively communicating with the press and these recent posts and podcasts are worth checking out!
• Fork the Product: Jack O'Holleran - SKALE Labs
• TheBlockchainVC: Blockchain Scalability & Coronavirus' Impact with Jack O'Holleran
• Ethereal Podcast: How to scale Ethereum dApps with SKALE
• Chainreaction: Building A Decentralized Amazon Web Services
• Hashing It Out: SKALE Labs, Stan Kladko
• Abel's Abstracts - ConsenSys Codefi Launches Activate with SKALE
• Putting Blockchain in the background of the dApp experience - BlockTV
• Consensys and SKALE kick off new token issuing platform - CoinTelegraph

Finances

• We are thankful to be in a strong financial position, but in an effort to be conservative and be prepared for worst case scenarios, we have cut back costs and are focusing on high value, high return work with low costs.
• We have confidence that the crypto market is forming a stronger foundation through this turmoil and is transitioning back to a point of strength. Weathering storms such as these are not easy, yet the decentralized markets have survived and will thrive.

Public Token Launch

• Getting tokens into the hands of many, many people around the world is an incredibly exciting prospect, as are Proof of Use and the ConsenSys Activate Platform. Prioritizing network health over short-term economics is the strategy.
• The Activate auction and launch date is on track for Q2. Since the auction must coincide with network launch, the exact details will be announced as the network gets closer to launch.
  

In closing, I want to thank the broader SKALE community for their support. The SKALE validator community, SKALE dApp community, and SKALE delegator community have all been incredibly supportive and helpful through this process. This network is as strong as the sum of the total decentralized parts, and the core team is thankful to have so many amazing people working on every element of this network.

Thanks for taking the time to read this update, I know how incredibly valuable it is. Stay healthy and positive. 2020 is just beginning, and remember, what starts rough can change course quickly.

Cheers,

Jack