In This Article
- Tell us about Polkadot in 2025 and what's coming in the near future
- What is Polkadot’s long-term vision?
- Can you describe in a few words what Polkadot is?
- What is the vision behind Polkadot?
- What makes Polkadot different from other blockchains?
- In this context, what role does the DOT token play?
- What types of projects can be built on Polkadot?
- Could you mention some of the most notable projects currently built on Polkadot?
- How does Polkadot’s DAO work, and what makes it unique?
- What is the role of the Polkadot Community Foundation?
During one of Italy’s most important crypto events, ETHRome 2025, we had the pleasure of meeting Daniel Artamendi, co-founder of Devcult — a Developer Relations agency specializing in the Web3 and open-source ecosystem — who attended the event representing Polkadot.
Tell us about Polkadot in 2025 and what’s coming in the near future
In 2025, Polkadot reached a major milestone: its technology stack is complete. Over the past year, three core upgrades —Async Backing, Agile Coretime, and Elastic Scaling —have transformed Polkadot into a truly scalable, on-demand network. These advancements reduced block time to 6 seconds, increased throughput up to 10 times, and replaced fixed parachain slots with a flexible marketplace for purchasing compute resources.
Next, smart contracts are coming directly to Polkadot through PolkaVM, a high-performance virtual machine designed for verifiable, privacy-respecting applications.
Alongside this, new data dashboards, developer tooling, and EVM compatibility are making it easier than ever to build real, usable Web3 products on Polkadot.
What is Polkadot’s long-term vision?
In October 2025, Gavin Wood shared his renewed vision for Parity and Polkadot. Having delivered on the engineering goals set out in the original Polkadot paper, the focus now shifts to realizing the broader Web3 vision: creating technologies that empower individuals and societies of the future.
“People use products, not protocols” Gavin said. While Web3’s potential is immense, much of the ecosystem remains stuck in Web2 thinking, replicating SaaS models rather than creating truly Web3-native experiences. The result is often a terrible user experience, characterized by confusing interfaces, fragmented tools, and complexity that alienates everyday users. History shows that breakthrough technologies only achieve mass adoption when paired with intuitive design – ChatGPT transformed AI through accessibility, just as Nvidia brought advanced computing to everyday applications.
Parity’s and Polkadot’s new strategy reflects this understanding. With Gavin back at the helm, Parity is focused on building true Web3 products that prioritize data ownership, privacy, and user respect.
The mission is to create “joyful” experiences designed for people, not just developers or crypto enthusiasts. Positioning Polkadot as the “World Supercomputer” for the next generation of Web3 innovation.
Can you describe in a few words what Polkadot is?
Polkadot is a decentralized, interoperable blockchain founded by Ethereum co-founder Dr. Gavin Wood in May 2020. Built by Parity Technologies and backed by the Web3 Foundation, it enables multiple blockchains to interoperate securely and scale efficiently.
Known for its technical excellence, Polkadot is poised to become the “World Supercomputer” powering the next generation of Web3.
What is the vision behind Polkadot?
Co-founded by Dr. Gavin Wood, who coined the term “Web3,” Polkadot was built to realize the vision of Web3 and to solve blockchain interoperability from the start. Its unique architecture enables secure, scalable communication between blockchains, backed by shared security, the world’s largest on-chain governance DAO, and forkless upgrades. Polkadot powers high-throughput applications (holding the record for the most transfers per second) and real-world use cases across tokenized assets, gaming, social infrastructure, and more.
What makes Polkadot different from other blockchains?
Bitcoin gave us digital scarcity. Ethereum gave us programmable money. Polkadot takes the next step: it provides the foundation for a network-of-networks, where entire blockchains can specialize, scale, and communicate securely. Technically, Polkadot is modular, asynchronous, and parallel by design. However, it’s not about competing for users or liquidity; it’s about creating a Web3 that can outgrow corporate control and deliver products that couldn’t exist in Web2.
In this context, what role does the DOT token play?
DOT is the coordination layer of Polkadot. It powers governance, secures the network through staking, and grants access to coretime. More importantly, it aligns incentives around stewardship rather than speculation. As Gavin Wood recently said, the era of marketing tokens to sell technology is coming to an end. DOT’s value will increasingly come from what it enables: real, useful products that people rely on.
What types of projects can be built on Polkadot?
Polkadot supports a full range of Web3 verticals, especially teams pursuing ambitious or innovative projects that can’t be built elsewhere. Teams on Polkadot aim for long-term viability, whether creating their own ecosystem or leveraging shared security, interoperability, flexible economics, and the Polkadot SDK. The introduction of smart contracts to Polkadot will enable broader, more accessible innovation.
Traction is growing across enterprise, gaming, RWAs, DeFi, and DePINs (Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks)
Could you mention some of the most notable projects currently built on Polkadot?
Of course. Several projects are gaining traction by building on Polkadot’s infrastructure. Here are a few examples:
- Hydration – A DeFi platform leveraging Polkadot to provide innovative financial products with secure, scalable infrastructure.
- Peaq – Uses Polkadot to power decentralized machine-to-machine economies, enabling IoT networks to transact autonomously.
- BitFrost – Harnesses Polkadot’s interoperability to offer seamless, cross-chain decentralized finance services.
- Energy Web X – Builds on Polkadot to integrate renewable energy assets and decentralized energy trading with transparency and efficiency.
- OriginTrail – Leverages Polkadot for AI-driven supply chain logistics, ensuring secure, transparent, and interoperable data exchange.
- Mythical Games – Uses Polkadot to power blockchain-enabled gaming ecosystems, creating scalable, interoperable, and player-owned experiences.
How does Polkadot’s DAO work, and what makes it unique?
Polkadot operates as the world’s largest DAO and the only major Web3 protocol in which all governance is approved and conducted entirely on-chain, alongside forkless runtime upgrades. Every token-holder (approximately 1.5m) has the ability to participate in full on-chain governance.
- The Polkadot Treasury, funded by on-chain transactions, block production rewards, etc, releases funds when successful applications are made. A request for funds is deemed successful when DOT holders vote in favour of a proposal through a process in which their tokens are locked up for a set period. All such requests for Treasury funding form part of what is known as OpenGov in the Polkadot ecosystem. OpenGov is the sovereign chamber of the Polkadot network, where every DOT holder can participate, vote, and shape the future of the ecosystem. It is also the on-chain initiative through which all technical updates are handled.
- “The Decentralized Voices (DV) program empowers broader community participation in Polkadot OpenGov by delegating 42 million DOT of voting power. It amplifies the voices of passionate, knowledgeable participants who may lack significant DOT holdings, aiming to mitigate potential marginalization.
- The Bounty system features specialist curators who consider funding requests for areas such as Events and Marketing.
What is the role of the Polkadot Community Foundation?
The Polkadot Community Foundation (PCF), incorporated in the Cayman Islands, operates under the guidance of DOT holders through OpenGov. It serves as an optional off-chain entity that enables OpenGov to carry out essential functions such as signing commercial contracts, handling fiat payments, managing intellectual property, and engaging third-party service providers like consultants.
Notably, the PCF has no shareholders, members, trustees, or beneficiaries whose interests could conflict with those of the DOT holders, ensuring that its activities remain fully aligned with the goals and values of the Polkadot community.
In short, Polkadot’s DAO represents a new model of decentralized coordination, one where governance, funding, and execution operate in harmony, transparently, and fully on-chain.
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