For five years, people called SKALE a Layer 1, then a Layer 2, then back to a Layer 1. The confusion made sense — SKALE doesn’t fit the mental model of what a blockchain “should be.” SKALE Expand is the answer to that confusion. SKALE was never just a chain. SKALE is an application capable of launching blockchains as a network. Expand surfaces that truth: deploy the full SKALE Manager onto any EVM chain, and instantly spin up gasless, private, instant-finality sChains that compose back to that ecosystem. SKALE on Base is the first Expand network. It won’t be the last.Documentation Index
Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.skale.space/llms.txt
Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
Why Expand
The problem Expand solves is simple: good infrastructure shouldn’t be bound to one ecosystem. You shouldn’t have to choose between EVM compatibility and zero gas fees. You shouldn’t have to pick between privacy and composability. You shouldn’t have to move your entire operation to a new ecosystem just to get better execution. Expand brings SKALE’s core primitives — zero-gas transactions, 1-2 second finality, threshold-encrypted privacy, dedicated chain resources — to any EVM ecosystem that wants them.SKALE on Base
The first Expand deployment. Gasless, private sChains on Base.
Deploy an sChain
Launch your own private SKALE Chain — dedicated resources, full EVM, zero compromises.
How It Works
Expand is straightforward: deploy SKALE Manager onto a target chain. That deployment controls an entirely separate pool of validator compute. From it, you spin up sChains — each one a fully independent Layer 1 blockchain with its own validators, its own finality, and its own privacy. Here’s what stays true across every deployment:| Property | Detail |
|---|---|
| SKL canonical | The one true SKL lives on Ethereum Mainnet. All Expand deployments bridge SKL — no new token minting. |
| Isolated compute | Each deployment has its own validator pool. sChains on Base don’t compete for resources with sChains on Ethereum. |
| Bespoke features | Each Expand deployment can ship features unique to that ecosystem. Base gets things Ethereum might not. |
| No resource contention | sChains created in one deployment have zero impact on another. Your chain’s performance is your chain’s performance. |
What an sChain Is (and Isn’t)
sChains are Layer 1 blockchains. They are not rollups. They do not push state back to a parent chain. They do not checkpoint. They do not inherit security from a Layer 1 — they have their own validator set, their own consensus, their own block production. Each sChain can be:- Application-specific — One app, one chain, dedicated resources
- Shared — A group of entities sharing a chain with access controls
- Fully permissionless — Open to anyone, like a public L1
What This Means
Expand changes the calculus for ecosystem growth. Instead of convincing projects to bridge to SKALE, SKALE comes to them. A game on Base can spin up a gasless sChain with private game state in minutes — without leaving Base. An enterprise deploying on Ethereum can add confidential computation without leaving Ethereum. A DeFi protocol can get dedicated throughput and MEV resistance without convincing its users to switch chains. SKALE is the infrastructure. The ecosystem chooses where to deploy it.Learn More
- SKALE on Base — First Expand deployment walkthrough
- sChain Architecture — Deep dive into sChain design
- Run a SKALE Chain — Deploy and manage your own chain
- Official Expand Blog Post