Polkadot Q3 2023 Development Report

In the third quarter of 2023, the Polkadot ecosystem has achieved significant growth in various aspects. Key metrics such as staking, on-chain activities, and the number of independent accounts have all seen improvements, while development activity on GitHub remains active.

Five new parallel chain teams have successfully secured slots, covering a diverse range of 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 completion.

Data Growth Status

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

The number of on-chain events continues to grow, reaching over 190 million in September, more than doubling since December of last year. The number of independent accounts also hit a new high, approaching 4.3 million, an increase of 16% since the beginning of the year.

Development activities maintain strong momentum, recording over 49,000 code commits on GitHub for two consecutive quarters. Cross-chain activities have also increased, with the volume of XCM messages sent growing by 20% quarter-on-quarter.

Ecosystem Expansion

The newly added parallel chain projects include:

1. peaq: Committed to building a decentralized physical infrastructure network.
2. Bit.Country: A user-created metaverse platform that supports the quick launch of personal metaverses.
3. InvArch: A multi-chain DAO infrastructure project that provides dynamic multi-signature solutions.
4. Energy Web: Leveraging Web3 technology to help large enterprises accelerate carbon reduction.
5. Nodle: An IoT connectivity provider that builds low-energy Bluetooth networks.

At the same time, Astar Network has renewed its parachain slot, ensuring its long-term development within the Polkadot ecosystem.

Technical Upgrade

The decentralized technology consulting agency of Polkadot has approved the development of a dedicated system chain for purchasing and trading future block space. This is an important step in the "Agile Core Time" upgrade proposal, aimed at providing Web3 projects with a more flexible way to access Polkadot's computational capabilities.

Asynchronous support technology has made significant progress and is expected to bring an eightfold increase in Polkadot's scalability. This upgrade is anticipated to be launched on the testnet Rococo and will lay the groundwork for future support of over 1000 parachains and more than 1 million transactions per second.

Important News in the Third Quarter

1. Native USDC is about to enter the Polkadot ecosystem and will be usable in all parachains and dapps in the future.

2. Zodia Custody announced the provision of institutional custody and staking services on Polkadot.

3. Banxa is working hard to achieve comprehensive integration with the Polkadot ecosystem, providing users with multiple payment options.

4. Snowbridge (the bridge connecting Ethereum) is expected to launch on Kusama later this year.

5. Zondax launches a new Polkadot Ledger application that supports any parachain in the network.

6. OpenZeppelin has completed the preliminary work to simplify the development of Polkadot's native ink! smart contracts.

7. The third session of the Polkadot Blockchain Academy has successfully concluded at the University of California, Berkeley, with a new founders course aimed at entrepreneurs. The fourth and fifth sessions will be held in Hong Kong and Singapore in January and May 2024, respectively.