TL;DR: Polkadot is an inter-chain protocol, allowing independent blockchains to exchange information, regardless of state machines or consensus mechanisms.

The Current State of Blockchain

There are thousands of blockchains out there, way too many for me to keep track of. Each blockchain is usually a separate platform, filling a specific niche and requiring people to contribute to their ecosystem in order to grow and survive.

The Current Siloed Blockchain Ecosystem

Each independent blockchain has their own way of dealing with the issue of scalability. Bitcoin has the lightning network, Ethereum has Shasper, ‘insert coin here’ has ‘insert solution here’. Most blockchain platforms that have more transactions per second, do so at a cost of being less decentralised than a truly public blockchain.

Enterprise blockchains require more privacy and control to protect their data, intellectual property and business processes. Enterprises are usually on private/permissioned blockchain platforms to establish trust within their own private ecosystem.

Is it possible to create an internet of blockchains? Can we connect the silos and integrate public, private, past and future blockchains as one?

The answer is YES — Enter Polkadot.

Polkadot Vision

“We envision a Web where our identity and our data is our own — safely secured from any central authority. Our aim is to reshape the existing internet structure into what we are calling Web3: a completely decentralized web.”

Connecting The Dots…

The above graphic is a simplified version of what is achievable through Polkadot. If you want to go down the rabbit hole, the Polkadot lightpaper, whitepaper and Rob Habermeier’s article on The Parachain is a good start.

Polkadot can connect existing blockchain platforms through specialised bridges and enable them to securely send messages to each other.

Imagine a private enterprise Hyperledger contract triggering a contract on the public Ethereum chain and then acting on the returned results.

Imagine cross chain value transfers like sending ether to the bitcoin network and vice versa.

Inter-connectivity of independent blockchains will enable new applications of blockchain technology that we haven’t even imagined yet.

State of the Polkadot Ecosystem

Development is being led by the talented Parity Technologies team and is completely open source. The testnet has launched and is currently at Proof of Concept 2, with at least 7 Proof of Concepts planned before launch of the genesis block on the main net in Q3 2019.

Jack’s article is a great summary on the current state of Polkadot.

Conclusion

Inter-connectivity of blockchain platforms will mean that we can move away from the ‘one blockchain to rule them all’ paradigm that we’re currently stuck in. Polkadot will enable all blockchains to happily co-exist side by side and communicate with each other — which is why I’m excited that the next generation blockchain platform is almost here.