It is widely circulated that the three major puzzles in the blockchain industry are: Who is Satoshi Nakamoto? When will FileCoin launch? When will the Polkadot mainnet be launched?
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1. Let the world of Web3.0 connect
The blockchain industry seems to be very lively, but there are not many people who can focus on interesting problems and propose valuable solutions. It is common for those who are single-minded to cut leeks to cut leeks when they go up to the poor and fall to the underworld; there are countless people who have a vision to produce Linfeng and become sheep on the ground. Not to mention those who easily put the project"give back to the community"The lords of Gungun are gone.
Big waves wash the sand, Polkadot is one of the few projects worthy of attention, with its own multiple halos:
Founder Gavin Wood is a top blockchain developer, co-founder of Ethereum, one of the creators of the Solidity language, known as the mother of Ethereum and the man behind Vitalik; The grand vision of Web 3.0 is committed to returning to the original intention of the Internet, breaking the monopoly of giants, and realizing the Internet of the people, by the people, and for the people; secondary title
What does Polkadot want to do?
The Polkadot project contains many concepts and is not easy to understand. However, for readers who understand computer history, a metaphor from Shawn Tabrizi of Parity (Polkadot core development team) may be easier to understand:
Bitcoin is like the "calculator" of the blockchain world - a computing device designed and built for a single purpose. Then Ethereum is equivalent to the first computer in the blockchain world.
The first computer was once the size of a warehouse! Interaction from the outside world is limited for these machines, and then of course they cannot interact with other computers yet!
To me, Polkadot is like the first internet connection between these historic computers.
(Translated by PolkaWorld)
If it is said that different blockchains create computers that are self-contained and operate independently. So what Polkadot wants to do is to connect these computers like a router to form a computer ecological network that communicates with each other and cooperates with each other.
Gavin Wood, creator of Polkadot, believes that the world needs multiple blockchains to coexist, not just one. Today Polkadot prefers to describe itself as"Sharded Blockchain Network"secondary title
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(Gavin Wood, founder of Polkadot)
In an interview with Wang Feng, the founder of Mars Finance, Gavin mentioned Polkadot’s design ideas:
The design logic of Polkadot is not directly associated with interoperability. We are waiting for Ethereum's sharding technology to be launched. But sharding has never been implemented, nor is it launched now. Therefore, I want to build a more scalable "Ethereum" by myself. In the design process, the concept of sharding has been pushed to an extreme level, so I don't want to shard at all, and just design an independent chain.
With this design, different chains can transmit information to each other, and the final result is to achieve communication through a shared consensus layer.
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2. The ups and downs and progress of Polkadot
The first is slow progress. The first draft of the Polkadot white paper was published in October 2016. The original plan of the Polkadot mainnet has also been changed repeatedly. It was previously planned to be launched in the fourth quarter of 2019, but due to various reasons including the impact of the epidemic, the launch date was postponed again.
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(Relationship between Web3 Foundation, Polkadot and Parity)
However, despite such setbacks, the development progress of Polkadot has not stopped.
Polkadot development progress overview
Gavin Wood concluded in his blog: (If Polkadot is compared to a house) 2018 is the year of Polkadot's foundation, 2019 is the year of building the framework, and 2020 is the year of interior decoration and occupancy one year.
In addition to the aforementioned white paper release and token private placement, there are several nodes worth mentioning in the development history of Polkadot. Although "the team is doing things" has added a layer of jokes in the long bear market, it is still appropriate to describe Polkadot. (The progress list below refers to the summary of PolkaBase):
In May 2018, the Polkadot network released the PoC1 version (proof of concept 1.0); In January 2019, the PoC-3 version was released, mainly including the GRANDPA/BABE consensus algorithm and the NPOS nomination proof of rights mechanism; In January 2019, the PoC-3 version was released, mainly including the GRANDPA/BABE consensus algorithm and the NPOS nomination proof of rights mechanism; In April 2019, the PoC-4 version was released to further ensure the safety and reliability of Polkadot; Substrate (a development kit for developers to quickly create blockchains) was released in June 2019; In August 2019, Kusama, Polkadot's first experimental network, was released, known as Polkadot's wild cousin; In October 2019, Kusama was converted to POS, unlocking functions such as node income, staking, and participation in online governance; In early May 2020, the Polkadot mainnet launch plan will be released; In early May 2020, the Polkadot mainnet launch plan will be released; On May 27, 2020, the Polkadot mainnet candidate chain CC1 was released.
The Kusama network released in August 2019 may confuse many people: Why is Kusama frequently mentioned in many Polkadot information?
What is Kusama?
