In 2024, the Polkadot ecosystem will enter a new stage of development under the leadership of the JAM chain. With the continuous release of technical energy, Agile Coretime, Asynchronous Backing and Elastic Scaling are all implemented on Kusama and will soon be fully launched on Polkadot. Looking back on the development of the past year, the innovative upgrades of the Polkadot series of ecological projects have allowed developers to see its technical potential and opportunities.
On December 15, the Polkadot 2024 year-end party with the theme of "Connection and Resonance: The Power of the Polkadot Community-Polkadot 2024 Year-End Party" was held offline at Wuhan University. PaperMoon engineer Wang Dachui, Bifrost co-founder Lurpis, Gear Foundation Developer Relations Beacon, CESS Lab researcher Kwuaint, Crust core developer Brian, Wuhan University Web3 Club President Treap, and Relay engineer Li Haoyang gathered at the scene to convey the ecological power of Polkadot to college students and bring this year's exploration experience in the Polkadot ecosystem. Let us review this wonderful feast of dry goods!
Career Navigation from Web2 to Web3: Skills, Ecosystem and Opportunities
How to achieve the transition between different professions if you want to smoothly move from Web2 to Web3 industry? Faced with a wide range of project ecosystems, which one is the best solution with the most development potential? Perhaps choosing Polkadot ecosystem can solve your problem. Wang Dachui, an engineer from PaperMoon, showed us his thoughts and insights on "Career Navigation from Web2 to Web3: Skills, Ecosystem and Opportunities".
When we first consider choosing Web3, we need to think about what kind of group is suitable for the Web3 industry environment. People entering the Web3 industry should have high technical requirements and self-driving ability, be able to adapt to high uncertainty and rapid changes, and only with a strong willingness to learn and the ability to accept can they master the latest cutting-edge technologies and industry trends; secondly, Web3 practitioners must have keen market insight and innovative thinking, and be able to quickly respond to market changes and adjust product directions.
After possessing these basic abilities and qualities, we still need to understand various Web3 industry positions. Wang Dachui introduced some common Web3 job positions and job requirements. For example, product managers need to understand the basic concepts of the industry, such as what blockchain is, the functions and usage of tools such as block browsers, exchanges, and wallets , and have a certain technical understanding ability, including the blockchain's system architecture, front-end and back-end collaboration mode, and basic cryptographic knowledge, such as hash algorithms and encryption algorithms; front-end/back-end engineers need to have a deep understanding of on-chain data reading, operation, and user experience optimization , and be able to have a deep understanding and security awareness of product logic, competitive product dynamics, and industry trends; operations positions require a deep understanding of industry basics and related tracks, and design and implement effective strategies around user needs.
As a developer, you also need to be familiar with the basic components and core concepts of blockchain, such as transaction pools, consensus mechanisms, encryption algorithms, peer-to-peer networks, and virtual machines , and clearly understand different development and design solutions for professional applications in specific fields. Finally, Wang Dachui also introduced to us that Polkadot is particularly suitable for students who have a strong interest in the underlying technology of blockchain, especially engineers engaged in the development of Web2 industry middleware. As one of the industry leaders, the Polkadot design framework can not only help developers deeply understand the core concepts of blockchain, but also effectively improve the level of development technology. It is worth exploring and trying!
Bifrost - Yield Driver LST for DeFi Lego Blocks
Liquid Staking (LST) means allowing holders to receive staking rewards while maintaining asset liquidity. This mechanism is achieved by creating a derivative token (commonly called vToken) that represents the original staked asset, which can be used freely in a variety of DeFi activities. As the first full-chain LST application, Bifrost in the Polkadot ecosystem is fundamentally different from single-chain LST applications at the architectural level. This architecture gives Bifrost better ease of integration and higher liquidity utilization. At the event, Bifrost co-founder Lurpis shared with us Bifrost's technical path and innovative thinking in exploring the full-chain LST. DeFi TVL growth trend data statistics show that LST has become the largest track in DeFi at present. The adoption rate of LST in various DeFi applications continues to rise. Through the clever combination with Stable Coin, it has burst out with technical vitality in application scenarios such as streaming payments and mining.
To this end, Bifrost saw the hot trends in the technology market and seized the development opportunities and application potential of LST. The core features of Bifrost include decentralized cross-chain interoperability, issuing vTokens to resolve the contradiction between staking rewards and DeFi returns, and maintaining the security of the PoS chain. It developed the SLPx extension module based on SLP as a technical method to realize the vision of full-chain LST; the chain that deploys the SLPx remote module will be able to remotely call the SLP module on the Bifrost chain to realize remote casting and redemption of vTokens. This new way of interaction brings convenience to users and provides a convenient cross-chain integration path for developers of remote chains.
