It's all just Polkadot

• Cardano has announced its use of the Polkadot tech stack for partner chains.

• In short, Cardano is going for sidechains to enhance scalability and enable interoperability betweeen specialized blockchains, leveraging its liquidity and security.

• After 4 years of research, they've opted not to reinvent the wheel for a framework.

• Instead, they've decided to go with PolkadotSDK (formerly Substrate) for its leading modular and flexible design for an interoperable future.

Spotlight:

MidnightNtwrk is likely the first adopter of these partner chains, with a CEO who has roots back from Parity Tech. Coincidence?

Why is this good news for Cardano frens?

• Rather than rebuilding standards and frameworks from scratch, you're welcomed to a modular, interoperable paradigm with the best available flexible, robust, battle-tested tech stack. The same technology was recently adopted by another prominent project Avail project, a modular DA solution blockchain for rollups, founded by Polygon's co-founder.

Madara from Starknet also utilizes PolkadotSDK to enhance Ethereum with ZK L2/L3 advancements.

But why did they choose PolkadotSDK?

• Its consensus mechanisms, BABE + GRANDPA, strike a balance between liveness and safety -> a common issue in consensus models.

• Intent for a vast validator network <up to 1K>, Polkadot's NPoS -> mitigating stake centralization with effective reward distribution.

• Polkadot's advantage over Ethereum lies in a multi-chain vision developed and tested for ~ 5 years, long before Ethereum.

Understand more by watching "Why Did This Ethereum Co-Founder Quit?".

• In fact, numerous core similarities exist: shared sequencers, composability and rollups between Polkadot's Relay chain, XCM, and Parachains.

• The challenge of unique standards and formats across chains requires continuous tracking and knowledge of upgrades. Polkadot has addressed this issue -> XCM.

• XCM: The Universal Language -> enables every PolkadotSDK chains to talk and understand each other.

Why choose PolkadotSDK over Cosmos SDK?

• It boils down to priorities, requirements and trade-offs.

• In this instance, due to PolkadotSDK being extremely chain-agnostic, having no assumptions about consensus algorithms and effectively resolving the shared sequencer dilemma -- unlike Cosmos, where each chain must establish its validator set which are up to few hundred.

Why are these good news for Polkadot frens?

• There is no immediate boost for DOT's value from the PolkadotSDK's use.

• Nonetheless, its adoption by prominent blockchain leaders and projects enhances its profile and credibility.

• It is likely to attract more projects that are interested in the tech stack and possibly a new wave may choose to come and build.

And after seeing all the buzz about blockchain trends, narratives and developments, probably yes, it is all just Polkadot.

As adoption of its tech stack grows and the noise increases some may revisit the ecosystem, some developers rediscover its tech stack. All that is needed is new eyes to see what always has been.

Credits to cover image: Apoorv Sadana