Frequently Asked Questions FAQ
Welcome to our Frequently Asked Questions section. Here you will find detailed information regarding our products, services, and policies. Should you require further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact our support team, who will be happy to provide you with the necessary guidance.
What is Sky Protocol?
Sky Protocol is an open-source Data Availability Layer designed to make blockchains scale to Web2-level performance. Most decentralized applications today face a hard ceiling: blockchains struggle to increase transactions per second, which makes them uncompetitive against traditional payment networks, cloud computing, or storage systems.
Sky Protocol solves this by offloading non-critical data from the main chain into a modular availability layer, enabling throughput measured not in kilobytes or megabytes, but in gigabytes and even terabytes per second. This breakthrough allows blockchains to handle up to one million times more transactions per second while cutting transaction fees by a factor of one thousand.
In practical terms, developers building on Sky Protocol can:
- Access transaction data instantly and at massive scale.
- Build decentralized apps that rival Web2 speed, cost, and reliability.
- Unlock use cases in payments, DePin, and high-performance Web3 infrastructure that were previously impossible.
Sky Protocol isn’t about adding new features — it’s about removing the bottleneck that has kept Web3 from going mainstream.
How does Sky Protocol work?
Sky Protocol operates as a Data Availability Layer (DAL) — a parallel network designed to store and distribute all the data linked to blockchain transactions.
On a standard blockchain, every transaction must be published and stored directly on the main chain. This guarantees security but creates congestion: the more transactions you add, the slower and more expensive the network becomes.
Sky Protocol introduces a second layer — a dedicated availability network — that takes over the heavy lifting. Here’s how it works:
- Parallel network: All non-critical transaction data is published on Sky Protocol instead of clogging the main chain.
- Mathematical structure: The DAL uses cryptographic sharding and redundancy so that every piece of data remains permanently accessible, verifiable, and tamper-proof.
- Scalability boost: Because the main chain only needs to reference proofs rather than store full datasets, throughput skyrockets while fees collapse.
From this perspective, Sky Protocol behaves like a Layer 2 system. It doesn’t replace the main blockchain — it augments it. By offloading data to a specialized availability layer, any Layer 1 chain (Cardano, Ethereum, etc.) can process vastly more transactions per second without sacrificing decentralization or trust.
In short: the main blockchain keeps its integrity and consensus guarantees, while Sky Protocol provides the raw speed and data accessibility needed to make Web3 applications perform at Web2 scale.
How is Sky Protocol different from other scaling solutions, and why choose a Data Availability Layer instead of a rollup?
Rollups and Data Availability Layers (DALs) address different bottlenecks in blockchain scaling.
- Rollups execute transactions off-chain and publish only compressed data or proofs back to the main chain. Optimistic rollups rely on dispute windows, while ZK rollups use cryptographic proofs that are expensive to compute. Both approaches improve throughput, but they remain limited by the data bandwidth of the base layer where they must publish their proofs.
- Data Availability Layers like Sky Protocol focus on a more fundamental constraint: the ability to publish, store, and retrieve massive amounts of transaction data reliably. Instead of compressing or deferring data, Sky Protocol provides a dedicated network that guarantees all transaction data is permanently available and verifiable. This removes the main-chain bottleneck and makes scaling essentially unbounded.
Sky Protocol differs in three key ways:
- Pure focus on data throughput. It doesn’t execute smart contracts or enforce its own logic. It ensures that any blockchain can offload data without sacrificing trust.
- Orders of magnitude higher scale. Rollups can help millions of users, but Sky Protocol targets throughput in gigabytes to terabytes per second, enabling applications with millions to billions of transactions per second — something no rollup alone can achieve.
- Chain-agnostic modularity. Sky Protocol is designed to plug into multiple blockchains. It can serve Ethereum, Cardano, or any ecosystem simultaneously, without locking developers into a single rollup framework.
This makes Sky Protocol more ambitious than rollups: rather than scaling one application environment, it provides a universal backbone that all chains and rollups can rely on.
