Polkadot Q3 2023 Development Overview

In the third quarter of 2023, the Polkadot ecosystem showed significant growth. Key indicators such as native staking, on-chain activities, and the number of independent accounts have all seen notable increases. At the same time, development activity remains at a high level.

Five new parallel chain teams have successfully acquired slots, covering diversified Web3 application scenarios such as DAO, metaverse, Internet of Things, and sustainable energy. In addition, some important technical upgrades, such as agile core time and asynchronous support, are gradually approaching the implementation stage.

Data Growth Highlights

In terms of staking, the total staked amount increased from 578 million DOT to 663 million DOT, accounting for 49% of the total supply, close to the ideal staking rate of 52.5%. The nomination pool has developed rapidly since its launch in November 2022, with 15,281 members by the end of the third quarter, staking over 7 million DOT.

The number of on-chain events has significantly increased, reaching 190 million in September, doubling compared to December 2022. The number of independent accounts continues to rise, reaching 4.3 million in September, a 16% increase since the beginning of the year.

Development activity remains strong, with GitHub submissions exceeding 49,000 for two consecutive quarters, maintaining a leading position among Web3 projects. Cross-chain activity has also increased, with XCM message sending volume growing by 20% month-on-month.

Ecosystem Expansion

The newly added parallel chain projects include:

1. peaq: Committed to the construction of a decentralized physical infrastructure network.
2. Bit.Country: A platform for quickly deploying personal metaverses.
3. InvArch: Providing multichain DAO infrastructure for the Polkadot ecosystem
4. Energy Web: Utilizing Web3 technology to help large enterprises reduce carbon emissions.
5. Astar Network: Renewed parachain slot to ensure long-term development

Technical Progress

Polkadot has approved the development of dedicated system chains for the purchase and trading of future block space. This is an important step in the "Agile Core Time" upgrade, aimed at providing a more flexible way to access computing resources for Web3 projects.

Asynchronous support upgrades have also made progress and are expected to enhance Polkadot's scalability by eight times. This upgrade is anticipated to be launched first on the testnet Rococo, laying the foundation for future support of over 1000 parallel chains and more than 1 million transactions per second.

Other Important Developments

• Native USDC is about to enter the Polkadot ecosystem
• Zodia Custody announces the provision of institutional-grade custody and staking services on Polkadot.
• Banxa is working hard to achieve full integration with the Polkadot ecosystem.
• Snowbridge (the bridge connecting Ethereum) is expected to launch on Kusama by the end of the year.
• Zondax launched a new version of the Polkadot Ledger application, supporting all parachains.
• OpenZeppelin has completed its first batch of work, simplifying ink! smart contract development.

The third session of the Polkadot Blockchain Academy successfully concluded at the University of California, Berkeley, with new courses specifically for founders. The fourth and fifth sessions will be held in Hong Kong and Singapore in January and May 2024, respectively.