What exactly is Polkadot doing? Understanding Web3's "Lego blocks" in one article.

Have you heard of Polkadot? In simple terms, this is a project that aims to connect all Blockchains together — technically referred to as “heterogeneous multi-chain architecture.”

Why connect?

Traditional blockchains are like islands. Bitcoin can only transfer funds, Ethereum can run DApps, but they cannot directly communicate with each other. Polkadot aims to change this phenomenon.

Its core is the design of relay chain + parallel chain:

• The relay chain is the brain, responsible for coordination and security.
• Parachains are limbs that can process transactions in parallel.
• The result is a significant increase in throughput (much stronger than single-chain).

What is the use of DOT?

In one sentence: DOT is the lifeblood of Polkadot.

Governance Rights: Holders of DOT can vote on upgrade directions, just like in a shareholders' meeting.

Staking for Profit: Staking DOT can make you a validator or support a validator, earning Block rewards. The system uses “Nominated Proof of Stake” (NPoS) to ensure that small holders can participate fairly.

Connect to New Chain: Want to connect to a parachain? You need to use DOT to bid for a slot. If you win, you can rent a position for a period ranging from 3 months to 2 years.

How to ensure security?

The “shared security model” used by Polkadot is quite powerful - all parachains share the security of the relay chain. You don't have to worry about a small chain having too few validators and being attacked, because the relay chain has enough validators to safeguard it.

In addition, it uses the XCM protocol (Cross-Chain Message Format), allowing different chains to securely exchange data, code, and even value. No third-party intermediaries are required, completely peer-to-peer.

Where are the real-world applications?

• DeFi/NFT: Equilibrium, Polkadex and other DEXs are now online, Tether and USDC are also supported.
• Game: Final Fantasy (Blockchain Version) uses Polkadot's NFT
• Supply Chain: Centrifuge brings real assets onto the Blockchain, opening up DeFi for real assets.
• Privacy: Manta Network specializes in zero-knowledge proofs, ensuring your transactions are confidential.
• Social: MeWe (dubbed the privacy version of Facebook) plans to migrate 20 million accounts to the Frequency parallel Blockchain.

How to manage governance?

The most remarkable aspect of this system is that it can upgrade without hard forks. Traditional blockchain upgrades require hard forks, which can easily lead to splits (just look at Bitcoin Cash and Ethereum Classic to understand).

Polkadot uses:

1. Proposals from regular users and the council
2. Universal Voting Decision
3. Technical Committee Supervises Emergency Proposals
4. Directly write into the protocol for seamless upgrades

Just like software OTA updates, users may not even notice.

Summary

Polkadot's ambition is to become the “Web3 operating system”. The traditional internet has Windows/iOS/Android, and Web3 should also have a unified underlying protocol. Polkadot is doing just that - using a relay chain + parallel chain design to allow all projects to run independently while also cooperating with each other.

There are also drawbacks: competition among parallel chains is intense, and the cost of entering new projects is high. However, in terms of overall logic, this architecture is indeed much more flexible than a single chain.

If you are interested, you can experience the applications on the parallel chain, which indeed feel different from those on a single chain.