Exchange Polkadot (DOT)

Polkadot is an open-source blockchain project. It was created with the goal to provide real interconnectivity and interoperability between the networks, enabling independent chains to securely exchange messages and perform transactions without any third-party intermediary. The project secures and utilizes a growing ecosystem of specialized blockchains called parachains. Polkadot was meant to become a foundation for the decentralized internet of blockchains known as Web3. 

The Polkadot network is also known as a layer-0 metaprotocol as it underlines and describes a format for a network of layer-1 parachains. It is able to autonomously and forklessly update its database if the community of token holders decides so via on-chain governance. 

The project was founded in 2016 by Dr. Gavin Wood, Robert Habermeier, and Peter Czaban. They formed Web3 Foundation, a Swiss organization that aims to facilitate open-source, fully functional, and user-friendly decentralized web. 

Polkadot can connect public, private, and permissionless networks, oracles, and other future technologies, so they can trustlessly exchange information with each other through a Relay Chain, which is just one of the four major components of the network. The Relay Chain is the heart of the system, which helps to create consensus, interoperability, and shared security. 

The ecosystem also includes parachains — independent networks set for specific goals with their own native tokens, parathreads that are similar to parachains with flexible connectivity based on economical pay-to-go model, and bridges that allow parachains and parathreads to connect with other blockchains, for example, Ethereum. The Polkadot network is heterogeneous and entirely flexible and doesn’t make assumptions about the nature or the structure of the chains.

The Relay Chain with its core infrastructure went live in 2020. At the same time, two versions of Substrate software were released as well. It allows developers to easily build new parachains on Polkadot. At the end of 2021 parachain auctions on Polkadot were concluded, following un-permissioned candle auction system. The winning bid should win at a random moment at the end of the auction. 

Five slots were assigned to Acala, Moonbeam, Astar, Parallel, and Clover. Their parachain slots are locked for 96 weeks, guaranteed by the DOT tokens committed by the bidders as collateral. All the networks were previously tested on Kusama. 

Polkadot utilizes the Nominated Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism, based on the number of tokens each participant put as collateral. The users can participate in securing the network in one of the four roles: validators, who stake their tokens to secure the blockchain and verify transactions on the Relay Chain, collators, who maintain the history of operations on the Relay Chain and their particular parachain nodes, fishermen, that have full nodes of Polkadot and make sure no invalid transactions happen on the network, and nominators — the DOT token holders who just stake their tokens giving away their responsibility for taking other roles.

In June 2022 Polkadot announced the changes to the network’s governance model. The existing model is replaced by the framework in the form of a referendum. A new voting system will allow anyone to submit proposals and have them approved. 

DOT is the native cryptocurrency of Polkadot. The token is used for staking to secure the network and also to bonded to connect a new blockchain to the network. All DOT holders have a vote in the on-chain governance. 10 million tokens were released into circulation via an Initial Coin Offering held in 2017 and raised about $143 million. The supply of the DOT token is unlimited and new coins are continuously released into circulation with an annual 10% inflation rate. 

Average Fees on Polkadot Network 

Polkadot uses a weight-based fee model instead of a gas-metering model, so the fees are charged prior to the token execution; when the fee is paid, nodes will execute the transaction. The fee is calculated based on three parameters: a length fee, a weight fee, and a tip (optional). Weight is a fixed set of numbers used in Substrate-based chains to manage the time it takes to validate a block.

The average transaction fee is about 0,75%. 

DOT Token Wallets

Polkadot native coin is supported by most of the common crypto wallets, including Binance, Coinbase, Exodus, Thibaut Sardan, Polkawallet (the wallet of the ecosystem), Safe Pal, CoolWallet Pro, Crypto.com, Trezor, Ledger Nano, etc.