Polkadot
The technical Fellowship meeting in May took place this week, and Gavin shared the progress and plans for JAM:
The JAM white paper version 0.7 will be completed by the end of May, including all core functions of the network.
Current development focus includes services like CoreVM, JAMtop, designed to be DevOps friendly.
After version 0.7 is completed, it will directly aim for 1.0, starting the audit at the end of July.
Unnecessary optimizations will be postponed to JAM 2.0, not to fill the current stage.
This week's learning about JAM recommends reading PolkaWorld's latest article (Latest! When will JAM be launched? What is the migration process from the current Polkadot system to JAM?)
In addition, Gavin also responded to the question of 'Does JAM need its own token?' during the live broadcast: Currently, there are no plans to issue JAM tokens, and there is not enough reason to prove that Polkadot needs a new token! He pointed out that the real issue to focus on is not 'whether to issue a token', but:
✅ How to make the Core truly valuable?
✅ How to break the stereotype of 'Polkadot = Parachains'?
✅ How to attract developers to build new types of applications on JAM?
Gavin emphasized that telling the story of JAM well is more critical than issuing tokens or changing names. Rushing to launch a new token could undermine the trust Polkadot has built over the years!
Learn more in PolkaWorld's latest article (Gavin Wood's latest sharing: Will JAM issue a separate Token?)
Polkadot is advancing its staking system optimization proposal RFC-0097: Staking Unbonding Queue (developed by the BlockDeep Labs team), introducing a 'quick unbind' mechanism, planning to shorten the DOT unbonding period from 28 days to 2 days! Current progress:
The quick unbinding function has been implemented through PR #8298 in the staking-async module and has completed its initial code review.
Testing found that the rebonding logic has not been completed, and the team is collaborating with the RFC author to design a solution.
This is the first integration of staking-async with RFC-0097, which is of symbolic significance.
Regarding the specific launch time, although the team did not mention it, PolkaWorld expects it in Q3 of this year because:
Quick unbinding depends on the staking-async module going live.
And staking-async will be enabled after the Asset Hub migration is completed.
The current Asset Hub has completed Westend migration testing and will subsequently deploy to Kusama and Polkadot.
Expected to go live as early as Q3 2025!
Learn more: https://x.com/polkaworld_pro/status/1925382859873034705
PolkaWorld released the Chinese version of the Polkadot 2025 Q1 Treasury Report this week! In the process of translating, researching information, and organizing this report, there were some insights and observations that I would like to share here:
1. Ecosystem governance is becoming 'organized', Bounty and Collective will play an increasingly significant role in the future. Additionally, under the DV project incentives from the Web3 Foundation, more sub-DAOs are emerging, and everyone will support and check each other in the future.
2. Stablecoins USDT/USDC are becoming mainstream tokens for funding, and future exchanges of stablecoins need to be conducted regularly!
3. After a 'burn money' strategic sprint in Q2 2024, the Polkadot Treasury is becoming more 'rational' and 'focused'; it is not about spending money in all directions but rather concentrating resources to invest in 'the most promising areas for driving ecosystem growth'.
4. Through the expenditure structure, it can be seen that the current priority of the Polkadot DAO is for the ecosystem to 'be seen':
First priority: Outreach (branding, marketing, public relations, partnerships);
Second priority: Development (tools, wallets, bridges) → Lower the threshold for developers;
Third priority: Operations (nodes, dashboards, browsers) → Maintain robust infrastructure;
5. The Polkadot treasury has funded a total of 491 different teams or organizations (only counting those with on-chain identities), which is unmatched by any other ecosystem, and this number will only continue to grow in the future! Polkadot DAO is the largest DAO in the world!
6. Polkadot is the only ecosystem that has set up an on-chain treasury. Compared to other ecosystems that decide budgets and allocations through the role of foundations, Polkadot is more sustainable, transparent, and highly decentralized!
If you are interested in the Chinese version of the treasury report, you can view the full text here (Polkadot 2025 Q1 Treasury Report: Expenditures Tend Towards Rationality, Achieving Positive Returns for the First Time!)
