Hello again Crypto gears. I think the title of my class says it all, today we will learn about this ecosystem that is called to change the world and the way we know Blockchain. Later you will know why I call it Ethereum's contender.

Let's get it!

![0.PNG](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmPP4vQWqW2pTXQQFuj5zWEWwKCkpEnYxu1tkfvY7ZnwGC/0.PNG) _{Image edited by me in Powerpoint}

I hadn't originally planned this first part of the class, but because of how Polkadot's price has been behaving the last few days, I think it's worth mentioning.

You may not know this but teachers have all their classes prepared since before the start of the season, so by the time I prepared this class I hadn't planned for this to happen.

![1.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmWGdLYLjoebKUFkXs2zzXdEZsb1uCtKZHr46nbWqsq3vR/1.png) _{Image taken from Tradingview ^Source}

Naturally, I have confidence in the project (otherwise I would not have chosen it for my class), I knew this would happen but in trading, you never know for sure when a bullish rally like this has to happen.

This is a result of a wonderful project with great momentum.

![sep.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQme1KVGrKDBkxD7JBpp4vQEgSMFPSnV25df1yAbA4c5ApN/sep.png)

What is Polkadot?

Polkadot is a scalable, interoperable and secure network protocol that aims to enable information transfer between blockchains of any type and solve scalability issues. It was created by one of the founding members of Ethereum "Gavin Wood" between 2016 and 2020.

![2.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmNVkSKFnqePtEGFerQBAznxfm2sX3MJrHJe1XXcLNjQGM/2.png) _{Image taken from: ^Source}

Polkadot is a multi-blockchain platform that was designed to:

*1-Offer scalability solutions.*

*2-(What I like the most) Enable communication between all existing external blockchains.*

One thing we should know about blockchains is that although they are wonderful, in reality, each one speaks its own language operating in isolation, and will not necessarily be able to interconnect with each other. Polkadot seeks to solve this problem.

This project seeks to solve these problems with one of the most complex infrastructures in existence today. Through the Polkadot network, it seeks to connect several chains in a single network that allows them to process transactions in parallel and exchange data with each other.

Polkadot's native token is called DOT, which is priced at 41.8 USD at the time of writing this post; it serves to provide network governance and as a currency to perform transactions.

Additionally, the project has over $41 billion in market capitalization and over 987 million shares circulating. It is a large project ranked #8 in the Coin Market cap ranking.

What is the Polkadot Ecosystem?

The Polkadot ecosystem is made up of dozens of projects that operate within its network and are based on its technology. However, instead of naming them one by one (which is up to you to research), I think it is more convenient to learn about how this ecosystem works and how it has become so efficient.

Polkadot is built on a protocol called "Substrate", which allows developers to create and customize blockchain projects. The main advantage of this is compatibility, as all blockchain projects and applications based on Polkadot can communicate, transact and transfer data with other external projects that are also based on the "Substrate" protocol.

Apart from this, perhaps the most important thing is the architecture of the network, as it is a fragmented blockchain. This basically means that it is a blockchain that has been divided into numerous components responsible for different functions.

Transactions and also all kinds of operations can be distributed along different chains, which allows parallel processing or in other words many more transactions in the same period of time.

![3.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmegHSnJjpQ9uAMrieutg43GFPyvw7Dgr2sqQrYUTnEYn2/3.png) _{Image taken from Tradingview ^Source}

In the case of Polkadot, these different separate chains are called Parachains. Each Parachain is a blockchain in itself and can have different functionalities own its own governance type and its own tokens.

***Polkadot is many blockchains within one blockchain.***

Parachains can connect to other networks within the Polkadot ecosystem through the so-called "Relay Chain" or main Polkadot blockchain, which is the heart of Polkadot and is responsible for shared security, consensus, and interoperability between chains.

There are also so-called "Bridges", which are special blockchains that allow the Parachains of the Polkadot ecosystem to communicate with other external chains such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, among others.

What are Parachains?

As I said, parachains are parallel blockchains, whose function is to avoid saturating the Relay Chain. These can be seen as a branch of the Relay Chain on which the different projects that make up the ecosystem operate.

They are such a breakthrough in the Blockchain world!

One interesting thing is that for a project to have access to a Parachain, it must first participate in an auction.

***How do these auctions work?***

- First a Crowd Loan is generated where blockchain users who support any of the bidding projects lend their Dot tokens to the project so that the bidding can be as high as possible.

- Dot tokens can be blocked for a defined period between 3 months to a maximum of 2 years.

