Polkadot Price

Introduction to Polkadot

Polkadot is an open-source project run by the Swiss-based Web3 Foundation (W3F) that connects multiple specialized blockchains into one unified network. 

The protocol comprises a main Relay Chain that coordinates the network’s security and consensus and numerous user-created parallel chains, called “parachains,” with different features and use cases.

It also supports bridges that enable interoperability between blockchains by allowing data to be transferred across previously incompatible networks like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). 

Polkadot’s founder styled it as an upgraded iteration of Ethereum. It functions at a more fundamental level than conventional blockchains, and it’s often referred to as a layer-0 blockchain because it acts as a foundational layer for other crypto projects to grow upon.

What is Polkadot (DOT)?

Polkadot (DOT) is the native token of the Polkadot network. It has several uses on the network, including making payments, settling transactions, allowing holders to participate in network governance, and as a reward incentive.

DOT tokens are also locked up as part of the bonding process that allows new chains to connect to the Polkadot network. New projects looking to launch a parachain on Polkadot usually participate in a parachain auction where they bid for a slot using Polkadot tokens. Once approved, the winning bid’s tokens are locked up for up to two years.

Furthermore, to approve a new block on Polkadot, validators must put up a certain amount of Polkadot tokens as collateral.

DOT underwent a redenomination process on August 21, 2020, which altered its smallest unit of account, known as the “Planck.” Prior to the redenomination, one Polkadot token (DOT) was denominated to 12 decimal points, meaning one Planck was equal to 1×10⁻¹² of a DOT. After the redenomination, one Planck became equal to 1×10⁻¹⁰of a DOT, which is ten decimal points.

The token has no maximum supply and a yearly inflation factor of 10% built into it. This inflationary model incentivizes DOT holders to stake their tokens to avoid a drop in their value.    

Who are the founders of Polkadot?

Polkadot is the brainchild of Ethereum co-creators Gavin Wood, Peter Czaban, and Robert Habermeier. 

Wood is a former CTO and core developer of Ethereum, where he helped create Ethereum’s Solidity smart contract programming language. 

Czaban is W3F’s technical director, and he’s helming the development of the next generation of distributed technologies. 

On his part, Habermeier is a Thiel Fellow with a research and development background in blockchain, distributed systems, and cryptography.

A brief history of Polkadot

Polkadot has an interesting history, closely tied to Ethereum. As stated above, its founder, Gavin Wood, used to be a big shot at Ethereum, serving as the CTO and core developer. But in 2016, Wood decided to venture into building a more sharded blockchain, and that’s when he released the whitepaper for Polkadot.

Before fully diving into Polkadot, Wood co-founded the EthCore Blockchain Technology Company while still at Ethereum. This company later transformed into Parity Technologies and became essential in developing crucial blockchain infrastructure tech, like the Substrate development framework and the Polkadot network itself.

To support the research and development of Polkadot and oversee its fundraising efforts, Wood also co-founded W3F, a non-profit organization established in 2017.

But while still in its infancy, the foundation faced a significant setback when a hacker exploited a vulnerability in Parity’s multi-sig wallet code. It resulted in the theft of 153K ETH, worth about $33 million then. It was a tough blow, but the team persevered.

In October 2017, the team hosted Polkadot’s initial coin offering (ICO), which was a massive success. In just under two weeks, they raised $145 million, making it one of the largest ICOs of its time.

However, their excitement was short-lived, as another hack hit Parity soon after the token sale. This time, the ICO smart contracts were hacked, and $150 million of the funds raised were frozen. It was a devastating event that unavoidably slowed down Polkadot’s early development.

But the team didn’t give up. Through a private sale, W3F raised enough funds to keep its development goals on track, and by 2019, they had overcome the hurdles and were back in business, pushing Polkadot forward.

Polkadot launched its mainnet in May 2020. In January 2021, a major update called Polkadot Runtime Environment (PRE) saw the first parachain added to the network. Later in the same month, Polkadot rolled out another update. It added features like XCMP (Cross Chain Message Passing) and GRANDPA (GHOST-based Recursive Ancestor Deriving Prefix Agreement), granting new capabilities and tools to its users. 

