Polkadot’s Impending Launch – Katal
Polkadot’s Impending Launch Reminiscent of Ethereum
At the heart of the engine fueling the narrative in crypto is reconciling open financial protocols with applications that are accessible and inclusive to the billions of unbanked people in the world. Blockchain-based finance has become a microcosm for a broader foray into the “Web 3.0” by next-generation blockchain platforms, which are seeking to upend the conventional tech paradigm with unstoppable applications.
Similar to the anticipation surrounding Ethereum’s launch in 2015, Polkadot has become the new flagbearer for the push into the Internet’s next iteration, and the expectations and build-up are palpable. Polkadot represents the culmination of extensive efforts by numerous projects in the space to bring about a fundamentally decisive component of blockchains — interoperability.
In terms of what TCP/IP and standardized protocols did for the Internet, blockchains have been missing the crucial thread that stitches together a patchwork of independent networks, exchanges, and liquidity.
Many observers view the technology as being on the precipice of a similar accomplishment.
The expectations are that Polkadot can breach the barrier holding crypto back from its full potential, and is eerily reminiscent of the allure surrounding Ethereum when it took blockchains from a stripped-down network for a fixed monetary policy (i.e., Bitcoin) to a Turing-complete smart contracts network in 2015.
Polkadot’s Anticipation & Expectations Are More Profound Than Ethereum
It was virtually impossible to project what Ethereum would become in the run-up to the first official ICO for the legacy smart contracts network.
The success lies in the technological arena that Ethereum broached the conversation around, revealing the vast, untapped potential of blockchain-based finance and applications that run on a decentralized back-end, namely their censorship-resistance.
Ethereum’s dominance among smart contracts platforms also revealed the negative consequence of networks effects — isolated network environments.
Transferring value between blockchain networks is challenging from a UI perspective, time-consuming, and requires immense development, such as the Peggy zone and Ethermint in Cosmos to Ethereum.
However therein lies the anticipation of Polkadot, threading together value transfer and messaging standardization across blockchains and in the process fostering better liquidity, UX, and development capabilities.
In a free market of blockchain networks and cryptocurrencies, Polkadot will reveal whether the game really is winner-take-all or winner-takes-most.
Pushing For Tangible Results
The Web 3.0 is hailed as the iteration of the contemporary web where data impropriety is removed from the control of big tech firms, censorship is a bygone notion of the past, and access to financial and computational resources are at the tips of every Internet user.
Blockchains are the manifestation of this vision, supplying the type of decentralization and value transfer that are necessary for a new market to emerge for applications that can capture users from the current paradigm.
At Katal, we believe Polkadot to be the beginning of the tangible value capture of Web 3.0 applications, and view cross-blockchain settlement as one of the core innovations that can wield the power of Polkadot’s technology. Blockchain-based finance relies heavily on interoperability.
The impending launch of Polkadot feels similar to Ethereum’s 2015 origins, but the technology, stage, and expectations are decidedly different this time around.
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Published at Wed, 30 Oct 2019 15:51:39 +0000
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