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Cryptocurrencies

Polkadot

Polkadot (DOT)

Polkadot (DOT) is the native cryptocurrency of the Polkadot network. The Web3 Foundation launched it following a successful Initial Coin Offering (ICO) in October 2017, raising over $140 million by selling half of the 10 million DOT token supply. This sale included both private and public sales, with the private sale generating over $80 million.

Overview

In November 2017, a vulnerability was identified in the Parity multi-signature wallet, affecting over 500,000 ETH, including a significant portion of the ETH raised during the Polkadot ICO. Despite this, Polkadot proceeded with two additional private sales. The first occurred in 2019, raising $60 million by selling 500,000 DOT tokens to private investors. The second took place in the summer of 2020, accumulating approximately 3,982 Bitcoin, valued at about $42.76 million at the time. DOT tokens have an initial inflation rate of 10% in the first year, with subsequent inflation determined by validator and nominator staking.

polkadot background
Ticker DOT
Category Smart Contract Platform
Website https://polkadot.com/
Twitter @Polkadot
Telegram PolkadotOfficial
Reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/Polkadot

Distribution

DOT's initial token distribution is structured as follows:

  • 3.42% for Private Sale Investors
  • 5.00% for SAFT Investors
  • 50.00% for Auction Investors
  • 11.58% for Future Sales
  • 30.00% for the Web3 Foundation

Funding rounds

Polkadot has completed several funding rounds:

  • Private Sale 1 on October 14, 2017, raised $79,488,000 with an average price of $0.288 per token.
  • Public Sale 1 on October 15, 2017, raised $64,512,000 at the same average price.
  • Private Sale 2 on June 27, 2020, raised $60,000,000 with an average price of $1.2 per token.
  • Private Sale 3 on July 24, 2020, raised $42,500,000 with an average price of $1 per token.

Utility

The DOT token serves three primary purposes: governance, staking, and bonding.

Governance

DOT holders have complete governance control over the protocol, including protocol upgrades and fixes. These privileges, typically reserved for miners on other platforms, are accessible to DOT holders who participate in the Relay Chain.

Staking

DOT tokens can be staked on the Polkadot network and through various platforms like non-custodial wallets, liquid staking/third-party pools, and custodial exchanges.

Bonding

DOT is an inflationary token, meaning there is no maximum supply. The inflation rate is designed to be 10% in the first year, with generated DOT used for validator rewards and Treasury contributions. The smallest unit in the ecosystem is a Planck, equivalent to 0.0000000001 DOT.