Looking to the future, Lurpis also appealed to the audience and Web3 explorers, hoping that everyone can actively think about developing applications around LST and Stable Coin, and share the commission income of the Bifrost protocol; starting from minting Bifrost LST, enthusiastically participate in the DeFi innovation wave, strive to become a member of the Bifrost Core Team, and jointly build the underlying interest-bearing assets of Web3!
Vara Network: Building the next generation of innovative Layer 1 blockchain
When novice developers enter Web3, they may be troubled by the complexity of blockchain development and the difficulty of programming languages. In this scenario, in order to further simplify the DApp development process, Vara Network came into being. The Gear Foundation Developer Relations Beacon introduced the technical blueprint of Vara Network to the audience . As the first Layer1 blockchain based on Gear Protocol for technological innovation, Vara Network seamlessly integrates a series of Gear functions to provide efficient, secure and easy-to-use functions for decentralized applications (DApp) ; it uses the core technology Actor Model, supports parallel computing, and supports developers to smoothly build GameFi, DeFi, RWA and other applications through native functions such as delayed message and payless & gasless transaction , providing developers with a convenient, friendly and secure development environment.
Beacon pointed out that among the technical advantages of Vara Network, the biggest highlight is that its efficient technical architecture can increase network speed and reduce latency. The Actor model simplifies tedious calculation steps and supports parallel computing to make it run faster and more responsive with improved efficiency; by utilizing persistent memory to store data without the need for traditional databases, it is used for various state management of smart contracts in stateful applications; using WebAssembly (WASM) to make large-scale applications possible and achieve high TPS on the blockchain; ensuring security and scalability through memory isolation and consensus mechanisms, highlighting the community participation led by the NPoS consensus model. Finally, Vara Network also solves the interoperability problem through the Gear Protocol , allowing the network to be seamlessly integrated with other blockchain ecosystems. Currently, projects such as Crust, Zenlink, Polkapad, and SubWallet are being integrated or developed based on Vara Network.
It is worth mentioning that Vara Network's vision for technology development has always been to provide efficient and durable infrastructure that stands the test of time and promotes mass adoption . To this end, Vara provides comprehensive support for developers, equipped with the basic tools and support guidance required to build DApps, and has established a complete and rich support system for developers through Varathon (Vara Network's hackathon), Gear Academy, funding programs, and a unified community ambassador and member support system, which not only makes the network more transparent and inclusive, but also ensures the continued participation of those who contribute to the development and growth of the ecosystem.
CESS Architecture & IEEE P3220.02: Establishing the First Decentralized Storage Protocol Standard
As a decentralized programmable data infrastructure, CESS is committed to providing high-quality data solutions for Web3, AI, and enterprises. When analyzing the technological development history of CESS, Kwuaint, a researcher from CESS Lab, talked about the market value that the team has seen in the soaring data blue ocean in recent years. To this end, CESS's protocol suite includes a decentralized content delivery layer design and a decentralized storage resource layer node design, forming an integrated high-performance, high-efficiency, and high- availability technology model based on smart contracts, verification node election (R²S), data ownership (MDRC), consensus algorithms (PoIS/PoDR²), data availability (DA), and encryption systems (PReT).
In addition, Kwuaint also introduced the basic situation of the current DeOSS process and API , and introduced the specific technical processes such as creating accounts, purchasing space, authorizing gateways, creating objects, downloading and deleting objects/tasks, and pointed out that the first decentralized storage protocol standard established by the team - IEEE P3220.02 was successfully accepted and adopted.
In the past few years, CESS has also achieved many impressive development results. Since winning the first place in the 2021 Winter Polkadot Hackathon , it has successively won three Web3 Foundation grants and sponsored multiple 2022-2024 Polkadot Hackathon competitions. At present, CESS not only supports various applications in business scenarios to comply with the data sovereignty regulations of various countries through advanced technical architecture, but also ensures its compliance in complex international data environments. In the future, CESS will also achieve significant penetration and radiation in the Middle East and North American markets, realize integration with NAS, and expand the influence of technical projects using CESS's established sales channels. Let us look forward to new breakthroughs in the future development of CESS!
