Amidst the anticipation and the spotlight, Polkadot, the decentralized storage network, finally released its first parachain today. The platform looks ready to start the long-awaited parachain auctions on 11/11, with hundreds of projects vying for the top spot on blockchain.
Polkadot’s team announced on Twitter that Referendum 41 (referendum) has been adopted by the DOT hodler, register a shell parachain on Polkadot, which will “ensure block production, inclusion, and finalization”.
“The Shell parachain has extremely limited functionality: it does not even have the notion of accounts. Shell only accepts messages from the Relay Chain to upgrade itself to something else.”
Polkadot’s first parachain has been added ?
Referendum 41 has passed registering the Shell parachain on Polkadot, to ensure block production, inclusion, and finalization. The Shell parachain has extremely limited functionality: it does not even have the notion of accounts.
— Polkadot (@Polkadot) November 5, 2021
Polkadot is designed to connect different blockchains in a “multi-chain network”, allowing them to communicate and secure the pool. These application sub-specific chains are known as parachains, which connects to the underlying platform, called Relay Chain. Unlike layer 1 chains, typically Ethereum, which allows users to build directly on the base layer, Polkadot’s Relay Chain is responsible for providing security for its parachain network.
“Shell can eventually be upgraded to Statemint with another referendum after the disputes code is active. If passed by Council, the motion will go to a public referendum”, Polkadot added.
The protocol’s developers explained in a May post that Shell parachain as an “empty” parachain whose primary function is to allow itself to be upgraded to Relay Chain commands.
Now that the first parachain has been launched, the next step in the journey to becoming truly multi-chain is to upgrade the Shell to Statemint. It will be released after parachain is up and running for 24 hours without any issues arising.
When Shell parachain launches, Polkadot can move forward with highly anticipated parachain auctions, will allow developers to register their projects on parachain and get crowdloan funding for them.
The network will host one auction each week, with the first batch running for five weeks.
Several projects are vying for a launch slot on Polkadot, such as Ethereum-compatible smart contracts, Moonbeam, and Acala Network.
Since Polkadot’s DOT will be widely used in these auctions for voting, bidding, and staking, the token has been in price discovery mode for a while. Yesterday’s launch of parachain auctions coincided with DOT hitting a new ATH of $54.98 as excitement on the network increased.
Although it has since dropped 4.7% and is trading at $52.3 at press time, but this could only be seen as the beginning of a price boom as the excitement surrounding the auctions will continue throughout this month.
Source: TradingView
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