Blockchain Pills - Polkadot

In the last article, we briefly touched on the capabilities of cross-chain technology in connecting Layer 1 blockchains and the future steps for the Web 3.0 world. Now, we will delve deeper into the Polkadot blockchain.

When, who, what, why?

Gavin Wood played a pivotal role in the development of the Solidity language, upon which Ethereum’s smart contracts and those of other blockchains are based.In 2016, he left Ethereum to focus on other projects that he believed could fulfill promises he felt Ethereum could no longer guarantee.

Polkadot was born in 2017, with the publication of its White Paper in 2016, founded by Gavin Wood.

At its core, Polkadot is a proof-of-stake layer-0 blockchain that connects other blockchains. Polkadot’s goal is to optimize scalability,interoperability, and shared security for all its connected networks.

We can divide Polkadot into two main parts:

• Relay Chain: This is the main chain of Polkadot, responsible for coordinating communication between parachains and for providing security to the entire network.
• Parachains: These are the individual chains that are built on Polkadot. They connect to the relay chain and benefit from its security and interoperability features. Each parachain can have its own specialized functionality and governance model.

In this definition, we find all the defining aspects of Polkadot. In other words, Polkadot creates a solar system where all planets (blockchains) benefit from the energy (security) of the sun (Polkadot’s relay chain).

Security

To address security for all the chains developed on it, Polkadot provides a framework to secure all operations. Instead of depending on different layer 1 chains, each with their own token and market cap, Polkadot allows chains to leverage its security.

In practice, if Polkadot sits at a $10 billion market cap, then each new layer-1 blockchain deployed on Polkadot is economically secured by this same $10 billion. Additionally, the chain gains network security from Polkadot’s large set of validators. This marks a groundbreaking achievement in blockchain technology, never seen before.

Interoperability

A large part of Polkadot’s design revolves around ensuring interoperability between heterogeneous layer-1 blockchains. We’ll delve deeper into this topic in a later article on Parachains.

Scalability

Scalability is a crucial feature that could significantly shape the future of blockchain technology. Without networks in web 3 being able to handle a vast number of transactions, achieving mass adoption it’s just a nice dream. The development team of Polkadot has taken this challenge really seriously and has chosen “sharding” as a solution.

Sharding

Sharding enables networks to process different transactions simultaneously.

In a single-sharded blockchain like Ethereum, all transactions, regardless of their nature, are executed within the same shard.

However, in a multi-sharded network like Polkadot, transactions occur in parallel within their respective shards. Each shard represents a distinct blockchain, with specific functionalities. For instance, DeFi transactions are conducted on the DeFi shard, while NFT transactions are carried out on the NFT shard.

Polkadot allows each Layer 1 to customize its network according to its requirements.DApps focusing on digital identity will have a different design from those focusing on DeFi.

This customization enhances scalability by optimizing each network (parachain) for its specific use case and running different transactions concurrently.

Consider having 1000 nodes verifying transaction validity on your network. In a single-shard model, all 1000 nodes process the same transactions.

However, in a 4-shard model, the nodes are divided into four groups of 250 each, with each group processing different types of transactions.

This arrangement enables greater efficiency and scalability, as each group handles specific transaction types, maximizing the network’s potential.

And Kusama?

Kusama is an independent and fully functional relay chain, not merely a test network for Polkadot. I

t operates with its own governance, auction schedules, and community.

While both Kusama and Polkadot share functionalities, Kusama serves as a platform for faster implementation and experimentation due to its quicker governance system and smaller token supply.

The main distinction lies in speed of implementation and tokenomics.

Kusama’s tagline “Expect Chaos” reflects its wild and experimental nature.