Weekly News from Polkadot & Kusama #158
1. Gavin Wood unveils 2024 Polkadot roundup with future plans
Gavin Wood has released the 2024 Polkadot roundup, highlighting significant milestones and setting the stage for the ecosystem’s future. Polkadot’s focus in 2023/2024 shifted from fulfilling the vision of its white paper to optimizing its ecosystem and broadening its Web3 platform. The network is now pivoting toward delivering scalable, decentralized services to meet Web2 and Web3 needs.
Key Ecosystem Milestones
1. Gaming on Polkadot:
- Mythical Games launched the Mythos chain, hosting assets for hit games like NFL Rivals, with nearly 1 million wallets and 5 million gamers.
- Gaming-focused resources like DOTplay and projects like Ajuna (integrating Unity with Polkadot) are expanding opportunities for developers.
2. Transaction Surge
- Parachains processed over 40 million monthly transactions, with leaders like Neuroweb, Frequency, and Phala driving activity.
3. Developer Growth
- Polkadot remains a top-three blockchain for open-source development, complemented by innovations on Moonbeam, Phala, and the upcoming JAM protocol.
Enter Polkadot 2.0
Polkadot 2 is a technological and vision evolution driven by community input. Its goal? To maximize coretime utility while fostering an engaged community. Highlights include:
- Asynchronous Backing: Doubling block speed (12s to 6s) and boosting throughput by 10x.
- Agile Coretime: A flexible, monthly auction system replacing crowdloans, making block space more accessible and cost-effective.
A Glimpse into Polkadot 3.0: The JAM Protocol
The JAM protocol is Polkadot’s leap toward a decentralized supercomputer network. With massive computational capacity, JAM aims to power Web3 applications at unprecedented scales:
- Performance Benchmarks: Aiming for 1M transactions per second, JAM showcases the evolution of Polkadot’s “world computer” vision.
- Development Tools: Projects like DOOM-on-JAM demonstrate its computational capacity and Turing-complete architecture.
The Path to the Polkadot Cloud
Polkadot’s ultimate vision is the JAM Grid, a decentralized cluster of supercomputers. This grid aims to:
- Scale Web3 services globally.
- Deliver cohesive data availability and performance across multiple nodes.
- Transform the Polkadot ecosystem into the backbone of decentralized applications, devices, and services.
Looking Ahead
With JAM reaching v1.0 in 2025, Polkadot is poised to redefine blockchain’s role in a quantum computing era. As Gavin Wood puts it, Polkadot is not just a platform — it’s the infrastructure for a decentralized, trustless, and scalable digital world.
For more, dive into the full 2024 roundup on Medium.
2. Magic Ramp launches seamless SEPA instant payments for Polkadot
Harbour, in collaboration with Velocity Labs, has introduced Magic Ramp, connecting SEPA Instant payments with Polkadot. Users can now transfer Euros on and off-chain in under 30 seconds at minimal cost.
Harbour’s Magic Ramp makes it seamless:
- Euro → USDC in seconds
- Stablecoin withdrawals
- Virtual IBANs for builders
- Cross-border payments for users & merchants
- Zero-cost transactions for the first six weeks.
3. 21Shares takes step toward launching DOT ETF by establishing Polkadot Trust
21Shares has applied to establish the 21Shares Polkadot Trust, aiming to launch a DOT-based ETF. Key details from the filing include:
- Incorporation Date: October 29, 2024
- Entity Name: 21Shares Polkadot Trust
- Type: Statutory Trust
- Location: Delaware, USA
- Agent: CSC Delaware Trust Company
Though registered, regulatory approval (e.g., SEC) is pending. This initiative marks a potential milestone for bringing a Polkadot ETF to market.
4. Effortless cross-chain transfers: MYTH now on Turtle
Turtle now makes it easier than ever to transfer MYTH between Mythos and Hydration. Powered by Snowbridge and ParaSpell, Turtle ensures frictionless, fast, and secure cross-chain transfers.
Built on robust GMP protocols and backed by Ethereum and Polkadot security, Turtle offers a fully decentralized infrastructure. Transparency and reliability come together, providing a seamless experience for managing assets across multiple chains.
5. Double the boost: 2.2M NEURO liquidity incentives on StellaSwap
2.2M NEURO liquidity incentives have been allocated to StellaSwap following the successful governance vote by NeuroWebAI. This incentivization campaign will span 4 months and target the NEURO pool on the Moonbeam Network.
In addition, the 1M DOT incentive campaign will also apply to NEURO, providing double the boost for liquidity providers, further strengthening the NEURO ecosystem and increasing liquidity across platforms.
6. StellaSwap’s Christmas surprise: Auto-vault incentives with Beefy Finance
StellaSwap teamed up with Beefy Finance to bring an eco-incentive boost for automated pools, including:
- USDC.axl-USDC,
- stDOT-DOT,
- USDC-GLMR, and
- DOT-USDT.
Part of the 1M DOT liquidity campaign, these incentives help maximize rewards by actively managing V3 LP positions to ensure they stay in range. To start staking, select the “Auto” strategy on StellaSwap or visit Beefy Finance directly and join the boost.
7. Bifrost’s Fee Switch proposal paves the way for 2025’s DeFi trend
Fee Switch is projected to be one of the leading DeFi trends in 2025, but Bifrost has already taken the lead with its September 2024 proposal to redistribute protocol profits to BNC stakers. This forward-thinking approach allows for enhanced token value and ecosystem health.
As Bifrost 2.0 launches, the bbBNC core logic is ready for testing, marking an exciting milestone for the protocol’s evolution. bbBNC stands for “Buy Back BNC.” It’s an initiative where 100% of Bifrost’s protocol profits are used for BNC buybacks, with 90% of the repurchased BNC distributed to bbBNC holders, and the remaining 10% burned to reduce the total supply of BNC.
8. Hydration Network upgrades to OpenGov for enhanced resilience
Hydration Network is stepping up its game by transitioning to Governance 2.0, thanks to the launch of OpenGov, the world’s most advanced decentralized Web3 governance framework.
This upgrade strengthens the protocol’s resilience and contributes to the broader mission of making DeFi unstoppable. With OpenGov, Hydration Network is poised for even greater growth and decentralized decision-making.
9. Gavun Wud hosts massive 100M WUD airdrop during December 2024
Gavun Wud celebrated over seven months of WUD as a community-run memecoin on Polkadot with a 100 million WUD airdrop during December 2024. The event included five giveaways, inviting participants to follow, repost, and share their HDX wallet addresses.
With winners chosen randomly, the initiative energized the WUD community, while Gavun teased more exciting updates before year-end.
10. Hyperbridge extends Initial Relayer Offering deadline to February 28th
Hyperbridge is extending the deadline for its initial relayer offering (IRO) to February 28th, providing the broader crypto community with more time to own a piece of the world’s first verifiable multichain bridge. The team is focused on spreading awareness beyond their ecosystem, aiming for Hyperbridge to be accessible to a diverse group of people. Don’t miss out on the revolution — join now and receive a 15% bonus.
- Support our Polkadotters 🦐 Shrimp, 🐙 Octopus & 🐬 Dolphin validators on Polkadot and be a part of a more secure Web3 future
- Enhance Polkadot’s governance process by delegating your DOT or KSM to POLKADOTTERS, dedicated community supporters within the Polkadot ecosystem, enabling seamless participation in on-chain governance through Nova wallet or Polkadot Delegation Dashboard