Polkadot Network Logo.jpg HERE

Author: Web3 Foundation Developer(s): Parity Technologies LTD. Website: https://polkadot.network

Polkadot is a proposed heterogeneous multi-chain interchange and translation architecture which enables customised side-chains to connect with public blockchains. Blockchains can exchange messages in a secure and trust-free manner with Polkadot.[1]

The protocol was created by the Ethereum co-founder Gavin Wood,[2] and raised $144.3 million in its Initial Coin Offering in October 2017.[3]

Polkadot is a project stewarded by the Web3 Foundation.[4][5]

1. Protocol
2. General description
3. History
4. Dr. Gavin James Wood
5. Initial Coin Offering (ICO)
6. Token (DOT)
7. Functions
8. Development
9. References
10. External links

The Polkadot protocol is intended to be a scalable heterogeneous multi-chain technology. Unlike previous blockchain implementations that have focused on providing a single chain of varying degrees of generality over potential applications, Polkadot will provide the bedrock relay-chain upon which a large number of validatable, globally-coherent dynamic data-structures may be hosted.

Polkadot may be considered equivalent to a set of independent chains (e.g. the set containing Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, Namecoin and Bitcoin) except for two very important points: pooled security and trust-free interchain transactability.

Polkadot is considered to be “scalable” in its design. In principle, a problem to be deployed on Polkadot may be substantially parallelised - scaled out - over a large number of parachains. Since all aspects of each parachain may be conducted in parallel by a different segment of the network, the system has some ability to scale.

Polkadot is intended to provide a bare-bones piece of infrastructure leaving much of the complexity to be addressed at the middleware level. [6]

Polkadot is built to connect private/consortium chains, public/permissionless networks, oracles and future technological developments yet to be created in the Web3 ecosystem. It enables an internet where independent blockchains can exchange information and trust-free transactions via the Polkadot relay chain, with the key tenets of scalability, governance and interoperability[7].

At a high level, Polkadot attempts to solve the following problems[8]:

Interoperability: Polkadot is designed to enable applications and smart contracts on one blockchain to seamlessly transact with data and assets on other chains[8]. Scalability: Polkadot gives the ability to run several parachains*, each processing multiple transactions in parallel, which allows networks to obtain infinite scalability[8]. Shared Security[8].

Pooled security infographic by Polkadot Network

Polkadot founder Gavin Wood

Gavin Wood is the co-founder and current director of Parity Technologies[9]. Previously, he was the Chief Technology Officer and is co-founder of the Ethereum Project, co-designer of the Ethereum Protocol, author of its formal specification, and created and wrote the first functional Ethereum implementation. He stewarded the Solidity language, was the project chief of the IDE, and designed and implemented the Whisper protocol. Gavin holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of York[10].

Dr. Wood released the Polkadot white paper[11] on November 14th, 2016. The protocol was later decided to be stewarded by the Web3 Foundation, founded on June 2017.

Polkadot launched its token sale on October 15th, 2017. The token sale format was a Second Price Dutch Auction. The ICO closed on October 27th, 2017 raising a total of 485,331 ETH (Ether, the currency of the Ethereum blockchain)[1].

The DOT token serves 3 distinct purposes: governance over the network, operation, and bonding[12].

Game theory incentivizes token holders to behave in honest ways. Good actors are rewarded by this mechanism whilst bad actors will lose their stake in the network. This ensures the network stays secure[14].

New parachains are added by bonding tokens. Outdated or non-useful parachains are removed by removing bonded tokens. This is a form of Proof of Stake[15].

The DOT is a native token, and DOTs will be released upon the launch of the Polkadot genesis block [16].

Web3 Foundation has commissioned Parity Technologies for the build of the Polkadot Protocol. The work is underway [17].

The Genesis block launch of Polkadot is anticipated to happen in Q3 2019[18]. Several high profile blockchain protocols have already expressed interest to build a Polkadot Parachain, such as Melonport[19].