Polkadot to debut parachain auctions after governance vote

Parachains are uniquely distinctive layer-1 blockchain platforms that operate laterally alongside the main Polkadot network, in addition to being tethered to the Polkadot Relay Chain. Their purposeful function can be witnessed across a multitude of areas from decentralized finance to smart contracts.

The news marks a landmark achievement as it fulfills the final core technical element of the whitepaper published five years ago.

Speaking at the Sub0 Conference as representatives of Parity Technologies, Polkadot founders Gavin Wood and Robert Habermeier confirmed that their blockchain now holds the technical capabilities to implement parachains, auctions and crowdloans for the first time.

In an immediate response, Proposal #118 was motioned by governance member Joe Petrowski, expressing details and recommendations for the deployment.

The first Polkadot parachain auction of the initial batch is slated to begin on Nov. 11 and will continue at a rate of one per week for five consecutive weeks until the final auction on Dec. 9.

The initial bidding period will last for two days, followed by a five-day ending period. Two unique features about the proposal of this auction schedule are that unlike the immediacy of Kusama’s project onboarding after auctions, Polkadot auctions will be held in transit for a period of one month. In addition to this, there will be a 75% capacity of projects to that witnessed on Kusuma, in a bid for quality over quantity.

Within the proposal, and indeed further quoted later in this piece, canary network Kusama were cited as having a positive impact on the evolution of this concept in both abstract and practical terms.

Kusama, a sandbox platform designed for developers to experiment with blockchain applications before their official launch on the Polkadot blockchain, has recently implemented the success of 11 parachain slot auctions.

In addition to commending the near-flawless process of the Kusama auctions, the official report also noted that 2.4 million KSM has been contributed by 49,000 uniquely active addresses during the auctions.

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