Polkadot Powered Another Wave of Innovation in Q4 2022, Surpassing Ethereum and Others in Development Activites

Polkadot (DOT) is undoubtedly one of the biggest projects in the Web 3 scene. The multichain ecosystem continues to drive innovations and developments within the sector, and the final quarter of 2022 was a particularly busy period. A good number of experienced teams, for instance, are building and launching Polkadot parachains that are use-case specific.

Besides the creation of new, innovative Polkadot blockchains (parachains), a lot is happening within the ecosystem. The barrier of entry for native staking has been significantly lowered by nomination pools. This implies that users can now help to secure the network with minimal upfront cost without going through a third party. Some strategic partnerships have emerged as well, even as impressive developer stats round off a series of landmark achievements for Polkadot.

Landmark Moments within Polkadot Network in Q4 2022

Without further ado, here are some of the landmark moments in the final quarter of 2022 within the Polkadot ecosystem:

Nomination Pools Help Drive Growth  

Nomination pools went live on 1st November 2022 as a new feature of the Polkadot staking system. This feature allows users to pool DOT tokens together (on-chain) in order to nominate validators and receive accompanying rewards. It lowers the minimum stake for individual users from 200 DOT to 1 DOT token.

In addition to strengthening the decentralization and security of the Polkadot network, Nomination Pools help improve the system’s scalability. It also improves staking opportunities within the network. Of course, it was an instant hit as about 3,475 pool members participated with 854,495 DOT before the end of 2022.

Aster Partners Japan’s Biggest Mobile Phone Operator

Aster, a Polkadot parachain and smart contract platform, closed a major deal with NTT Docomo, which is one of Japan’s biggest mobile phone operators, towards the end of 2022. The two will, henceforth, collaborate on mass Web3 adoption and its social implementation.

It is expected that the Japanese company will invest about $4 billion in decentralized technology as the two entities work together to sustain developmental goals. Potentially, the partnership will expedite Web3 adoption through the education and nurturing of Web3 talents.

KILT Becomes the First Parachain to Migrate from Kusama to Polkadot

KILT Protocol is officially the first parachain to achieve a full migration from Kusama to Polkadot. This is the first time a live blockchain will migrate from one network to another, and it is a big win for Polkadot. The parachain, which is a blockchain identity protocol, made the move when large-scale enterprises started using its services. It needed top-of-the-class security and stability as the big players arrived.

DOT Morphs from a Security to a Non-Security

On the regulatory front, Polkadot’s native token, DOT, has metamorphosed from a security to a non-security. This was announced by Web3 Foundation, which funds development teams within the decentralized web space. This is the fruit of a three-year engagement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

With the latest announcement, Polkadot has strengthened its value proposition to token holders. It now provides safety, even as the token becomes compliant with the law. It is also setting the pace for other tokens as the Foundation has helped achieve SEC’s vision of token morphing. It should be noted, however, that Polkadot has always been vertical agnostic and use-case agnostic, primarily serving as a base layer where developers can build other blockchains and applications.

Polkadot Ecosystem Leads on Development Activities

In terms of development activities, Polkadot is the ecosystem to beat in the evolving Web3 scene. Data from Electric Capital indicate that there are about 1,128 weekly active developers on the Polkadot ecosystem, and they produce about 13,934 weekly commits, which is higher than what obtains on other Web3 projects, including the all-mighty Ethereum. 

A good number of Polkadot affiliates are doing great too. Manta Network, a Web3 privacy hub built on Polkadot and Kusama, which is Polkadot’s canary network, came out third and fifth, respectively, in Electric Capital’s report. Manta also established the largest Trusted Setup in the history of Zero-Knowledge technology, with more than 13,000 participants from 177 countries.

Polkadot is arguably the biggest winner when it comes to use-case specific layer-1 blockchains and apps. 74 parachains won auctions on either Polkadot or Kusama throughout 2022. They currently support as many as 300 unstoppable applications. The final quarter of the year was obviously the busiest period, but Polkadot was booming throughout the year, in terms of developments. About 550 projects, in total, are either launched or in development within the ecosystem.