Then, in April 2021, Polkadot’s native token, DOT, was featured on major exchanges. The Polkadot network has been consistently growing and advancing ever since, providing a distinctive, decentralized approach to the crypto world.

What is Polkadot used for?

Primarily, Polkadot aims to act as the solution to the ongoing issue of blockchain interoperability: the capacity for diverse blockchains to communicate and exchange data fluidly. 

Picture it as a scalable, trustworthy bridge that intertwines separate blockchains into a cohesive network. Consequently, this allows for the secure and efficient swapping of data and assets, bolstering the efficacy and dynamism of the blockchain landscape.

What makes Polkadot unique?

Polkadot’s uniqueness lies in its sharded multichain architecture that allows multiple blockchains to operate and interconnect simultaneously.

Some of its distinctive features include the following:

• Interoperability: Individual blockchains work independently, but Polkadot is like a bridge that connects them together, allowing them to talk to each other, share information, and exchange assets.
• Scalability: Pokadot uses a smart sharding technique like a highway with multiple lanes. It allows the network to speed up transactions and handle more data.
• Shared security: Polkadot says it has a unique security system where rather than each chain on the network having its own security, they all get help from the central Relay Chain, a feature not commonly found in similar networks. It’s like having a strong guard who looks after all the connected blockchains, making the whole system safer and more robust.
• Governance: Polkadot’s governance model allows everyone to have a say. As long as they hold DOT tokens, anyone can participate in decision-making, including voting on changes and upgrades to the system.
• Upgradeable: The network is designed to upgrade without forking, meaning it can evolve over time, adding new features and improvements with minimal disruptions and little fear of fragmentation.  

How many Polkadot (DOT) tokens are there in circulation?

As of April 20, 2024, there are $1,354,518,064 DOT tokens in circulation. However, this number is liable to change as Polkadot has an inflationary mechanism that increases the number of tokens in circulation by 10% annually.

How Is the Polkadot network secured?

According to the project, Polkadot is secured through an intricate, multi-tiered system. The first security layer is a variation of the proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism called nominated proof-of-stake (NPoS). It’s like a voting system where DOT holders can stake their tokens to nominate trustworthy validators to create new blocks and secure the network. Validators are like the guardians of the network who authenticate transactions and ensure everything is running smoothly. 

To keep the validators honest, Polkadot uses a mechanism called “slashing,” a process where a portion or all of a validator’s stake is destroyed if they are found to be acting maliciously. This punishment system motivates validators to play by the rules and maintain the network’s integrity.

The next security layer is the Relay Chain. It acts as the network’s security hub, protecting all the connected parachains and ensuring the collective strength of the entire network guards against potential threats.

Polkadot also leverages its dedicated community of developers and researchers to look out for potential bugs and vulnerabilities on the network. This constant vigilance helps ensure security remains solid and up-to-date.

How Polkadot works

As previously mentioned, Polkadot comprises two types of chains: Relay Chain and parachains. The Relay Chain is Polkadot’s primary chain, and it manages the network’s overall security, consensus, and cross-chain interoperability. 

On the other hand, parachains are custom blockchains that function independently, with their own tokens, governance systems, products, and use cases. However, they leverage the Relay Chain’s computing power to confirm transactions. 

They also use XCMP to communicate with each other and the Relay Chain. The system allows all data and assets to be transferred across chains and is the cornerstone of Polkadot’s interoperability.

Polkadot has around 100 slots for parachains, which are leased out to projects through a competitive bidding system that utilizes the DOT token. A few parachains may also be allocated to projects through a vote. Such parachains are regarded as “common good” assets for the network.

The network also features components known as parathreads. They are similar to parachains but have more flexible connectivity built on a pay-as-you-go model, allowing blockchains to connect to Polkadot only when needed.

How Polkadot enables on-chain governance

Polkadot operates under a variant of the PoS governance model, known as NPoS, which includes several consensus roles: nominators, validators, collators, and fishermen.

