Gavin Wood, a co-founder of Ethereum who also created the now-common phrase Web3, founded Polkadot. Wood and Peter Czaban launched the Web3 Foundation in 2017 after releasing the white paper on Polkadot in 2016. By selling DOT tokens, the organization subsequently raised $145 million for the protocol's development. 2019 saw yet another private sale.
The Polkadot network originally went live in May 2020, and other technological updates came out in the months that followed. When five parachains were made available in December 2021, Polkadot was regarded as having been completely launched.
With Polkadot, even blockchain designs with great differences may communicate with one another. This is because Polkadot is a network of networks. Parachains, or customised blockchains with their own features and currencies, are how it does this. The network was created as a result of the Ouroboros protocol, which also served as an inspiration for Cardano and used the same proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus process (ADA).
The parachains are basically proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchains that may function independently and have extensive owner customization. They concentrate on software with specialized features and self-contained programming logic. These chains act as the network's governance layer and as a management tool. The relay chain is in charge of reaching consensus and making sure that transactions are carried out; it verifies data and makes sure it is comprehensible.
Additionally, Polkadot has bridges that link blockchains and enable data transmission across them. Interoperability is established through bridges. Additionally, it may be utilized to link up with other networks like Ethereum and Bitcoin (BTC). Parathreads, a scaled-down form of parachains that operates on a pay-as-you-go basis, is another component of the network. For blockchains that don't require constant access to the Polkadot network, it is helpful.
Polkadot is regarded by many as one of the most promising networks of the future because it aims to provide a basis for how value is exchanged online. The initiative may still be in its early stages, but there are a lot of encouraging signs that point to the possibility that the direction it has taken may become the norm for value exchange.
Compared to Ethereum's 30 transactions per second, Polkadot can process an estimated 1,000 transactions per second. Polkadot's transaction throughput may be capped at 1 million transactions per second.
As of 2022, millions of transactions have been processed on parachains.