Polkadot is a cryptocurrency that also acts as a blockchain platform. The denomination code of Polkadot is DOT.
Polkadot has live native nomination pools. Anyone can participate in staking on Polkadot with as little as 1 DOT. The platform has a new Staking dashboard to enable this.
The subunits are 100 Planck is Planck,104 Planck is Microdot (uDOT), 107 Planck is Millidot (mDOT), 1010 Planck is Dot (DOT), and 1016 Planck is Million (MDOT).
Polkadot: Author And Founders
The original author of the currency is Gavin Wood.The cryptocurrency was created by three people, Gavin Wood, Robert Habermeier, and Peter Czaban.
Gavin Wood is an English computer scientist who is also the co-founder of Ethereum, a decentralized open-source blockchain.
The protocol was initially released on May 26, 2020. Wood released the white paper on the protocol back in 2016.
Although the initial offering of the coin was earlier in the October of 2017 in which more than 144.3 million US Dollars were raised. Additional to this another 43 million US XDolars were raised in 2019 in a different private sale.
Gavin Wood is also credited as the coiner of the term Web3. He coined the term in 2014. WEb 3 means the decentralized online ecosystem based on blockchain. In 2017 the Web3 foundation was launched.
Polkadot: Network
Initially, Polkadot had another block by the name of the genesis block which was released in May 2020.
The platform of Polkadot has its own native token by the name DOT. The DOT tokens were released along with the launch of the initial genesis block.
Inside it, Polkadot has numerous parallel chains created by the users and a primary blockchain. The primary blockchain is known as the Relay Chain and the parallel chains are known as Parachains.
- Relay Chain, the primary blockchain
This chain functions as the governance layer of the network and could solely be run on the key features.
The features are:
- To achieve consensus
- To validate data
- To ensure the execution of transactions
The network is capable of processing more than 1,000 transactions per second (TPS).
- Parachains, the parallel chains by users
The parachains enable the independent projects inside the polkadot infrastructure to develop and run their own blockchains. This is made possible by making the parachains available for auction.
Polkadot: Bridges
There are numerous bridges inside the Polkadot network. These bridges sanction the data transfer by connecting and interconnecting the blockchains.
Bridges also act to provide interoperability for the Polakdot with other networks such as Cardano and Bitcoin. Bridges serve the Relay chain to Polkadot.
Polkadot: Parathreads
Parathreads serve the parachains in a similar way bridges serve the relay chains.
The functioning model followed by parathreads is known as pay as you go model. This model does not require continuous connectivity to the Polkadot network.
Polkadot’s Native Token: The DOT Token
DOT token is the independently developed native token of the cryptocurrency.
DOT Token serves two purposes.
- Used for staking
- Used for governance.
DOT Token In Staking
In staking the token is used to ensure the security of the network. It is similar to other proof of stake networks ensuring security by incentivizing network participants to function transparently.
Here DOT is held as collateral for good behavior, such as in terms of a Sybil attack. A Sybil attack is a kind of attack in which the security of the computer network service is challenged.
The attack would result in the ruining of the reputation of the network as it would result in the appearance of multiple identities. The users who stake DOT Tokens get rewards.
DOT Token in Governance
In governance, the token is used for voting purposes. The users of DOT Token have the option to vote based on the weighted stake.
Polkadot: Algorithm
The network of Polkadot has implemented a proof of stake consensus algorithm.
Blind Assignment for Blockchain Extension, aka, BABE is the protocol used. BABE is derived from Ouroboros, a family of proof of stake consensus protocols. The same is used also in the Cardano blockchain. BABE was created by Aggelos Kiayias, a cryptographer and computer scientist from Greece.
Polkadot: Consensus
The Polkadot proof of stake consensus consists of three different forms of stakeholders.
The 3 forms of stakeholders are Collators, Nominators, and Validators.
- Collators.
Collators are the kind of stakeholders that keeps valid records of the transactions in the para chain. It also sends the records to the validators, another stakeholder that functions in Relay Chain.
- Nominators.
Nominators are the kind of stakeholders that acts to secure the Relay Chains. It also determines whether to trust or not a validator, the Relay Chain validator.
- Validators.
Validators are the kind of stakeholders that are used for staking the DOT tokens. It is called a validator because its primary function is to validate proofs from the collator stakeholder and also to ensure participation in consensus.
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Polkadot: Key Features
- Economic Scalability.
Economic scalability is provided by the presence of a common set of validator stakeholders that secure multiple blockchains simultaneously.
- Transactional Scalability.
Transactional scalability is provided by spreading the transactions over more than one parallel blockchain.
- Easy Blockchain Innovation.
Polkadot has a Substrate framework by which a custom blockchain can be created that would take a few minutes. The created chain can be connected to Polkadot to avail security and interoperability. The framework plays a vital role in helping Polkadot to grow.
- High Energy Efficiency
Polkadot has the next-generation nominated proof of stake (NPoS) model. This causes the platform to consume a small fraction of the energy in comparison to other conventional blockchains.
In the proof of stake protocols, Polkadot produces the lowest carbon footprint. The energy consumption is equivalent to that of approximately 6.6 households’ worth of energy every year.
- True Interoperability
Polkadot enables cross-blockchain transfers of any type of token. In addition to this, it also enables cross-blockchain transfers of any kind of asset or data.
- High-Security
Polkadot allows the chains to interact with each other. This is powered by its data availability and validity scheme. The chains have independent governance and united security.
- User-Driven Governance
The network updates of Polkadot are enacted in an autonomous mode and are coordinated on the chain.
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