Nominators contribute to the security of the Relay Chain by selecting reliable validators. On the other hand, validators secure the Relay Chain by staking DOT and participating in consensus with each other.

Collators help maintain parachains by gathering user transaction data and generating proofs for validators. Finally, Fishermen monitor the network and report any misconduct by validators.

Two other groups also play pivotal roles in Polkadot’s community governance: council members and the technical committee.

According to the Polkadot whitepaper, council members are elected to representative stakeholders who are not active. They can make new proposals that will be put to a vote and have the power to veto costly or potentially harmful upgrade proposals.

The technical committee, on the other hand, is made up of active Polkadot team members. They can propose emergency voting to allow the implementation of crucial network upgrades. 

What are the benefits of Polkadot’s cross-chain interoperability?

Polkadot’s cross-chain interoperability brings several benefits:

• Scalability and efficiency: By allowing parallel transaction processing across multiple chains, Polkadot can alleviate congestion on the network.
• Seamless asset transfer: Polkadot’s cross-chain interoperability means any data or asset can be transferred across different blockchains, allowing a broader and more diverse range of applications to function effectively.
• Enhanced collaboration: It also fosters innovation by allowing cooperation between different blockchain projects. Developers on other networks can interact, share data, and cooperate to create new dApps and services on specialized blockchains that interact with more extensive networks.
• Enhanced security: Polkadot’s interconnected system can improve its overall network security by pooling the security of all chains in the network together. This way, smaller chains are protected from potential attacks, fostering participant trust.

Polkadot price analysis and market data

DOT price overview

The Polkadot price currently stands at $6.76. Additionally, the Polkadot market cap is now at $9,169,052,232, making it one of the more prominent players in the crypto market.

The 24-hour trading volume for Polkadot has reached $236,288,453, indicating the level of active trading and investor interest in the token.

The Polkadot’s all-time high price was recorded at $54.98 on November 4, 2021. Since then, DOT price has undergone various fluctuations and market cycles. Its all-time low price was reached at $2.70 on August 20, 2020.

Polkadot (DOT) price history

Currently, DOT is the 17 largest crypto in the world, with a market capitalization of $9,169,052,232.

Every coin and token in the crypto space experiences volatility, and Polkadot’s DOT token is no exception. In October 2017, Polkadot held its first initial coin offering (ICO), offering 2.24 million tokens at a price of $0.29 each. In the second ICO, which took place in July 2020, 342,080 DOT tokens were sold at a price of $1.25.

2020

Late August 2020 saw the token at $2.875 but took an unexpected spike and ended the month at $6.3.

Starting in September at a value of $6.28, after a little turbulence, the value fell to $4.35. The next month, starting at $4.34, the last day of October saw DOT’s price at $4.18. By the end of November, the token’s price was $5.37.

DOT started December 2020 in the $5.09 price region, then it unexpectedly rose through the days, ending at $9.29 on the last day of the year 2020.

2021

January 2021 started at a price of $8.3 for DOT. However, by the end of the month, the price was over double this value, at $16.12. By the end of February, DOT was valued at $33.61. Not much changed through March, but April and May saw the value rise to $44.65 and $47.95, respectively, only to see a crash in price by the end of May to $23.43.

After a failed attempt to climb to the previously elevated height, the price fell lower to $11.43 in July of that year. This fall served as a springboard, and the price took a steady rise to $28.15 in August. In Q3 of 2021, the highest price of the token was $37.38, and this was hit in September.

After an erratic up and down movement through the month of October, the all-time high (ATH) of the token’s price was hit on November 4, 2021, at $53.88. This high was, however, short-lived as the value rode down to $37.96 by the month’s end.

By December 20, 2021, the price fell deeper to $24.05 but rose to end the year at $26.72.

2022

For the year 2022, DOT started at a value of $28.58 but got to a deep dip of $18.35 on January 25 and ended at $19.42.

In February, the value started at $19.61 but fell to $18.84 by the end of the month. After the starting price for the year, the highest value of the coin for this year was in March at $22.49 and April at $23.21.

