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Polkadot’s founder announces steps toward full decentralization with new governance model

Gavin Wood said that he seeks to transform the Polkadot blockchain into a full technocracy.

Live from Polkadot Decoded in Buenos Aires on Wednesday, Polkadot (DOT) and Kusama founder Gavin Wood announced that the blockchain's governance model would undergo a new transformation. Dubbed Gov2, anyone would be able to start a referendum at any time for as many times as they wish in the new setup, similar to initiating new transactions on the blockchain.

Thereafter, pending referenda need 50% of the vote from stakeholders within 28 days' time for approval or face rejection by default. Participants can also intervene and launch timely cancellation proposals, which require similar voting procedures, in the event that technical glitches are discovered within the referenda, themselves. Passive voters, t can specify a different delegate for every class of referendum in the system in a process known as multirole delegation.

Wood said there will be a new body, dubbed the Polkadot Fellowship, composed of technical experts who have the power to shorten referenda voting times in the event of time-sensitive matters. Overall, several tenets would remain invariant from the previous governance model. First, 50% of the total stake in the system will be allowed to command the system's future. Greater weight will also be given to those willing to lock their tokens in the system for a longer durationin a process known as conviction voting. Finally, a committee will also remain to oversee the blockchain's technocratic developments.

As told by Gavin, the changes will reflect the flaws of centralization and one referendum at a time voting system present in Polkadot's original governance model. Gov2 is set to launch on Kusama imminently, following afinal professional audit of its code. Once tested on Kusama, a proposal will be made to bridge it to Polkadot.

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Bitfrost releases upgraded SALP 2.0 after protocol helped secure $450M via parachain auctions

The move comes after 18 Polkadot parachain auctions were secured on the original SALP protocol.

On Friday, Bitfrost, a Web 3.0 derivatives protocol that provides decentralized cross-chain liquidity for staked assets, launched the updated Slot Liquidity Auction Protocol dubbed "SALP 2.0." Projects such as Moonbeam, Unique network, OAK network, Polkadex, etc., held their parachain crowdloans on Kusama and Polkadot via the original SALP. A total of 8,834,746 vsKSM ($439 million) and 3,045,564 vsDOT ($21 million) was minted through the protocol.

The SALP protocol works by releasing the liquidity of tokens staked during an auction; liquid derivatives such as vsDOT and vsKSM are issued on a 1:1 basis for the tokens staked. Both vsDOT and vsKSM can be used for decentralized finance, or DeFi, applications, and rewards throughout the ecosystem as long as the native tokens remain locked for the duration of the parachain lease.

This avoids the opportunity cost of locking their coins. However, the new SALP 2.0 allows users to obtain liquid tokens via direct investment, not just via crowdloan participation. Tyrone Pan, head of development at Bifrost, commented:

"The upgrading of SALP 2.0 is generating a Bond market for Crowdloan assets, improving the efficiency of vsToken & vsBond liquidity while lowering the threshold for users. This model not only facilitates Crowdloan users to manage derivatives, but also cleverly combines Crowdloan with DeFi."

Liquid staking is a relatively new phenomenon in the DeFi realm, mainly born to allow users to recover potential opportunity costs while staking their assets. The potential downside is their vulnerability to the changes in underlying assets as they are classified as DeFi derivatives. 

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Polkadot (DOT) Test Network Kusama (KSM) Falters Despite Surprise Coinbase Listing Announcement

Polkadot (DOT) Test Network Kusama (KSM) Falters Despite Surprise Coinbase Listing Announcement

Polkadot (DOT) canary test network Kusama (KSM) is down 13% over the last 24 hours despite a listing announcement from Coinbase. Yesterday, the US-based exchange giant announced upcoming support for KSM once appropriate liquidity conditions are met. “Trading will begin on or after 9AM PT Thurs June 2, if liquidity conditions are met. Once sufficient […]

The post Polkadot (DOT) Test Network Kusama (KSM) Falters Despite Surprise Coinbase Listing Announcement appeared first on The Daily Hodl.

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$19.2 Billion in Staked Assets — Liquid Staking Solution Lido Set to Surpass Curve’s TVL

.2 Billion in Staked Assets — Liquid Staking Solution Lido Set to Surpass Curve’s TVLWhile the total value locked (TVL) in decentralized finance (defi) hovers just above the $214 billion mark, a defi protocol called Lido has been moving closer toward taking Curve’s top spot in terms of TVL in a defi protocol. Currently, the liquid staking solution Lido has $19.2 billion in staking assets derived from five different […]

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Interlay aims to advance Bitcoin’s DeFi potential with new interoperable bridge

Interlay was the recipient of an up-to-$100,000 Web3 Foundation grant in March 2020 to develop the parachain technology implemented.

Interlay, a newly appointed Polkadot (DOT) parachain network, is nearing the completion of a two-year Bitcoin (BTC) bridge development project on Polkadot, with the launch announcement on its sandbox platform Kusama.