The Kusama name comes from the Japanese avant-garde artist Yayoi Kusama (Yayoi Kusama). In the old days, when coal mine workers went to the mine, they would use a canary in a cage to test whether the coal mine could accommodate people. If the canary dies, no one will go down the well.
Kusama uses the canary as its logo, which properly describes the positioning of the Kusama network: to explore the path for Polkadot and ensure the smooth launch of the Polkadot mainnet. Detect risk with Kusama.
Kusama also has its own network native token: KSM. According to Polkadot's official information, in addition to participating in the test on Kusama and participating in the governance of the proposal voting chain, holding KSM may also participate in the airdrop of Polkadot token DOT in the future: 1% of DOT will be airdropped to all KSM holders in the future. There are.
It can be said that the Kusama network contains two meanings:
It is Polkadot's test network, which fully simulates Polkadot's real operating environment for developers to test and provide community feedback. Polkadot's governance, staking, nomination and verification of validator nodes and other functions can all be performed on Kusama; Kusama will continue to exist after Polkadot goes online, and subsequent Kusama will continue to serve as the first experimental network. The new features of Polkadot may have hidden risks in the early stage, and they will be added to the Polkadot main chain after the first experimental feedback on Kusama.
Because of this, the Kusama is known as the boca's wild cousin. After the Kusama network has been in operation for more than half a year, in May 2020, with the release of Polkadot's mainnet launch plan, the Polkadot mainnet is about to come out.
3. What are the processes?
The launch of the candidate chain is only the first step of the mainnet launch
On May 27, 2020, Polkadot officially published an article saying that Polkadot's first candidate chain (CC1) was launched. Although some media are not stingy with praise, shouting that the Polkadot mainnet has been launched, but don’t get excited, this is not the Polkadot mainnet yet.
If the technology requires, candidate chain 2 and candidate chain 3 will be launched later. However, if all goes well, the candidate chain CC1 is also likely to become the main network of Polkadot in the future.
What is the difference between the candidate chain (CC1) and the official Polkadot main chain (or according to Polkadot's design, called the relay chain (Relay Chain))?
During the Candidate Chain (CC) stage, if there is a major bug, an important change in the code, or other circumstances, the chain may be reset and modified significantly. This is also one of the reasons why the current CC1 may only become the main chain of Polkadot. If necessary, CC2 and CC3 will also appear, just as the Kusama network once released the CC3 candidate chain.
After the candidate chain has undergone technical trial operation and governance trial operation and is in good condition, it will be upgraded through a referendum to remove the super management authority of the Web3 Foundation, and truly return the control of the blockchain network to the holder of the DOT token. At this time, it marks that the Polkadot network has officially become a truly decentralized network.
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Six steps to the mainnet launch
According to the introduction of the online process officially released by Polkadot in early May 2020, it is divided into six stages:
1. PoA (current stage)
In the first stage, Polkadot's candidate chain is maintained by six validator nodes of the Web3 Foundation, which is called the PoA stage.
At this time, DOT holders can safely map DOT tokens, try to mortgage DOT tokens, and submit their wishes to express their intention to become validators or nominators. However, at this time, DOT tokens still cannot be transferred, pledged tokens, and will not be rewarded. This is also the time point we are in at the end of May 2020.
At this point the Web3 Foundation has super-administrative privileges -- sudo privileges. Before the network is handed over to DOT holders, the Web3 Foundation will use this authority to complete the commands and upgrade operations required for the startup process. In other words, the Polkadot network will start in a centralized manner, and then gradually transition, remove super management authority, and hand over the network to community autonomy.
2. NPoS phase
With the network running, if the Web3 Foundation has confidence in the stability of the network and a sufficient number of validator nodes submit applications, the Web3 Foundation will use super-administrative privileges Sudo (a super-user account that can access governance functions) to start First validator election.
3. Governance
3. Governance
If the candidate chain works well in the NPoS phase with the participation of a large number of community validators, the Web3 Foundation will activate the governance function module in Polkadot. In the Polkadot network, governance can be divided into three categories: council, technical committee and referendum. Once the council and governance tools are in place, DOT holders have the right tools if they want to change functionality in the system.
4. The key step: remove the super administrative authority Sudo authority
Through a community referendum, the candidate chain will be upgraded and sudo permissions will be removed. After removing the Sudo authority, the Web3 Foundation will no longer have super management rights, and the Polkadot network will be returned to the DOT holders. At this time, the candidate chain is officially transformed into the Polkadot main chain, becoming a truly decentralized active network.
5. Activate the transfer function
The community lifted the restrictions on the DOT token transfer function through a referendum. This is the first upgrade after removing super permissions and returning the network to the community. If the community referendum is passed, the transfer function will automatically start after a period of time.