Since April 2022, there has been a mostly sustained freefall, hitting $8.74 in May.

June 2022 has seen major fluctuations in the Polkadot (DOT) token price, ranging between $9 and $6. On July 7, the token had the highest price of $7.30 and the lowest at $6.85.

Rating based on institutional ratings

Polkadot has been increasingly turning heads within the institutional realm in recent years. Most recently, the Weiss Crypto Ratings firm placed Polkadot’s native DOT token within their top 10, assigning it a commendable “B-” rating. It was primarily due to the token’s robust technology and promising prospects for widespread adoption. 

Along the same lines, Crypto Rating, another pivotal player in the cryptocurrency circle, awarded Polkadot a solid mid-range score. It was a nod to Polkadot’s unique approach to blockchain interoperability, coupled with a robustly structured infrastructure.

Where can you buy Polkadot (DOT)?

Crypto exchanges offer the most accessible avenue for potential Polkadot investors to buy the token. Some of the more popular platforms include Binance, Kraken, and Coinbase. 

However, the availability of DOT may vary depending on one’s location and the specific regulations governing the sale and ownership of cryptocurrency.  

Polkadot’s impact on the decentralized ecosystem

Polkadot has significantly impacted the world of decentralized systems. Its interoperability features aim to eliminate the typical inefficiencies and isolated functioning of traditional blockchains. 

What’s more, Polkadot’s parachain architecture allows developers to craft specialized blockchains, tailoring unique features and functionalities that make each protocol stand out. 

Removing barriers to entry is another way Polkadot aims to reshape the ecosystem. New crypto projects can utilize the security of the entire network, negating the need to establish their own from scratch. It has sparked a wave of innovation, paving the way for creating fresh dApps and projects. 

With its NPoS consensus model, Polkadot has also improved governance in decentralized finance, encouraging a more secure and democratic system by rewarding community participation. 

Lastly, Polkadot intends to streamline cross-chain messaging and transactions, eliminating intermediaries and fostering a more interconnected decentralized ecosystem.

How to stake DOT tokens

If you’re looking to stake DOT tokens, it’s pretty straightforward. Your first task will be to get your hands on some DOT available on a host of well-known crypto exchanges. 

Once you’ve secured your DOT tokens, you’ll need a safe place to keep them: a Polkadot wallet. Many people opt for the official Polkadot.js wallet.

Within your wallet, head to the “Network,” then “Staking.” You’ll spot a “New stake” option. Next, you’ll need to select your “Controller” account, which will be your go-to for all things staking.

Now, you’ll choose validators to nominate. They are the lifeline of Polkadot’s ecosystem because they validate new blocks in the network. You nominate validators known for stellar performance and less likely to be slashed (that’s crypto speak for penalized).

Once you’ve done that, decide how many DOT tokens you want to stake and confirm your transaction. Remember that your staked DOT tokens aren’t going anywhere while they’re staked and can even be “slashed” if your chosen validators don’t play nice.

How can you buy Polkadot (DOT)?

Buying DOT coins involves the following steps:

• Choose a reputable crypto exchange platform.
• Create an account on your exchange of choice, which typically involves providing an email address for communication, creating a secure password, and going through a verification process to ensure your identity.
• Deposit funds (most exchanges allow deposits in popular fiat currencies like the U.S. dollar and the euro or in cryptocurrencies like BTC or ETH).
• Navigate to the marketplace on the exchange, search for DOT in the list of available cryptocurrencies, and select it.
• Enter the amount of DOT you wish to purchase.
• After entering the amount, click on Buy DOT.
• Confirm your purchase.
• Transfer your tokens to a secure wallet after purchase. Leaving them on an exchange exposes them to the risk of hacking. 
• Consider setting up additional security measures like multi-factor authentication or hardware wallets if you buy a large amount of DOT tokens. It will help keep your funds safe from malicious actors.
• Be aware of changes in the market, such as the launch of new projects, partnerships, product updates, or news that could affect the price of DOT. It will help you make informed decisions when buying or selling DOT tokens.

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