The Kusama release shows the distribution of current DOT holders! Let's take a look together~
About 70% of addresses hold less than 10 DOT
About 19% of addresses hold 10 - 100 DOT
About 9% of addresses hold 100 - 1,000 DOT
About 2% of addresses hold 1,000 - 10,000 DOT
About 0.3% of addresses hold 10,000 - 100,000 DOT
About 0.02% of addresses hold more than 100,000 DOT
See if you are a whale, shark, or dolphin~ https://x.com/polkaworld_pro/status/1924477405810556971
Earlier this month, the US House of Representatives released a very friendly draft (Digital Asset Market Structure Act) towards Polkadot!
This bill not only transfers most of the regulatory authority over secondary markets of crypto assets from the SEC to the CFTC! Compared to the previous FIT21 proposal, it brings two major 'upgrades':
Reduce the shareholder threshold for 'related parties' from 5% to 1%, curbing whale monopolies!
Cancel the fixed upper limit on the degree of decentralization (e.g., holding 20%) and allow projects to 'self-declare' their degree of decentralization!
Did you know? Polkadot was already officially announced by the Web3 Foundation in November 2022: DOT is software! This is a classic 'self-declaration'!
Not to mention: Polkadot's Nakamoto Coefficient is as high as 174 - ranking among the top in the industry. This is a loud and clear demonstration of 'decentralization'!
In summary: the more decentralized the future, the more it meets regulatory requirements!
This bill sends a strong signal: the US may finally be ready to shift from the SEC-led 'strict regulatory route' to a CFTC-led framework encouraging true decentralization.
And for Polkadot - this may be the moment we have been waiting for regarding regulatory clarity! https://x.com/polkaworld_pro/status/1924368677127827940
W3F released a summary and thoughts on the DV plan at the Polkadot forum, inviting the community to discuss where the representative of the voice of decentralization (DV) plan should head. For over a year, the DV plan has delegated 42 million DOT and 180,000 KSM voting rights to the community DAO, hoping to stimulate 'participation from the majority' through 'the concentration of a few'. Currently, DV has produced the following positive impacts:
✅ Promote stricter review of treasury proposals.
✅ Introduce more new DAOs and regional participants (such as Eastern Europe, China, and Latin America).
✅ Create a culture of governance participation to stimulate the willingness of 'non-traditional governors' to participate.
🔍 Data shows:
If DV voting is removed, nearly 19% of the voting results will reverse.
This shows that DV not only reinforces the majority opinion but also has genuine influence.
Different representatives have different participation styles, demonstrating diverse governance views.
⚠️ Current potential challenges:
Multiple DAOs cross-delegating leads to the risk of 'whale-ification'.
Lack of real accountability mechanisms, representatives use W3F funds but have no clear penalties.
Is power in 'soft centralization'? This is the current focus of controversy.
📣 Future direction (under discussion):
A. Terminate projects: DV exits after completing phased tasks, returning to pure token voting.
B. Expand representation + decentralize power: More representatives, each with smaller amounts, to enhance diversity.
C. Reform and upgrade DV 2.0: Introduce term rotation, conflict declarations, DOT staking mechanisms, etc., to co-create a governance culture incubator.
Read the original forum text and participate in the discussion here: https://forum.polkadot.network/t/reflections-on-the-dv-program-so-far-whats-next/13046
In addition, Polkadot's official Twitter also shared the latest governance data chart, as of now:
🔹 Total number of proposals: 1574
🔹 Approval rate: 879 proposals have been approved
🔹 Proposals not passed: 455 were rejected
🔹 Not processed in time (timeout): 192
🔹 In progress: 34
🔹 Canceled: 14
📈 Average voting participation rate: 1.025%
🧑⚖️ Number of representatives: 159
🪙 Amount of delegated DOT: 637 million DOT
🏦 Treasury balance: $72.44 million
The exchange Ripio in Latin America now supports trading on Polkadot and AssetHub! Polkadot, Asset Hub, DOT, USDC, and USDT are now supported by Ripio - this is nearly the largest centralized exchange in Latin America! This is a very important milestone for the expansion of the Polkadot ecosystem in Latin America, and many people have worked hard to achieve this! Kudos to @v_labs and everyone involved! https://x.com/Polkadot/status/1924893593791037712
Kusama treasury has initiated a cross-chain transfer DOT test proposal for the first time! This is a test proposal to transfer 1 DOT from the Kusama treasury to a Polkadot Asset Hub (parachain ID: 1000) account. Although DOT is the native asset of Polkadot, it can exist in multiple asset forms on Kusama's Asset Hub through mechanisms like Snowbridge. Therefore, this proposal tests:
Can the Kusama treasury spend non-native assets (e.g., DOT)?
