The development cycle of Polkadot (DOT) was like a long and exciting fireworks display. Although full of danger, once it started it grew so large and ambitious that no one could take their eyes off it.
Developing a “multi-chain” network that can bring multiple blockchains under one roof is not easy. As a result, Polkadot went through quite a few iterations before landing on the platform many people know today.
Today I’d like to chronicle the history of Polkadot and the different stages it has gone through, including some of the biggest moments in its history, as well as the philosophy that has driven its development.
What is Polkadot (DOT)?
Polkadot was born in 2016 after Gavin Wood, co-founder of Ethereum (ETH), felt he wanted to work on a new project focused on one thing above all else: interoperability. He and many of his colleagues at Parity Technologies and the Web3 Foundation wanted to create a platform where individual blockchains could interact using proprietary blockchain technology.
Think of it this way. The Polkadot platform itself can be viewed as a t-shirt, in which case it is called the Polkadot relay chain because it is the main hub of the entire network. The blockchain added to the shirt is like its own polka dot in that it operates individually, but is registered in a relay chain, making it all interconnected.
Blockchain communication is allowed using parachain blocks or parallel chains that exchange information using bridges. Let’s take a closer look at why this level of interoperability makes Polkadot so attractive to many developers.
What makes Polkadot special?
For example, being able to break down the barriers established between blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum provides a level of interoperability that has never really been seen before, especially at this level of success. The existence of parachains means that developers can leverage the best features and systems of multiple blocks to create their own projects.
You will see how this is ushering in a new wave of decentralization. This is because users can break away from the limitations of individual blockchains and use parachains to share and exchange data between each blockchain.
Polkadot History: Timeline of Key Events
After looking at how Polkadot works and why it’s considered so ambitious, it’s time to look back at some of the platform’s biggest milestones and understand how Polkadot came to be after a slow and gradual development cycle.
first
While working on Ethereum in 2014, Gavin Wood first began proposing the idea of web3.0, a free, decentralized web environment free from the monopolies of digital companies and industries.
Wood left the Ethereum Foundation in 2016 before founding Ethcore, a non-profit company initially dedicated to using the Ethereum network to create new software through blockchain technology.
But in 2017, Wood finally seemed to have given up on Ethereum becoming the leader in web3.0. He and Ethcore began rebranding themselves as Parity Technologies to set the blueprint for Polkadot. Several of Gavin’s fellow Ethereum peers will follow his new venture, including Robert Habermeier, who served as a core developer on the network from 2016 to 2018.
Thanks to the generous support of the Web3 Foundation and co-founder Peter Czaban, Polkadot is off to a promising start, earning a budget of over $140 million from initial token sales alone. When the Polkadot whitepaper was released in 2016, it was mentioned that the platform had a “heterogeneous multi-chain infrastructure,” but this meant little considering there was little to prove it at the moment.
A turbulent testing period
In 2018, Polkadot’s internal systems and mechanisms, including its new substrate framework, finally began to emerge. While on stage at the Web3 Summit, Gavin Wood was able to create a new custom blockchain in less than 30 minutes, proving to the audience that despite its complex ecosystem, the platform will still be easy to use.
After further discussions on proof-of-stake security measures and initial relay chain testing at EDCON 2018, the team will begin polishing network features in conjunction with the launch of Kusama in August 2019.
Kusama is a canary network designed to test staking and governance systems to see if changes are needed for the advent of a live network. The first proof-of-stake phase launched with just 20 validators and was missing several key features, including balance transfers being completely disabled.
Overall, Kusama’s launch proved successful, but during an upgrade in January 2020, an incident occurred where the Polkadot mainnet runtime was uploaded to Kusama. The issue was eventually resolved by rolling back chain history a few days later, but it proved that while Polkadot has made great strides, it is still in its infancy stages and has a long way to go before it is fully reliable.
Embrace decentralization
When Polkadot’s first mainnet launched on May 26, 2020, it was a proof-of-stake network where validators who would confirm transactions and create new blocks were chosen based on merit by the foundation. Initially, Polkadot’s governance was centralized under the Web3 Foundation’s superuser, who ensured that everything ran smoothly.
However, by June 2020, Polkadot now has a sufficient number of validators and the functioning of the blockchain network appears sufficiently stable that the platform can now demonstrate its true decentralized capabilities.