IPFS and Crust Network: Actively Introducing Zero-Knowledge Proof Storage Algorithms
Crust Network is a Layer1 blockchain built on Substrate, which incentivizes storage orders and storage nodes based on the IPFS network. By leveraging blockchain technology, Crust Network has become one of the largest decentralized cloud storage systems that can easily host a variety of websites, DApps, NFTs, and personal files. Under the introduction of Crust core developer Brian, a clear Crust Network technology roadmap was unfolded in front of the audience. Talking about the relationship between Crust and IPFS, Brian pointed out that Crust is a decentralized storage network that aims to provide users with safe, affordable and reliable storage solutions. One of the key technologies used by Crust is IPFS (Interstellar File System), a protocol and network that aims to create a peer-to-peer method to store and share media in distributed file systems. Specifically, users can upload file contents of up to 32GB in size through Crust Gateway and IPFS clients, but if the file is uploaded through Crust Files, the maximum size is 1GB.
After sharing the relationship between the two, Brian also introduced many technical advantages of Crust Network. Compared with the well-known Filecoin and Arweave in the industry, Crust Network has full cross-chain compatibility, lower storage costs, faster access response speed and more user-friendly experience. Crust has been committed to cooperating with various blockchain applications to bring more project integration and flexible development space to developers, so that more users with storage data requirements can meet their needs at a low cost. Under the flexible and fast file response and access time control, the convenience and personalization of user experience can be further guaranteed.
Looking to the future, Crust Network will further introduce zero-knowledge proof storage algorithms, accelerated hardware and encryption technologies, realize the upgrade and iteration of hardware architecture, generate and verify unit design and project packaging processes, support more retrieval services and storage markets, and hope that more developers can find new opportunities for industry development with Crust Network.
Sharing of hackathon winning project development skills, NoSandwitchSwap project presentation
As a high-quality development project that won the third prize in the "Main Track: (Popular) Smart Contracts, DeFi, AI, Layer2, DePIN Excellent Project" at the 2024 Polkadot Hackathon (Bangkok), Treap, the main person in charge of the No Sandwitch Swap team and the president of the Wuhan University Web3 Club, shared with us the actual development process of the project and talked about his experience in participating in the hackathon that just ended. The No Sandwitch Swap project is an anti-Mev DEX that uses hyperbolic call auctions (HCA) to aggregate multiple transactions over a period of time, interleaving them through infinite subdivisions and averages, which helps to amortize the price impact of a single transaction, while dispersing the MEV attacker's transactions throughout the cycle, effectively reducing the MEV attacker's arbitrage income.
The highlight of this project is that it can reduce price shocks in the market and make the actual transaction price closer to the fair price ; it can effectively prevent MEV attacks and make the attacker's sandwich attack unprofitable; it can enhance user experience and usage by reducing the slippage encountered by ordinary traders; for liquidity providers (IPs), it can fully reduce price fluctuations and minimize the threat of IP exposure to non-permanent losses; for the ecosystem, it can encourage more transactions and increase market liquidity through governance token incentives.
The meticulous technical thinking and development highlights targeting market demand have made No Sandwitch Swap shine on the stage of the Polkadot Hackathon. Talking about the mental journey of preparing for the competition, Treap said that since building the Wuhan University Web3 Club, he has had the urge to form a team to do some interesting projects. As the captain, he took several classmates to participate in the competition . This feeling of team competition and struggle is the most valuable in the competition process. In order to create better projects, constantly improving details and optimizing experience is a Hacker spirit that pursues perfection. In addition, he emphasized that the most important value of participating in competitions or Web3 activities is not bonuses or knowledge, but maintaining a strong connection with the core circle of the industry . I hope that more young developers will join this camp in the future to make the Polkadot ecosystem and Web3 industry better and better!
Relay Project Showcase
As a high-quality development project that won the first prize in the "Main Track: (Popular) Smart Contracts, DeFi, AI, Layer2, DePIN Excellent Project" at the 2024 Polkadot Hackathon (Bangkok Station), Relay was inspired by a 10-minute discussion between Abhiraj and Haoyang on the Discord platform . In order to solve the loopholes and high costs of cross-border payment systems, Relay actively thinks about how to reduce cross-border transaction costs, and cleverly uses Polkadot technology components to provide retailers with the best combination of blockchain solutions , support online retail systems and transaction resource sharing, and create a new free and open decentralized trading system environment.
The 2024 Polkadot year-end party has come to an end. The big names on the scene are passing on their determination and courage to build the Polkadot ecosystem to the new generation of university developers. Let us look forward to more developers' power to help the development of the Polkadot ecosystem in 2025, leading it to a future with more technological highlights and exciting industries!
