A transaction of 922.57 DOT for Coretime has triggered a deeper contradiction within the @Polkadot ecosystem:

The biggest advantage of the Polkadot network — cheap and high-quality block space — may also be its biggest economic challenge. 🧵

From a developer's perspective, Polkadot provides lower-cost and higher-quality block space for rollups compared to top-tier @ethereum L2s, which is seen as a major highlight: low barrier to entry, high performance.

But from an investor's perspective, Coretime is the only realizable product in Polkadot, and many believe it is severely undervalued.

Let’s take a look at some numbers 🧮:

If Polkadot operates 250 cores, with the Treasury spending $100 million a year, then each core needs to generate $400,000 in revenue per year, which is about $30,769 every 28 days, to break even.

If in the future JAM replaces the relay chain, using 330 cores, then each core would need to generate about $300,000 per year (i.e., approximately $23,000 every 28 days) to cover part of the inflationary issuance cost of DOT.

At the same time, Polkadot's “automatic renewal” mechanism allows rollups to retain cores indefinitely as long as they accept a 3% monthly price increase, without having to re-bid — completely bypassing market competition.

Polkadot has always been known for its cutting-edge technology, but to achieve long-term growth for the ecosystem, relying solely on technology is not enough; a robust economic engine is also needed.

What do you think?

Can low-cost access and long-term sustainability really coexist in a single system? 🤔

Whether you are a developer or a DOT holder, feel free to share your thoughts!

Check out PolkaWorld's latest article for more information 《Polkadot Coretime 被低估了吗？最新核心又以 922 DOT 的价格售出！》 #Polkadot