The Skycoin Platform is the most advanced blockchain platform in the world. Developed by early contributors to both Bitcoin and Ethereum, Skycoin’s platform is completely secure, infinitely scalable, and ISP independent. It uses its own specific distributed consensus algorithm, called Obelisk, instead of other commonly used algorithms like proof of work (POW) and proof of stake (POS). Obelisk uses the concept of ‘web of trust dynamics’ which distributes influence over the network and makes consensus decisions depending upon the influence score of each node. Each node subscribes to a select number of other network nodes, and the density of a node’s network of subscribers determines its influence on the network. Skycoin is very fast. With transaction speeds close to 2 seconds and no transaction fees it can rival any other cryptocurrency on the market as a payment method. The transaction costs of Skycoin are covered by Coin Hours. This is value paid to Skycoin holders for each hour they hold a Skycoin. Skycoin is against charging transaction costs and mining incentives as it only drives up the costs of the network. The biggest benefit of Skycoin is that it is energy efficient due to the Web-of-Trust social proof. It can even run on a 30-watt cell phone processor making it great for mobile payments. Centralization becomes less of an issue when anyone can participate in the blockchain. Sia stores tiny pieces of your files on dozens of nodes across the globe. This eliminates any single point of failure and ensures highest possible uptime, on par with other cloud storage providers. A major goal of Skycoin is to promote actual usage of cryptocurrency rather than speculation. Skywire, the flagship application of Skycoin, has the ambitious goal of decentralizing the internet at the hardware level and is about to begin the testnet in April. However, this is just one of the many facets of the Skycoin ecosystem. Skywire will not only provide decentralized bandwidth but also storage and computation, completing the holy trinity of commodities essential for the new internet. Skycoin also has its own ICO platform called Fiber, their own deterministic programming language, CX, derived from Golang, a private decentralized messenger system called Sky-Messenger, and a decentralized social media platform, BBS. Here is another way to think of Skycoin: An open-source, community-owned, hardware-based peer to peer internet designed from first principles and leveraging the incentive system of the blockchain.
FOAM is an open protocol for proof of location on Ethereum. Our mission is to build a consensus driven map of the world, empowering a fully decentralized web3 economy with verifiable location data. FOAM incentivizes the infrastructure needed for privacy-preserving and fraud-proof location verification. The starting point for FOAM is static proof of location, where a community of Cartographers curate geographic Points of Interest on the FOAM map. Through global community-driven efforts, FOAM’s dynamic proof of location protocol will enable a permissionless and privacy-preserving network of radio beacons that is independent from external centralized sources and capable of providing secure location verification services. FOAM Token Functionality 1. Add and Curate Geographic Points of Interest The FOAM Spatial Index Visualizer allows Cartographers to participate in interactive TCR POIs on a map. Users can add points to the map, validate new candidates and verify the map by visiting real world locations. The FOAM Token Curated Registry unlocks mapping in a secure and permissionless fashion and allows locations to be ranked and maintained by token balances. Users can deposit FOAM Tokens into POIs on the map to increase attention those POIs might receive. 2. Signal for Zone Incentivisation A further potential use of the FOAM Token by Cartographers is to stake their FOAM Tokens to Signal. Signaling is a mechanism designed to allow Cartographers to incentivize the expansion and geographic coverage of the FOAM network. To Signal, a Cartographer stakes FOAM Tokens to a Signaling smart contract by reference to a particular area. These staked tokens serve as indicators of demand, and are proportionate to (i) the length of time staking (the earlier, the better), and (ii) the number of tokens staked (the less well-served areas, the better). In the context of the contingent Dynamic Proof of Location concept (described further in the Product Whitepaper), these indicators are the weighted references that determine the spatial mining rewards. 3. Contribute to Potential Secure Location Services as Zone Anchor or Verifier The FOAM protocol may allow users to provide work and secure localization services and location verification for smart contracts and be rewarded for their own efforts with new FOAM Tokens in the form of mining rewards. Devices and real world contracts can be programmed to designate attestations and track interactions and transactions on the map. With the addition of necessary radio hardware by individual users and the grass roots expansion of the FOAM network, it may be possible for location status to be proved in a different manner. Location could be proved through a time synchronization protocol that would ensure continuity of a distributed clock, whereby specialized hardware could synchronize nodes’ clocks over radio to provide location services in a given area. As explained further in the following paragraph, this ‘Dynamic Proof of Location’ is contingent on a number of factors outside of Foamspace’s control.