6. Start other core functions
At this time, although the transfer function is already available, there is still only one relay chain in the Polkadot network. Other core functions of Polkadot, such as parachain startup, cross-chain communication, etc., still need to be gradually unlocked through proposals initiated by the community.
Now we can go back to the question in the title of the article: after the launch of the first candidate chain, how long will it take for the Polkadot mainnet to go live?
The answer is: when the Sudo permission in the candidate chain is removed, it can be considered that the Polkadot mainnet is officially launched! Considering that Kusama has been running for more than half a year, many functional tests and governance attempts have also been carried out in Kusama, and the roadmap for Polkadot mainnet launch is very clear. I personally think that if there are no other accidents, the official launch of the Polkadot mainnet will not exceed October this year.
In addition to technical factors, what determines the progress of all this depends on the enthusiasm of the validators and the participation of DOT holders. After all, the Polkadot network is owned by DOT holders. Next, let’s talk about the role of DOT tokens.
4. Distribution and usage of DOT tokens
DOT distribution
The current total amount of DOT tokens is 10 million.
The 50% part was sold through private placement in 2017, raising 144 million US dollars equivalent to Ethereum, and about 4,000 people participated. 30% is owned by the Web3 Foundation. In addition to project operating expenses, this part of tokens will also be used to stimulate community development. Currently, the Web3 Foundation announced that it has sponsored 100 projects. 20% will be used for token distribution before the mainnet launch in the future, including token auctions and other methods. In 2019, Polkadot conducted a second round of financing and sold 500,000 DOT tokens through private placement. That is to say, there are still 15% of the tokens, which will be distributed before the Polkadot mainnet is officially launched as planned.
How to distribute the remaining 15% tokens before listing? So far, there are no definite plans. However, Polkadot will consider airdropping 1% of DOT to all holders of the Kusama network token KSM. If you are interested, maybe you can give it a try.
By the way, the Web3 Foundation has proposed to modify the total amount of DOT tokens. A few weeks ago, the Web3 Foundation proposed to modify the Polkadot token unit, rename DOT, and increase the total supply of tokens by 100 times. This proposal was voted on the Kusama experimental network, and the total amount of tokens was changed from the original 10 million to 1 billion while the token distribution ratio remained unchanged.
Although the result of the voting on the Kusama chain was that the proposal was passed, the Web3 Foundation subsequently issued an announcement saying that due to the community’s dispute over this approach, it decided to suspend the implementation, and then launch a vote after the mainnet goes live to decide on the change of the token unit.
What do DOTs do?
According to Polkadot’s official website, DOT has three uses:
Participate in governance, such as referendums on the chain; Staking operation, if the selected validator behaves well, the token holder can get Staking rewards; otherwise, there will be losses; Binding function, bid for the card slot of the parallel chain, and obtain the right to use the parallel chain interface by binding DOT tokens.
For ordinary currency holders, the details of the Staking operation may be of most interest.
Polkadot's Staking Mechanism
Polkadot currently uses a hybrid consensus algorithm GRANDPA/BABE.
In the Polkadot network, we focus on two types of roles here: validators and nominators.
Nominators are DOT token holders who mortgage tokens and nominate validators. If the validators do not do evil and have block rewards, these DOT token holders can get corresponding rewards. Of course, if validators underperform, nominators lose as well.
There is no minimum requirement to become a nominator, but the balance must be at least 0.01 DOT and should be sufficient to cover transaction fees.
Verifiers (or verification nodes) verify blocks in the relay chain and parachains and receive DOT rewards. Staking rewards depend on the annual issuance of tokens in the Polkadot network. Assume that the Polkadot network issues 10% more tokens each year, and 50% of the tokens are in the Staking state. At this time, the mortgage yield reaches the maximum, and the annualized yield is about 20%. In the Polkadot network, the issuance of tokens is dynamically changing. If the mortgage ratio exceeds 50%, then the amount of additional tokens issued in the network will be greatly reduced.
V. Summary
V. Summary
Polkadot, known as the king-level project and the representative work of Web3, has made people wait for too long. However, this time, it shouldn't be too long.
References:。
References:
1、https://wiki.polkadot.network/docs/en/learn-launch
2、https://economy.p2p.org/polkadot-brief-overview
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Disclaimer: This article is the author's independent opinion, and does not represent the position of the Blockchain Institute (public account), nor does it constitute any investment opinion or suggestion.
Disclaimer: This article is the author's independent opinion, and does not represent the position of the Blockchain Institute (public account), nor does it constitute any investment opinion or suggestion.