Can assets be successfully transferred to the designated accounts of the Asset Hub under the Polkadot ecosystem through XCM?
The goal of this proposal is to verify the treasury's ability to spend cross-chain assets, providing a basis for governance circulation of more assets in the future. https://kusama.subsquare.io/referenda/527
Proposal 526 in Kusama proposes to register the dUSD stablecoin on-chain and exchange 25,000 KSM in batches for dUSD stablecoin to achieve expenditure diversification and ecological return cycles! This proposal was put forward by Decent Partners, planning to exchange the idle 25,000 KSM in the Kusama treasury for approximately $400,000 worth of dUSD stablecoin in a fixed investment manner (over nearly 6 weeks, once every hour).
This operation will be used for:
Improve the stability of treasury assets and reduce volatility risks.
Support future expenditures on ecosystem projects directly using stablecoins.
Revenue from backflow fees creates a virtuous cycle within the ecosystem.
This exchange uses KSM previously injected into the Kusama treasury and the dUSD liquidity pool provided by Brale, and the community will recover 50% of the fees, with the actual cost, i.e., total fees estimated at only 0.15%.
At the same time, the proposal also suggests setting dUSD as a Sufficient Asset so that it can be directly used for transaction fees, supporting accounts with a 'zero KSM threshold', enhancing user experience.
PolkaWorld Note: dUSD is a USD stablecoin launched by the compliant issuance platform Brale in the US, pegged 1:1 to the USD. Unlike USDC and USDT, Brale returns interest earnings proportionally to community partners, such as Kusama's Kreivo and Kippu projects, allowing the value of the stablecoin to genuinely serve the ecosystem rather than being privatized by the platform. https://kusama.subsquare.io/referenda/526
Web3 Foundation researcher Jonas Gehrlein released a new RFC proposing to destroy 80% of the transaction fees generated by the relay chain and system parachains. https://x.com/BillLaboon/status/1924803693230051636
Ecosystem projects
🎧 Mubert × Polkadot: Reshaping the AI content economy with Web3!
Mubert is an AI music platform that has generated over 100 million tracks. Currently, there are over 1.5 million creators on the platform, widely used by brands like Canva, Adidas, and FIFA.
Currently, Mubert is connecting to Polkadot! It will develop a Rollup based on Polkadot, bringing transparent content ownership and real-time authorization mechanisms, re-empowering musicians, developers, and contributors providing data for AI. It provides AI generation and monetization tools for creators, developers, and enterprises, ensuring that data contributors can receive fair returns from each content generation. Based on Polkadot, Mubert automates, traces, and monetizes content creation, reconstructing the infrastructure of the creator economy. https://x.com/Polkadot/status/1925860768894828847
Mythical COO stated that in the next 2 to 12 weeks, we will witness significant progress driven by the Mythical Games ecosystem:
FIFA Rivals is about to launch early access!
NFLRivals will welcome its third season in August!
PudgyParty is set to launch globally this summer!
DMarket is having the best year ever!
NitroNationTour will also go global this summer!
Blankos Block Party is developing a mobile version!
The entire game ecosystem is built on Polkadot's Rollup Mythos chain! Polkadot is also expected to launch elastic scaling soon to provide multi-core usage for these high-demand chains! https://x.com/polkaworld_pro/status/1925003688760021355
Congratulations to Enjin for launching the Hyperbridge testnet! Hyperbridge verifies completely on-chain, removing reliance on off-chain trusted third parties, bringing secure and verifiable multi-chain interoperability to the Enjin network. The Hydration mainnet is about to launch, stay tuned! https://x.com/hyperbridge/status/1924450924346347777
Bifrost tweeted that users participating in the Energy webx Crowdloan through SALP failed to claim the first batch of $EWT rewards in March 2024 on time. This issue could not be resolved through a fully decentralized approach, so various solutions were explored in collaboration with partners, and it was finally resolved. The team sincerely apologizes for this delay and thanks community members for their patience and support. According to Energy Web's timeline, the final Crowdloan rewards are expected to be distributed around July 1. This distribution is a special case and does not represent the normal distribution process.
