Proposal: Driving SKL Demand Through In-App Purchases – Incentives for dApps Integrating Token Utility

Governance
1

Hi Skale community—
I’m @chayarottenchik, a longtime Skl holder and governance participant. I’ve been researching how other ecosystems are building real token demand, and I believe Skale has a powerful, underutilized lever: in-app monetization.

Many dApps on other chains rely on fiat or stablecoins for purchases and upgrades, bypassing their native tokens entirely. But what if we incentivized developers to use Skl for these transactions?

This proposal introduces a simple, opt-in structure that rewards dApps for adopting Skl as their in-app currency—whether for game items, storage, NFTs, or premium features. It’s a way to create real token utility without adding sell pressure or taxing the community.

Feedback welcome from builders, validators, token holders, and core contributors. Let’s make Skl something people use, not just stake.

Full proposal below:

Proposal: Incentivized Ecosystem Utility

Title

Driving Skl Demand Through In-App Token Usage

Preamble:
As part of a broader vision to strengthen Skale’s token economy, I’ve been researching how other chains and dApp ecosystems handle in-app monetization.

Today, the majority of Web3 dApps use fiat or stablecoins like USDC for purchases—especially for things like NFT upgrades, game items, or premium content. This is efficient, but it completely bypasses the native token.

Chains like Ethereum and Solana have found ways to route some in-app flows through their native tokens, creating real utility. But Skale hasn’t encouraged this—yet.

This proposal introduces a simple but powerful incentive structure that rewards builders who adopt Skl as the medium of exchange for their in-app ecosystems. It’s a step toward making Skl a real utility token, not just an infrastructure asset.

Posted by: @chayarottenchik

Summary

This proposal introduces an incentive model for Skale-based dApps that adopt Skl as the medium of exchange for in-app purchases, premium features, storage, NFT upgrades, or other monetized functionality. dApps that integrate Skl utility at the application layer will qualify for tiered discounts on their Skale Chain subscription fees. This framework promotes real token utility, aligns application growth with network value, and engages developers as stakeholders in Skale’s token economy.

Motivation

To date, Skl’s utility has been primarily limited to infrastructure operations—staking, validation, and chain subscriptions. However, as dApps grow on Skale, many introduce their own internal monetization (game items, storage unlocks, NFT minting, etc.) that may rely on stablecoins or third-party tokens. This disconnect misses an opportunity to make Skl the center of Skale’s application economy.

This proposal recognizes and rewards dApps that go a step further—those who voluntarily adopt Skl as a functional, user-facing token—by reducing their infrastructure costs.

Proposal

Implement a tiered discount system for Skale Chain subscription fees based on the degree of Skl utility within a dApp’s monetization model:

  • Tier 1 Discount (15%)

    • At least 50% of in-app purchase flows or monetization events are conducted in Skl

  • Tier 2 Discount (25%)

    • All monetization flows (100%) use Skl exclusively

Verification can occur via a lightweight tracking tool (e.g., smart contract logs or developer-submitted dashboards reviewed by Skale Labs or a community committee).

Optionally, a percentage of Skl used in these in-app flows can be:

  • Burned to reduce total supply
  • Redistributed to validators/delegators as part of a reward rebate program

Benefits

  • Creates true demand for Skl beyond infrastructure
  • Aligns dApp success with network value
  • Encourages user familiarity with Skl as a usable currency
  • Provides tangible incentives for developers to integrate Skl at the app level
  • Positions Skale as a network with real token utility—not just throughput

Community Input

This proposal welcomes input from dApp developers, validators, core team members, and token holders. Specifics around discount thresholds, verification methods, and rebate/burn mechanics are open to collaborative refinement.

Let’s make Skl more than a staking token—let’s make it the heartbeat of the Skale application economy.

2 Likes
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I love this idea. Thanks for contributing, Chaya.

I think this will require some coordination, but it is very achievable. It would be very difficult to manage this fully onchain with the onchain paymaster because integration of the data feed of SKL usage in dApp into the smart contract for pricing would be tough based on my understanding of the solidity code. However, I see a few ways we can implement it with some offchain coordination.

I’d love to hear thoughts from more of the devs in the chat. We can then start floating this idea by more of the games/dapps and see if we can get some early buy in. If so, let’s build the system and launch it.

Good stuff!!!

2 Likes
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Hey @ChayaRottenchik,

Fantastic proposal!
I really like the idea of increasing the utilization of SKL further within the SKALE ecosystem.

