3air adopts Ethereum-based SKALE, abandons Cardano network

After reporting a severe talent shortage for Haskell developers, 3air, the Africa-focused blockchain internet company, has announced that it has adopted SKALE, an Ethereum-powered network, by abandoning the Cardano blockchain.

According to 3air CEO Sandi Bitenc, 3air’s developers will start working on their development goals immediately after switching to SKALE. He also cited SKALE’s zero gas fees, quick transactions, and multichain capabilities as reasons for the protocol’s adoption, particularly in the context of dApps.

3air joins: SKALE network! We’re proud to announce that 3air is moving to @SkaleNetwork 🚀

Read all about it here 👉 https://t.co/gV4lQwO2Mv#skalenetwork #cryptonews #announcement #3air https://t.co/gV4lQwO2Mv

— 3air-Limitless Connectivity. Unlimited potential. (@3aircrypto) February 8, 2022

The reason behind adopting Ethereum-based protocol

According to 3air CEO Sandi Bitenc, the competence for Haskell, Cardano’s core programming language, looks to be in limited supply. After months of intensively recruiting experienced Haskell programmers to work on Cardano, 3air was only able to hire two temporary entry-level developers, according to Bitenc. Despite reaching out to Cardano’s recommended development agencies, 3air was unable to find the talent it was looking for.

Cardano, which is known for having one of the largest communities in the crypto world, is facing slow development, allowing other competitors in the smart contract space to get adopted.

Cardano has expanded its influence in regions like Africa, with its development arm, Input Output Hong Kong, collaborating with regional governments to boost educational outcomes. The network’s founder Charles Hoskinson recently talked about DeFi and its future and said that 2022 would be a “major year” for DeFi and Cardano. 

Other smart contract platforms have taken a more iterative approach for developing, testing, and launching their projects, while Cardano’s developers prioritize an academic development model, including the peer review process.

Cardano’s use of Haskell, a highly academic programming language, has also been blamed for making the development process slower and more complicated. In November 2017, one such critique claimed that very few programmers were learning Haskell at the time.

After raising $26.75 million in funding over the previous two years, SKALE launched the first phase of its mainnet in June 2020. The Ethereum-based network has started focusing on Web3, NFTs, and dApps, claiming to be truly decentralized.