In the same month, Web3 Super Users launched its first validator election, marking the platform’s official transition from Proof-of-Stake to a designated Proof-of-Stake model. This means that regular DOT holders can claim validator slots, and while this system will only get better, it was a genius way to encourage staking while also giving more power to the community.
This also marks a formal transition from the typical proof-of-stake model to the laissez-faire proof-of-stake (NPoS) system, which is still active and active today.
Arrival of DOT
DOT, Polkadot’s native token, will not begin circulating and trading until August 2020. Initially, use cases were limited, but this was because Polkadot was still improving its parachain system and only started publishing five live systems. First of all, before opening the floodgates for others to join in.
However, in November 2021, Polkadot successfully held its first parachain auction, creating a system that would become the core of the entire framework. During the week-long auction, DOT holders will have the opportunity to secure their own parachain slot in the larger Polkadot network by staking their tokens and receiving crowdloan support from other holders.
Despite Gavin Wood stepping down as CEO in 2022, Polkadot itself will still have a great year, proving that it remains committed to carrying out his vision of one decentralized platform to rule them all.
For example, the first pool of candidates was released on November 1, 2022. During the week-long auction, DOT token holders can stake their funds to nominate someone from the community to become a validator. As long as validators are dedicated to their work, these nominees may even be rewarded themselves.
The advent of XCM messaging has also helped speed up blockchain interaction, while OpenGov has given DOT holders more control over how the platform runs.
The OpenGov implementation eventually became the official governance system of the Polkadot mainnet, outpacing the technical committee and council by mid-2023. This symbolizes how far Polkadot has achieved its ambitions. From what was once a super user-controlled object, it has now become a completely community-driven project of its own.
current day
All these advancements in security, interoperability, and functionality have made Polkadot a popular platform for investors and developers alike. As of December 2023, approximately 2,000 developers have actively contributed to the stability of the platform, which not only shows its popularity but also means that this hot demand will keep it going.
Polkadot has also long been one of the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, with a circulating supply of 1 million tokens, growing at 10% per year.
Still, the DOT itself has been a bit of a mixed bag in terms of the market, considering how volatile it has been. But the fact that it can be used in so many different ways within the network itself, through staking, auctions, nomination validation, etc., makes it still a viable resource.
Kusama is now fully functional with no user-restricted features, and the OpenGov implementation has been taken a step further with the introduction of the Polkassemblies community chat room.
Looking Ahead: The Future of Polkadot
Polkadot’s future is hopeful but unpredictable. Unlike Chainlink, for example, which can grow naturally from the inside out, Polkadot is community-driven and decentralized, relying entirely on demand to remain viable.
Of course, seeing how big it is in modern times, it is likely that Polkadot will still remain relevant and have high DOT trading volumes, but it is impossible to predict exactly how long this will last.
The good news is that there are numerous projects proposed that could make Polkadot much more flexible in the future. The biggest example is Polkadot 2.0, proposed by Gavin Wood in June 2023 as a way to completely overhaul parachain auctions. Once this new update goes live, long-term parachain leases will be replaced with timed schedules sold to developers on a monthly basis.
Other ambitious projects currently in the pipeline include asynchronous support, which aims to expand available block space, and elastic scaling, which will allow parachains to occupy multiple cores to improve scalability.
Polkadot has a bright future as long as people continue to see it as the standard for multi-chain transactions and interoperability.
On the flipside
Polkadot is already facing stiff competition from other innovative platforms such as Cosmos and Avalanche. While the latter likewise negates scalability issues through sub-network integration, the former aims to create blockchain networks that can freely interact with each other.
Why This Matters
Learning about Polkadot’s gradual history and development is important because it can highlight the best way to drive decentralization for a particular platform. Polkadot has taken some brave steps to introduce systems like Kusama and Substrate, along with interactions like parachain auctions and a nominated proof-of-stake system.
But looking at how it was done and why it succeeded proves that even a project this ambitious can be successful with enough time, patience, and dedication.
Frequently Asked Questions
DOT is available on numerous cryptocurrency exchanges, including but not limited to Uphold, Paybis, and Kraken. You can also purchase cryptocurrency through ATMS or P2P networks with local merchants.
The Polkadot network is infinitely scalable, allowing it to register over 1,000 transactions per second. In comparison, (BTC) Bitcoin has about 7 and (ETH) Ethereum has only 12 to 15.
The Polkadot price reached $54.98 USD on November 4, 2021, just a few days before parachain auctions became available and a few days after DOT became tradable.