Some Technical Thoughts on the Tracking

  1. Determining the amount of in-app purchase flows/monetization of tokens can be pretty difficult. Why? Moving tokens in and out of smart contracts is very easy, which is why the volume metric is so easily manipulated on most chains. So, we just need to determine who will be in charge of validating this information (see Governance Pieces below).
  2. Per #1, I think it would be worth exploring/talking about the burn mechanism further, where portions of payments can be sent to a SKALE Chain. dApps could forward a portion of their SKL tokens to this chain, which could then be locked in that contract. Burning a portion of your revenue in exchange for a discount might be less attractive to apps, but it could serve as proof of the revenue itself. However, it would be good to get other dApp thoughts on this.
  3. If #2 doesn’t make sense because dApps don’t want to burn any of their revenue, the proposed discounts could make sense. However, these would likely need to be evaluated by multiple third parties to ensure the system isn’t gamed. Why? If it’s easy to manipulate, it could cause harm if revenue drops due to inaccurate metrics.
  4. @jackoholleran is correct—tracking this directly on-chain would be very tricky due to the EVM design. I’ll brainstorm some ideas on ways to track and prove this.

Proposed Implementation Notes (First Thoughts)
These are just initial thoughts and subject to change, but I think this is how I imagine the flow would work:

  • To actually implement this functionality, I propose a new feature called Coupons or Discounts.
  • This feature would allow for discounts to be given for a specific sChain.
  • A multisig wallet would be allowed to create the coupons.
  • When issued, the coupon would reduce the payable requirement by a given amount in the paymaster, essentially forgiving “debt owed” or “adding prepaid months” without requiring tokens to be issued.

Governance Pieces

  • We would need to discuss further who would be in charge of validating the data (since this impacts validators/delegators/SKL holders) due to decreased revenue and the time commitment from involved parties (see second bullet below).

Other Thoughts

  • Does it make sense to explore “simpler” forms of SKL demand and discounts? For example, lock > X# of SKL tokens in a DeFi protocol for Y period of time and earn a discount for your chain.
  • Does it make sense to explore creating a network-wide “dApp/infra” partner who could be in charge of SKL payment pipelines on sChains to handle tracking, reporting, and coupon recommendations?
  • Taking a portion of revenue and distributing it to validators/delegators could be interesting, BUT that is functionally what chain payments are already. I think if a portion of fees is taken from SKL usage directly, it would be worth thinking about whether a burn mechanism is interesting to SKL holders, or if there are other areas that could be used to help grow SKALE further.

Overall, I’m really excited to see more members of the SKALE Network community becoming involved and proposing great ideas. I’ll pop back in with any further thoughts, but I’m going to brainstorm how a mechanism like this could be tracked and integrated with the existing token and paymaster design.

Thanks so much, @ChayaRottenchik!

2 Likes
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Thanks, Jack, appreciate you taking the time to read and respond. I’m genuinely excited to build with this community and contribute ideas that strengthen Skale’s token utility and long-term value. Looking forward to more discussion and momentum from here.

3 Likes
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Thanks, Chaya. This is exactly the type of involvement and contribution we are looking for. Please keep submitting ideas and thoughts. This is the exact forum to do that. More smart people from different backgrounds working on SKALE means more good ideas and more opportunities for disruption. We need to make a big impact in economic value capture with the SKL token and network metrics ASAP and are actively trying to implement many things. Please keep contributing. Thanks!!

As an action item on this idea, I’ll be circulating this with the core team BD unit and we’ll start testing waters for this deployment. I think keeping it simple at the start will give us the best odds of success.

In addition to your idea, I’ve heard some other good ones. One includes utilizing SKL as a gas token on a few chains with an introduced burn. This would not be good for chains like Nebula but would be very good for business and payments focused chains. We also have some partners looking to launch their own app chains with this type of model. I’ll ask these people to ensure their ideas make it to the forum so more people can weigh in and opine.

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Thanks so much, Sawyer. This is super helpful and honestly more detailed than I expected. I won’t pretend I fully understand all the technical stuff, but your breakdown really helped me get a better grasp of the challenges and directions this could go.

The part about how easy it is to manipulate volume definitely stood out — that makes a lot of sense now. And I can see how the burn idea might not be too popular with apps, but it’s a creative way to think about proving revenue. I’d be curious what some active dApps think about that tradeoff.

The idea of locking SKL in DeFi for a discount also ties into something I’ve been exploring — different ways to help grow TVL and create more demand for the token. Between this and some of the other ideas already mentioned in the thread, it’s cool to see different angles converging around the same goal.

I also really like the point about keeping it simple at the start. That makes a lot of sense. Maybe some of these ideas could be phased in or layered — like starting with discounts based on certain behaviors, then expanding once there’s more clarity around what works.

Just thinking out loud. I’m learning a ton from this and appreciate being part of the discussion. Really excited to keep contributing where I can.

2 Likes