Finally, compatibility is central to our vision. We work with partners who are building other scaling solutions — including rollups and execution layers — and we aim for full interoperability. Developers won’t have to choose one approach over the other. Instead, they’ll be able to combine Sky Protocol’s massive data availability with rollups’ execution efficiency, unlocking the best of both worlds.
How does Sky Protocol make money?
This is the crucial question we asked ourselves early on. Every blockchain ecosystem needs scaling, and nearly all of them will eventually need a Data Availability Layer. But there’s a catch: DA solutions on their own don’t generate sustainable revenue. Competing projects either subsidize their users to drive adoption, or pivot into multiple side businesses to find creative monetization paths.
Our approach is different. Sky Protocol itself follows a Linux Foundation model: it’s open source, easy to implement, and free for developers. By design, it is not the direct revenue engine. Instead, our business model comes from a closely related SaaS product: Olapa.
Olapa uses almost the same underlying technology as Sky Protocol — meaning improvements to one directly strengthen the other — but it applies it in a very specific B2B context: SIEM (Security Information and Event Management). In simple terms, Olapa notarizes every event in a company’s cloud infrastructure on a blockchain, creating tamper-proof logs that cannot be altered by hackers, insiders, or administrators.
This is where the money is. Enterprises are willing to pay for cybersecurity guarantees, legal protection, and compliance readiness. Unlike scaling solutions that struggle to monetize developers, Olapa taps into a market where budgets are large, urgent, and growing.
By using Olapa to generate SaaS revenue, we can self-finance Sky Protocol’s open-source mission. This independence keeps us free from conflicts of interest, while at the same time bringing new users into Web3 — not because they care about Web2 vs Web3, but because they want efficiency, trust, and security.
In short: Sky Protocol is the open-source infrastructure, and Olapa is the business that makes it sustainable.
Is Sky Protocol easy to use?
Absolutely. We’ve designed Sky Protocol to be developer-friendly from day one. In fact, our YouTube channel already features demo videos showing that you can get started in less than 20 minutes.
For any developer already building on blockchain, the learning curve is minimal. Integrating Sky Protocol into your stack feels natural — you simply plug into the Data Availability Layer and immediately benefit from faster throughput and lower transaction costs.
In short: if you know how to build decentralized apps, you’ll find Sky Protocol simple, fast, and ready to use out of the box.
Does Sky Protocol have a token?
Yes. Sky Protocol includes a utility token that powers the network. Its role is straightforward: it acts as a pay-as-you-go mechanism for data consumption. Every kilobyte of data published through Sky Protocol is accounted for and settled using the token, ensuring that blockspace is allocated efficiently and fairly.
In addition, the token provides a cryptographic trace of all transactions, making data availability transparent and verifiable across the network.
You can learn more about the token’s design and usage details on the dedicated page of our official website
Where can I buy the Sky Protocol token?
The Sky Protocol token is available on SplashDEX, our decentralized exchange partner. Purchasing it is straightforward: connect your wallet, trade for the token on Splash, and you’re ready to use it for data consumption within Sky Protocol.
This ensures a seamless experience — the same place where our early adopters in DeFi already interact with the ecosystem.
Are you connected to the other “Sky Protocol” team?
No. Originally, MakerDAO decided to rebrand under the name Sky Protocol. But our project was already called Sky Protocol long before their rebrand.
We don’t see this as a conflict. We’re not in the habit of suing people over naming rights, and frankly, we take it as a compliment. If another major project also wanted the name, it just shows how strong and appealing it is.
So, while there’s no link between us, we’re glad to share a name that clearly resonates in the blockchain world.
On which base network is the SKY token deployed?
The SKY token is deployed on the Cardano blockchain.
Most blockchains face what is often called the blockchain trilemma: a tradeoff between security, scalability, and decentralization. At present, it’s almost impossible to maximize all three at once.
We chose Cardano because it has consistently prioritized security (formal verification, research-driven protocols) and decentralization (large and diverse staking ecosystem), even if that meant not being the most scalable out of the box. For us, this was the ideal foundation: it’s easier to take a secure and decentralized base layer and make it massively scalable through Sky Protocol, rather than starting with a chain that is only “half-scalable” but weaker on trust guarantees.