Here are some results of the auctions that closed on October 13 within Kusama, which is Polkadot's canary network:

![4.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmRHaX6N7tZXQ7exJtyLpjjwaDFL2DhV2okPBdRBaoUyqH/4.png) _{Image taken from Tradingview ^Source}

![5.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmSzgLN7s7Z2eaFdywzo5ycx1ypLo1ihpTdya9RnfiSa6F/5.png) _{Image taken from Tradingview ^Source}

Future Projects and Developments

![6a.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmW16aTiVDcDgx2LUhZNqi98Gi1NLqqBGF4bd6EaH4nF5t/6a.png) _{Image taken from Tradingview ^Source}

**Decentralized Web 3.0**

On November 11, 2021, a new phase of Parachains auctions is planned to start. So far it is known that Polkadot plans to execute 100 Parachains, but initially, there are no plans to auction all 100 Parachains. No other dates have been confirmed so far.

![6.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmajpYk8GF86LBG6yGnH3KCSiYRZU6PSZAshjqCpBh6fEy/6.png) _{Image taken from Tradingview ^Source}

Advantages over Ethereum

In 2016 Gavin Wood left Ethereum to according to him, "deliver on the promises they had not been able to keep", so he started working on an ideal platform that would solve all the problems present in Ethereum. This sparked a sort of race between blockchains to see which is the best.

| Ethereum | Polkadot | | --------|---------| | Due to its architecture, Ethereum is a very saturated and rather slow network | Polkadot has through its parachains parallel processing, which is much faster and eliminates saturation problems| | Low scalability, transactions are processed one by one |Higher scalability, several independent transactions | | High fees | Low fees in comparison | | Fork Upgrades | Forkless Upgrades without the need to fork, i.e. new versions are compatible and can interact with previous versions| | Projects isolated to the Ethereum network| Interoperability between external blockchains |

![sep.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQme1KVGrKDBkxD7JBpp4vQEgSMFPSnV25df1yAbA4c5ApN/sep.png)

CONCLUSION

Definitely, Polkadot has a lot of relevance in today's world. I could add many more things about Polkadot but the post would become almost endless. Here I wanted to summarize some of the most outstanding aspects of Polkadot and that in my opinion make it a totally different project from the rest.

It is still very difficult to assess Polkadot's potential, partly because of its enormous complexity but also because it is in a relatively early stage of development, however, many investors are very optimistic and believe that Polkadot could eventually dethrone Ethereum.

One of the biggest risks is the existence of very similar projects that could represent solid competition, such as Ethereum 2.0 and Cardano which have similar goals, plus there are Dfinity and Avalanche, which over time could become a major threat.

In the end, more than the technology behind a project the most important thing is its network effect, how many people use it, and what kind of projects are developed within a given blockchain.

We can't deny that the technology is very attractive and the Polkadot team is extremely brilliant. Personally, I must mention that it is worth taking a closer look at it and follow its development closely.

Finally, remember again the use of the new title format that is being used since week 2, which for our case is:

**Polkadot ecosystem, the Ethereum’s Contender - Crypto Academy / S4W7 - Homework Post for @allbert**

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Homework Task (Season 4/Week-7)

Choose a Project, platform or service belonging to the Polkadot Ecosystem (Polkadot not permitted) and make a detailed post, which must comply with the following aspects:

1-Explain in your own words why you chose it and why do you think it is relevant to the world?

2- Description of the project and its platform. (Screenshots needed)

3- Functionalities and real-life applications. (Screenshots needed)

4- Future development and associated projects. (Screenshots needed)

5- Make a technical analysis of the token of the selected platform, then through your validated exchange account make the purchase of the token (15 USD as a minimum). Screenshots and an explanation of the procedure are required.

- Important: Creativity and originality will be key factors to take into consideration.

- I also expect justified logical analyses of the importance and relevance of your selected projects and not just numerical data.

Guidelines

- Make sure you post in the Steemit Crypto Academy community.

- Be Original!!! Refrain from copy any else posts and ideas. Be creative. The content is certainly the same, but the way of presenting it is unique.

- Your article should be at least 400 words.

- Refrain from spam/plagiarism. Plagiarism of any kind won't be tolerated.

- This task requires screenshot(s) of your own experience, add a watermark on it with your username. Also, use images from copyright-free sources and showcase the source, if any.

- This homework task will run from 00:00 October 18th to 23:59 October 23rd, Time UTC. (7:59 pm hora Venezuela)

- Avoid editing the post after the deadline. Otherwise, your post will not be accepted.

- Users having a reputation of 60 or above, and having a minimum SP of 400 (excluding any delegated-in SP) are eligible to partake in this Task. (Must not be powering it down)

- Add tag #allbert-s4week7 #cryptoacademy among the first five tags in this order. You can also use other relevant tags like your country tag. Also, tag me as @allbert in any part of your post.

- Please use the tags correctly, do not write them down but rather copy them directly from this publication. If you use the tags incorrectly or make a typographical error we will not be able to locate your assignment.

- Please don’t leave your homework link on the comment section unless your post hasn’t been graded within 48 hours.

- If you have any doubts about Homework Task, feel free to join the comment section

![sep.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQme1KVGrKDBkxD7JBpp4vQEgSMFPSnV25df1yAbA4c5ApN/sep.png)

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