How Skycoin is a ‘reaction’ of Bitcoin, an interview with Synth, its founder

Cryptopotato got the opportunity to discuss Skycoin in detail with Synth, its founder, and learned all sorts of useful things regarding the blockchain industry. Synth was one of the earliest contributors to Bitcoin and started Skycoin over 8 years ago with the vision of creating a new, faster, decentralized internet.

When we talk about digital currencies, Bitcoin immediately pops into our heads, but in reality, there were multiple attempts to create digital currencies. Bitcoin was just the first one to successfully achieve mass adoption. However, it was soon realized that Bitcoin’s systems and algorithms aren’t as perfect as they were originally thought to be.

The network behind Bitcoin can only support 6 transactions per second, and due to its imperfect consensus algorithm, the whole network suffers from centralization, which defeats its original purpose. These limitations prohibit the growth of the Bitcoin network, and as Synth explains in this interview, “when you’re buying coffee with Bitcoin, you don’t want to wait for 40 minutes, waiting in the line, for your transaction to clear. So with Skycoin, we wanted to make sure that transactions were faster than a credit card transaction.”

Skycoin originated roughly around the same time that Bitcoin was launched. However, the project was only in its development phases. Skycoin learned from the mistakes that were evident in the whole Bitcoin fiasco and is trying to create a network that is free from those limitations.

Unlike Bitcoin’s proof-of-work consensus algorithm, Skycoin has developed its own, novel Obelisk consensus algorithm. It’s a web-of-trust styled algorithm that is immune to 51% attacks and does not require mining. Moreover, transactions are faster due to the seemingly unlimited bandwidth. The decisions are carried out through community consensus and do not depend on a few majority stakeholders.

The Skywire test-net is the first official product of the whole project and was released on May 22nd, 2018. Developers and users can download and use the test-net, and this will allow the team of Skywire to ensure that the system is ready for widespread adoption. Operators of the official Skyminer and selected operators will receive Skycoin for their participation in the test-net.

We hope you enjoy the interview and get to learn more about blockchain and how it works!