That said, Sky Protocol is designed to be chain-agnostic. While Cardano is our first home, the architecture can be ported to other ecosystems — Ethereum, Celestia, or any chain that needs high-throughput data availability.
Will you issue another token if Sky Protocol is ported to another blockchain?
Probably not, for two main reasons.
- Unnecessary complexity. Creating multiple tokens for each chain adds an extra layer of confusion and fragmentation. Most blockchain foundations aren’t fooled by this — they don’t like to finance yet another speculative token unless it has a very clear and useful purpose. Our preferred approach is to build bridges between Cardano (where SKY is native) and any new chain we integrate with, so the same token continues to function seamlessly across ecosystems. If we receive specific grants tied to a blockchain, we could consider creating a dedicated token — but it would not be our default strategy.
- Protecting our early supporters. The people who believed in Sky Protocol from the beginning — our token holders, future validators, and node operators — must not be penalized by the emergence of a “competing” second token. If we were ever to create another token, we would need a strong economic design to reward and preserve the value of original SKY holders, ensuring there’s no absurd competition between tokens. That is a complex and delicate challenge, and one that makes issuing additional tokens neither efficient nor desirable for us or the community.
In short: our strategy is to avoid duplicating tokens and instead rely on bridges, unless there’s a compelling and well-funded reason to consider otherwise.
Are there node operators on Sky Protocol?
Yes. Between the launch of the testnet and shortly after mainnet release, Sky Protocol will run with a set of node operators.
Here’s how it works:
- In the early phase, before there are enough users to secure the network against corruption, the system will operate under a Proof-of-Authority (PoA) model.
- Node operators are carefully selected: first a few dozen, then a few hundred, and later a few thousand individuals who have been vetted and onboarded from our waitlist.
- These operators ensure the stability and functionality of the network during its formative stage.
As adoption grows, Sky Protocol will transition to Proof-of-Stake (PoS). When that happens, the early node operators who contributed their time and resources under PoA will be fairly compensated and rewarded, ensuring their support is recognized and the transition is equitable.
In other words: node operators are essential to the launch phase, and their role will evolve naturally as the network matures from PoA to PoS.
What are the main use cases unlocked by Sky Protocol?
Sky Protocol enables blockchain applications that were previously impossible because of throughput and cost limitations. Key examples include:
- Payments & micropayments: handle millions of transactions per second at a fraction of current fees, making blockchain competitive with Visa or Mastercard.
- DePIN (Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks): support data-heavy IoT, sensor grids, and decentralized storage systems without congestion.
- High-frequency trading & DeFi: enable real-time order books and arbitrage strategies that require ultra-low latency.
- Gaming & metaverse: support in-game economies, NFTs, and real-time interactions with millions of users simultaneously.
- Enterprise blockchain apps: supply chain, compliance, and large-scale B2B integrations where gigabytes of data must be processed efficiently.
In short, Sky Protocol unlocks Web3 at Web2 scale.
How does Sky Protocol ensure data integrity and security?
Data integrity is at the core of Sky Protocol’s design. The system guarantees that all published data remains permanently accessible and tamper-proof through:
- Sharding: transaction data is split across multiple committees for parallel processing.
- Redundancy: data is replicated across the network so it cannot be lost or hidden.
- Cryptographic commitments: proofs ensure that data has been published and can always be retrieved, even if some nodes fail or act maliciously.
This architecture makes Sky Protocol both highly scalable and trustworthy by design.
How do developers get started?
Getting started with Sky Protocol is fast and simple:
- Documentation & code: everything is open source and available on our GitHub.
- Tutorials & demos: our YouTube channel features videos showing how to launch your first tests in under 20 minutes.
- Community support: developers can join our Discord and Telegram for guidance.
- Incentives: early adopters and contributors may be eligible for dev rewards, grants, and future validator roles.
For any developer already building dApps, integration with Sky Protocol is designed to feel natural and lightweight.