Following the success of two installments of the Kusama parachain slot auctions, where more than $1 billion worth of KSM tokens have been contributed and locked by the global community, Polkadot has revealed their plans to roll out the highly-anticipated parachain slot auctions.
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Polkadot's Parachain Slot Auctions
With all winning projects on Kusama currently in their respective phases of the five-phase rollout process, the Polkadot team spearheaded by Gavin Wood has announced that Polkadot parachain slot auctions will most likely start on November 11, 2021, and continue until March 2022. Per the Proposal for First Parachain Auctions on Polkadot, the blockchain intends to follow the same pattern for Polkadot auctions as Kusama, with one auction taking place every two weeks for a total of 11 auctions over two batches.
Polkadot’s parachains are individual layer-1 blockchains that can run in parallel and share data, thus offering a truly multi-chain and fully interoperable ecosystem where other layer-1 chains like Bitcoin and Ethereum can connect seamlessly. Polkadot will only support a limited number of parachains, which is why there’s so much at stake.
Following the announcement, Polkadot’s native token DOT shot through the roof, reaching $45 for the first time in five months, foreshadowing the intense competition approaching for the limited slots. While several promising projects are bidding for the slots, it is essential to note that all of the projects that won slots in the recent Kusama auctions had extensive community support. Accordingly, there is a higher possibility that these projects will have a competitive edge over others in the upcoming Polkadot parachain slot auctions.
Frontrunners In The First Batch Of Polkadot Auctions
Manta Network
The first project that we want to talk about is Manta Network. DeFi is witnessing explosive growth, which has increased the need for better privacy features. Manta Network, the privacy-preserving DeFi stack built on Polkadot, addresses this need via its plug-and-play protocols based on Substrate frameworks. By using zk-SNARK, Manta Network ensures end-to-end anonymity, high throughput, and high cross-chain interoperability.
Manta Network is backed by prominent investors like Polychain Capital, CoinFund, ParaFi Capital, Spartan Group, CMS Holdings, and LongHash Ventures. Other than institutional backing, Manta Network’s sister network Calamari Network has also received significant community support. Per reports, over 16,000 contributors locked 218,246.6461 KSM tokens through the Calamari crowdloan initiative, helping the project secure the seventh slot in the Kusama parachain slot auctions.
KILT Protocol
The next project on our list is destined to revolutionize Web 3.0. Amidst the surging demand for decentralized solutions that offer data privacy and data protection, KILT Protocol has established itself as an open-source blockchain protocol for issuing self-sovereign, anonymous and verifiable credentials. In contrast to existing peer-to-peer solutions, KILT features self-sovereign data and revocable credentials that employ blockchain technology.
KILT has received tremendous support from the community, as 12,211 community members contributed and locked more than 220,000 KSM to help the platform win the sixth round of the Kusama parachain slot auctions. As KILT continues to roll out new functionalities on Kusama, the platform has emerged as the most preferred solution for decentralized identities and verifiable credentials for all projects within the Polkadot ecosystem.
Moonbeam Network
Next up on our list is a project that is currently dominating the Polkadot DeFi ecosystem. Moonbeam Network, an Ethereum-compatible smart contract platform built on Polkadot, has massive plans for both itself and Polkadot. By enabling Solidity smart contracts on Polkadot and ensuring full EVM compatibility, developers using Moonbeam can migrate their Ethereum-based dApps without any code changes, allowing them to leverage Polkadot’s high throughput, low cost, scalability, and unmatched interoperability.
Backed by more than 10,000 community members who locked in 205,935 KSM for the Kusama auctions, Moonbeam’s sister network Moonriver is currently live on Kusama. Several promising decentralized projects across many sectors have already started using Moonriver for their products and solutions, helping the platform cross $106 million in total value locked (TVL). Moonriver currently supports automated market makers, liquidity protocols, assets/issuance platforms, NFT platforms, DeFi products, oracles, bridges, blockchain-based games, and crypto betting apps.
Centrifuge
Centrifuge is another powerful project to look out for, as it brings real-world liquidity to DeFi, helping the growing sector tap into a multi-billion dollar industry. By connecting lenders and borrowers transparently and cost-effectively, Centrifuge unlocks economic opportunity for all, free of intermediaries and the inefficiencies of traditional finance. Using Centrifuge’s decentralized asset financing protocol, anyone can tokenize their real-world assets (invoices, royalties, real estate, etc.) and use it as collateral to access financing via Tinlake, Centrifuge’s asset-backed lending dApp.
The project is backed by prominent investors like Fenbushi, IOSG, Fintech Collective, Crane Venture Partners, Moonwhale, and others. Additionally, Centrifuge’s sister network Altair has also received significant community support that helped it win the ninth round of the Kusama auctions. According to reports, 18,342 community members locked more than 187,000 KSM to help Centrifuge secure the slot for Altair.
Acala
Acala is another exciting project to look out for. As the first winner of the Kusama parachain slot auctions, Acala’s sister network Karura has received tremendous support from the community, increasing Acala’s chances to secure a slot in the first batch of auctions. A total of 20,779 community members contributed 501,137.66 KSM to help Karura win the first-ever parachain slot rather convincingly.
Dubbed as the DeFi and liquidity hub for Polkadot, Acala is a layer-1 smart contract platform offering full compatibility with Ethereum alongside out-of-the-box cross-chain capabilities and robust security. The Acala network will also offer a suite of financial applications, including a trustless staking derivative (liquid DOT and liquid KSM), an AMM DEX, and a multi-collateralized stablecoin backed by cross-chain assets (aUSD) to accelerate DeFi growth on Polkadot.
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