Polkadot Overview | 2024
Since Polkadot emerged in 2016, the network has consistently demonstrated its resilience and adaptability to market changes.
By focusing on scalability, security, and governance, Polkadot continues to set a benchmark for innovation in the blockchain space and remains one of the frontrunners in the field of decentralized finance.
Here are the main things you should know about this reputable and rapidly growing network in 2024 ↴
What is Polkadot?
Polkadot is the first Layer 0 (L0) blockchain that provides shared security and secure interoperability for L1 blockchains. To put it simply, Polkadot is a multichain of many application-specific blockchains, called parachains as their transactions are processed in parallel by Polkadot.
Today, Polkadot is a large and robust ecosystem comprising over 600 projects. As the team states, “there’s almost nothing you can’t do on Polkadot”.
Architecture
Relay chain: The main chain of Polkadot. The relay chain is composed of a small number of transaction types that include ways to interact with governance and participating in Polkadot’s consensus mechanism, Nominated Proof of Stake (NPoS). In fact, the main responsibility of the relay chain is to coordinate the entire system, which includes parachains.
Parachains: An independent application-specific blockchain linked to Polkadot. solution to two fundamental problems in blockchains: scalability and flexibility.
Bridges: Sets of specialized blockchains enabling cross-chain communication between technically diverse networks like Polkadot and Ethereum or Polkadot and Bitcoin.
What is $DOT?
DOT is the native token of the Polkadot network.
It has the following functions:
- To validate transactions
- To act as a governance token
- To be bonded to connect a parachain to Polkadot
- To pay ransaction fees
Polkadot 2.0: A new vision
Polkadot 2.0 was first announced by Gavin Wood in 2023 and is expected to be released in Q1 2025. It represents a significant upgrade to the Polkadot ecosystem, enhancing its capabilities for scalability and interoperability.
Building on the foundational principles of the original Polkadot network, this upgraded version introduces several key advancements that address current challenges —namely high entry barriers and resource inefficiencies:
Enhances the efficiency and throughput of parablocks. Reduces block time from twelve to six seconds, enabling parallel transaction validation and block production.
Enables scale and agility, making the process of building on Polkadot cost-effective for new developers.
Increases network throughput and handles higher transaction loads efficiently.
Wood has used the simple metaphor to explain the concept of Polkadot 2.0 and the effect the above-mentioned advancements will bring:
“At the moment we produce flour, milk, water, salt, and eggs. We have internal mechanism to produce each of these things. But rather than selling them, we just make pancakes with them. The only thing that we sell now is batches of a thousand pancakes. And it might be people do not want to buy a thousand of pancakes at once. So rather than doing that we are now starting to sell individual pancakes, pancake mix. and even individual four, eggs, and milk. By doing this we allow people to make things that are not just pancakes”, Devin Wood
These pancakes are parachains, and the pancake factory is Polkadot 1.0. Therefore, Polkadot 2.0 represents a significant shift from a chain-focused approach to an application-focused approach.
Learn more about Polkadot 2.0:
- An introduction to Asynchronous Backing: polkadot.com/newsroom/press-releases/asynchronous-backing-launched
- More about Agile Coretime: polkadot.com/agile-coretime
- Elastic Scaling: polkadot.com/blog/elastic-scaling-streamling-growth-on-polkadot
- Unlocking the Power of Polkadot with Gavin Wood & Raoul Pal: youtube.com/watch?v=9SAxnF2sys8&t=533s
