Kusama

Polkadot hits all-time high in development activity

It’s been almost one year since the start of the ecosystem’s signature parachain auctions.

According to data from programming repository GitHub, Polkadot recognized more than 500 contributions each day in September — an all-time high for the multichain protocol. Simultaneously, data from Polkadot’s cross-consensus interoperability standard XCM show that a record 26,258 messages were sent between its parachains. In total, 14,930 contributions from developers were recorded on Polkadot’s GitHub in the month of August.

As told by project developers, 66 blockchains are now live on Polkadot and its parachain startup network Kusama. Since its inception, over 140,000 messages have been exchanged between chains via 135 messaging channels. Together, the Polkadot and Kusama treasuries have cumulatively paid out 9.6 million DOT and 346,700 KSM ($72.8 million total) to fund spending proposals in the ecosystem.

Parachains are individual layer-1 blockchains that run in parallel on Polkadot and are first tested on Kusama. Auctions for parachain slots are held in the form of crowd loans, with the position going to the highest bidding project. The first of its kind took place last November .

Moving forward, Polkadot founder Rob Habermeier has recently published a roadmap on enhancing Polkadot and Kusama’s scalability. Highlights include asynchronous backing, or the de-coupling of the extension of parachains from the extension of the relay chain, as a potential mechanism for cutting parachain block time by 50% while increasing block space tenfold. The upgrade, should it go live, will increase network speed to between an estimated 100,000 and 1 million transactions per minute.

The asynchronous backing upgrade is scheduled for development on Kusama by the end of the year and then on Polkadot. Another network upgrade, which will introduce “pay-as-you-go” parachains, would theoretically combine launching a blockchain on Kusama with simultaneously launching smart contracts. The move would shorten the development process for building on Polkadot.

Polkadot’s founder announces steps toward full decentralization with new governance model

Gavin Wood said that he seeks to transform the Polkadot blockchain into a full technocracy.

Live from Polkadot Decoded in Buenos Aires on Wednesday, Polkadot (DOT) and Kusama founder Gavin Wood announced that the blockchain’s governance model would undergo a new transformation. Dubbed Gov2, anyone would be able to start a referendum at any time for as many times as they wish in the new setup, similar to initiating new transactions on the blockchain.

Thereafter, pending referenda need 50% of the vote from stakeholders within 28 days’ time for approval or face rejection by default. Participants can also intervene and launch timely cancellation proposals, which require similar voting procedures, in the event that technical glitches are discovered within the referenda, themselves. Passive voters, t can specify a different delegate for every class of referendum in the system in a process known as multirole delegation.

Wood said there will be a new body, dubbed the Polkadot Fellowship, composed of technical experts who have the power to shorten referenda voting times in the event of time-sensitive matters. Overall, several tenets would remain invariant from the previous governance model. First, 50% of the total stake in the system will be allowed to command the system’s future. Greater weight will also be given to those willing to lock their tokens in the system for a longer durationin a process known as conviction voting. Finally, a committee will also remain to oversee the blockchain’s technocratic developments.

As told by Gavin, the changes will reflect the flaws of centralization and one referendum at a time voting system present in Polkadot’s original governance model. Gov2 is set to launch on Kusama imminently, following afinal professional audit of its code. Once tested on Kusama, a proposal will be made to bridge it to Polkadot.