Skycoin began as an ambitious infrastructure project aimed at replacing the Proof-of-Work (PoW) and Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus algorithms that dominate current blockchain platforms. It has since evolved into a project focused on creating a decentralized mesh-Internet and a platform for other blockchain-based projects. Skycoin is developing an ecosystem with a variety of goals, including: the elimination of mining rewards, development of energy-efficient custom hardware, advancing security and privacy, and achieving transaction speeds that rival current digital payment systems. The ecosystem consists of the native SKY coin, Skywire (decentralized mesh-Internet), Skyminer (hardware and access point for Skywire), Skyledger (decentralized open blockchain network), and a suite of DApps. The consensus algorithm is called Obelisk. The network's nodes agree based on a Web-of-Trust consensus. The ability to influence transaction verification is distributed over the network creating a web of trust. To eliminate mining completely each node on the network connects to a list of nodes that it sees as trustworthy.

GINcoin is designed to be a masternode-facilitating blockchain and coin. It lowers the technical requirements to set up a masternode on any blockchain. GIN can also be used as a DApp development platform. GINcoin uses a Delayed Proof of Work consensus algorithm to verify transactions.