Additionally, Interlay has integrated a Wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC) digital asset, known as kBTC, on their Canary parachain Kintsugi. The asset is already available for trading on other Polkadot parachains Karura, governed by Acala, and Moonriver, governed by Moonbeam.

It is expected that Interlay will seek to deploy its technology across both Cosmos and Ethereum during the coming year to enhance interoperability between chains.

Alexei Zamyatin, the co-founder and CEO of Interlay, stated:

“There is 14 billion USD worth of Bitcoin ‘DeFi’ on Ethereum, controlled by a handful of centralized custodians, behind KYC, with no remedy for users or DApps if something goes wrong. Even big players like Maker, Compound and Aave implicitly trust a few tradiFi institutions."

The initial development of this project was financially supported by an undisclosed, up-to-$100,000 Web3 Foundation grant issued in March 2020.

Related: How Polkadot’s parachain auctions make a decentralized Web3 possible

Following this, the interoperability project was the subject of two capital raises, both a $3 million seed round in July 2021 and a Series A $6.5 million round in December 2021. At the time of the latter, the founder of CEO of lead contributor DFG Capital, James Wo stated that Interlay's solution will "expand the cross-chain possibilities for Bitcoin."

In February, Interlay was announced among the winners of Polkadot's tenth parachain auction slot, securing in excess of 2.7 million DOT tokens from nearly 20,000 participants. 

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2 metrics signal traders do not expect $2T crypto market cap anytime soon

Despite only one coin among the top-80 declining over the past week, Tether and futures premiums show a lack of excitement in the market.

Cryptocurrencies failed to break the 42-day long downtrend after the $1.95 trillion capitalization resistance was rejected on March 20. Even though Bitcoin (BTC) gained a modest 3.7% over the past seven days, altcoins presented a robust rally.

Crypto markets' aggregate capitalization showed a 6.2% increase to $1.92 trillion between March 14-21. Such performance was positively impacted by Ether's (ETH) 14% gains, Cardano (ADA) increasing 13%, and Solana (SOL) gaining 10%.

Total crypto market cap, USD billion. Source: TradingView

While those assets were not the biggest weekly gains among the top-80 coins, Ether may have fueled investors' expectations after Glassnode's on-chain data showed that ETH balances on crypto exchanges reached their lowest levels since 2018.

Comparing the winners and losers provides skewed results as only two names presented negative performances over the past seven days:

Weekly winners and losers among the top-80 coins. Source: Nomics

Ethereum Classic (ETC) rallied 51% after the HebeSwap decentralized exchange application surpassed $290 million in total value locked. With liquidity pools growing on the protocol, Ethereum Classic appears to have a decentralized finance (DeFi) hub of its own.

AAVE gained 35% following its v3 liquidity pool upgrade on March 16, adding cross-chain asset functionality, a community contribution tool, and a gas optimization model. Several wallet-based decentralized applications (DApps) will be integrated, including Instadapp, Debank, 1Inch, Paraswap, Zapper, DeFisaver, Zerion and more.

Kusama (KSM) gained 31% after Parity Technology confirmed that it will enable parachain (sidechain) swaps on the upcoming 0.9.18 release. Moreover, Manta Network's on-chain privacy Dolphin Testnet reached 30,000 transactions on March 14.

Tether premium shows slight discomfort

The OKX Tether (USDT) premium is a good gauge of China-based retail trader crypto demand. It measures the difference between China-based peer-to-peer trades and the U.S. dollar.

Excessive buying demand tends to pressure the indicator above fair value at 100%, and during bearish markets, Tether's market offer is flooded, causing a 4% or higher discount.

Tether (USDT) peer-to-peer vs. USD/CNY. Source: OKX

Currently, the Tether premium stands at 99.9%, its lowest level since March 3. While distant from retail panic selling, the indicator showed a modest deterioration over the past week.

Still, weaker retail demand is not worrisome as it partially reflects the total cryptocurrency capitalization, which is down 46% year-to-date.

Futures markets show mixed sentiment

Perpetual contracts, also known as inverse swaps, have an embedded rate usually charged every eight hours. Exchanges use this fee to avoid exchange risk imbalances.

A positive funding rate indicates that longs (buyers) demand more leverage. However, the opposite situation occurs when shorts (sellers) require additional leverage, causing the funding rate to turn negative.

Accumulated perpetual futures funding rate on March 21. Source: Coinglass

As depicted above, the accumulated seven-day funding rate is slightly positive for Bitcoin and Ether. This data indicates slightly higher demand from longs (buyers), but it is insignificant. For example, Solana's positive 0.20% weekly rate equals 0.8% per month, which should not be a concern for most futures traders.

On the other hand, both Terra (LUNA) and Polkadot (DOT) futures showed slightly more demand from shorts (sellers). Thus, the absence of Tether demand in Asia and mixed perpetual contract premiums signal a lack of confidence from traders despite the recent price gains.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk. You should conduct your own research when making a decision.

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