Additionally, the team looks forward to further cooperation with Energy webx, as indicated in its latest roadmap, planning to launch a staking pallet to lay the foundation for potential $vEWT LST. Stay tuned! https://x.com/Bifrost/status/1925491873415930356
An anonymous whale opposed the 1542 proposal (Polkadot GIGAHydration Campaign) proposed by Hydration this week with a voting power of 15 million DOT, causing its support rate to drop to 47.3%! https://polkadot.subsquare.io/referenda/1542
Hydration explained their proposal in this week's AAG program and addressed many community concerns. PolkaWorld has also compiled some key issues here:
1. What specific returns does this proposal bring to the Polkadot ecosystem?
Bringing more trading volume and integrations;
Help the Asset Hub gain stablecoin support;
Enable liquidity strategies that bring buying pressure;
Attract more developers and external funding;
Drive a 50% growth in TVL for projects like Bifrost.
2. Why should treasury funds bear all incentives?
Currently, Polkadot's TVL ranks 155th, in urgent need of improvement;
Other funding sources are currently not feasible;
Incentives are a necessary means to establish DeFi attractiveness.
Regarding this answer, there are still doubts from the guests present:
Incentives are useful, but whether they should be solely borne by the treasury is debatable;
If such incentive proposals become more frequent, we need to clarify support standards;
Should other projects be incentivized equally in the future?
3. Will 5 million DOT go down the drain?
It is unlikely, funds are expected to be recoverable in three to four months. Similar practices have been verified in other ecosystems and traditional industries (e.g., Optimism, Uber, China's infrastructure subsidies).
4. Does Hydration leverage funds to manipulate voting (e.g., vote for OpenGov)?
Proposal funds converted to VDOT→GigaDOT, cannot be used for voting;
Even with VDOT, it needs to be locked in Bifrost; the treasury is an agency account that cannot be operated;
If there is an attempt to manipulate voting, the community can completely 'turn it off';
So these funds will not affect the voting system.
5. Why are the top 20 incentive addresses all from the Hydration team?
Not a fact. Many are EVM addresses belonging to external funds;
Community members like Giraffe (from the Acala community) and SM (non-Hydration members) are also involved;
The same first four digits of addresses do not mean they are the same person;
'The Hydration team is eating the incentives' is a conspiracy theory.
6. Can we limit the maximum incentive amount that each wallet can receive?
This is technically meaningless;
Users can easily generate thousands of wallets to bypass restrictions;
If you want users to take risks to provide capital, you must offer returns;
Just like staking rewards cannot be restricted, otherwise no one will provide security.
7. Is the Hydration team 'milking' it? I heard that members of the Hydration team hold a large amount of AV DOT, is that self-serving?
Jacob personally responded.
I do hold about 25,600 AV DOT, but these are leveraged assets (looped position), not that much;
If I am the largest wallet, it means our ecosystem is too poor;
I love the products we create and don't want to dump DOT to buy luxury goods.
8. Will this proposal set a 'precedent' leading other projects to follow suit?
All incentives will be handled on a case-by-case basis;
This proposal clearly states the execution method, transparency, and operational boundaries;
Encourage other projects to also apply for incentives, but they must provide clear value.
9. How to view external criticism? (Summarized by multiple supporters):
It is recommended that everyone read the proposal content carefully and not just look at the title;
Focus the discussion on substantive content, and do not get caught up in conspiracy theories;
Instead of spending time creating FUD, it is better to build the ecosystem.
So far, PolkaWorld is still voting against it. In the dialogue with Hydration, they addressed most of our concerns, and only one question is still in an uncertain state - what are the benefits for the treasury and Polkadot DAO? (Because Polkadot DAO plays the role of investor, providing funds to Hydration)
According to their response at this week's AAG, they believe that the return on investment is to bring integration to the Polkadot Assets hub.
We continued to follow up on this issue to understand what the integration brings; currently, we have received the following response:
The goal of integration is:
- Kraken integration with Polkadot Assets hub stablecoins.
- Coinbase integration with Polkadot Assets hub stablecoins.
- Coinmarketcap integration with Hydration DEX.
- CoinGecko terminal integration with Hydration DEX.
Polkadot DAO, what do you think of this investment return?
