DOT’s Decoded! (July 7th to July 13th)

What is up, my friends!

While crypto Twitter has been recovering from the previous week's drama of the Polkadot Treasury arguably being robbed, news broke out that folks within the industry were literally getting robbed in the streets of Brussels, where this year hosts the important Ethereum Community Conference. For Dotsama natives, it also serves as the location for Polkadot Decoded 2024.

Given all the exciting news coming from these events, this week we are doing a double feature on Decoded for our top story. We aim to provide a recap of the sights, sounds and messages from the events, as well as the important announcements.

WagMedia creators have also been following events at Brussels intently due to time sensitive bounties, which were also available to non-Anglo creators. Bounty 28 from the Bounty Hub covered quick reflections from Decoded, and Bounty 30 was a tl;dr of Gav’s presentation at ETH CC.

The standout contributions rewarded thus far include Daureen, who created a lovely thread that summarizes Gav’s ideals of Web3 and received 8.5 DOT. Additionally, CMosh received 5.5 DOT for his tl;dr highlighting the key points of Gav’s presentation.

There is still time to participate in Bounty 29 which is to provide in-depth insights from Decoded. Creators have until July 19th to participate and can earn up to $200 worth of DOT. Do note that there is a 70% weight towards engagement.

Finally, our current WagMedia funding (Referendum 365) has reached week 20 out of 26. The Wag Management team will soon be preparing for future funding. Therefore, we are now welcoming feedback from those who have participated in the WagMedia initiative.

Without further delay, let’s move on to our double feature and catch up on all the news updates from our Finders Program.

Dodow, Chief Editor

Top Story of the Week Part 1 - Decoded coverage

Written by yay.oi

What’s cracking coders. It’s been a big week for blockchain events with both EthCC and Polkadot Decoded taking place in Brussels. From inspiring keynotes to engaging workshops, the conferences offered something for everyone, regardless of their technical background.

While Sub0 is a developer-centered event, Polkadot Decoded caters more broadly to the entire community. This is reflected in the democratic approach taken to curate the events. In the past, the community was even able to vote on which nominees they would like to present. This year they took a slightly different approach.

Initially, the community was invited to share their opinions on the agenda and speakers which shaped the way the request for submissions was formed. A range of presentation formats was decided, each targeting specific groups, from potential token holders to business decision makers. The community also made the strategic decision to hold Decoded in Brussels at the same time as EthCC.

While EthCC attendees were offered free entry, food, and beer at Decoded, Gavin Wood was given the honor of warming up the EthCC crowd immediately before Vitalik Buterin’s keynote. His talk was an exploration of the real meaning of Web3, beyond the strict definitions of technical protocols.

To Gavin, Web3 is first and foremost about building resilient digital systems and services. A technical protocol on its own is not enough to provide true resilience. To be able to adapt and evolve, Web3 protocols rely on people. A resilient Web3 protocol nurtures and utilizes its experts and has a governance mechanism where changes can be agreed and enacted by them.

To follow up, he demonstrated how Polkadot in the JAM era will have a strong and resilient Web3 protocol. Some in the Twitterverse noted that he seemed to have forgotten to compliment Ethereum’s resilience. Poor DJ Gav, must have been distracted thinking about what tracks he’d play at the Decoded opening party that night.

After a long night of blockchainin’ beats, the first arrivals on Day 1 Decoded were met by a mysterious dolphin headed human. He belonged to the Sovereign Nature Institute, who in a Polkadot treasury funded collaboration with Unique Network issued this year’s Proof of Attendance dynamic NFT badges. The initiative is also contributing to marine conservation with a $40,000 contribution to Aquasearch.

Keep an eye on your badge, because at a later date it will evolve into a DOTphin NFT, which will also be upgradeable by attending future events. Upgraded DOTphins may entitle you to some real-life perks including a potential visit to a dolphin conservation site.

Visitors to the Decoded Main Stage were treated to a keynote double header, starting with Parity CEO Björn Wagner, and followed by our founder and chief architect Gavin Wood. The topic of his keynote was sybil resistance, or how we can verify that a device is being operated by a human, and recognize them as a unique individual.

It's a problem he’s been thinking about for the past couple of years, and one that he feels is still without a Web3 solution. That said, when we do have a solution, Gavin has some ideas about how verified personhood could benefit both user and ecosystem.

For example, users could be granted gas-free transactions under a fair use policy. Airdrops could be distributed fairly on a per-person basis. It could bring in more voting options for governance, and ways of limiting toxic behaviors.

Despite the occasional outburst about croissants, Tommi Enenkel’s toxicity levels were relatively muted while delivering his Polkadot State of the Union over on the Impact Stage. His presentation took a look at where we are now and presented a strategy to get where we need to be.

The first challenge, how to develop a strategy in a non-hierarchical decentralized network. According to Tommi, the answer is in the vast network of influential actors we have in the Polkadot ecosystem. If enough influential people in the network can reach a consensus on the direction we need to take, the community will synchronize and come to a rough common understanding.

As an influential actor himself, and a great listener, Tommi has taken it upon himself to collate community feedback into the Polkadot 2.0 Strategy. It’s a collective work that is still in progress, but the grand vision is that Polkadot is the best place to build Web3.

It is important to have grand visions, and even more so to execute them, although at Decoded 2024 many people have been asking why ChaosDAO did this. The answer may be because Decoded organizers Decentered didn’t. While some were hoping the catering budget would cover more than croissants this year, initial reports suggest it covered less. Thanks goes to the Zeeve team for bringing croissants and donuts and the Women of Polkadot for sharing their brunch leftovers.

While snacks may have been limited, there were no shortage of things to see at Decoded. It featured over 100 speakers, more than 60 presentations and panels, and 35 exhibitors. There was also an abundance of side-events around Brussels including another stop on Gavin Wood’s Gray Paper World Tour.

So that’s a wrap for Decoded 2024, but there is more to look forward to this year. Next up in August, the Web3 Foundation presents the long-awaited return of the Web3 Summit in Berlin. Also, OpenGov voting is currently underway for Sub0 Europe 2024, which Decentered Studios has proposed to hold in Barcelona in October. Perhaps ChaosDAO will bring their surplus of reusable beer cups on the back of another successful free beer proposal.

We will need to wait and see if Decentered can get their initial round of funding approved first. With 10 days left in the decision period, AYE votes are well below the 50% mark. It seems that some are dissatisfied with Decentered, and with the idea of having yet another large Polkadot event so soon.

The lukewarm support for the Sub0 proposal raises some intriguing questions. With heightened scrutiny of treasury spending since the release of the Treasury Report, we may be seeing a change in priorities. A rejection could mark a turning point, signaling a potential change of event management or even a total overhaul of the annual event schedule. Only time will tell if this is a minor bump on the road to Sub0 or the start of a dramatic shift in Polkadot events.

Top Story of the Week Part 2 - Decoded announcements

Written by Sanchez

Enough croissants to go round!!!

Polkadot Decoded, the premier event for all things Polkadot, once again served as the platform for major tech updates and partnerships. This year was no different with huge updates from different teams across the ecosystem.

The event kicked off with Parity CEO, Bjorn Wagner, highlighting Polkadot's achievements over the past year and admitting the continued efforts to make the use and onboarding of users to Polkadot as easy and seamless as possible.

This need culminated in the building of the new Polkadot app expected in H2 of 2024. Developed by Novasama Technologies, this app aims to simplify the onboarding process for new users, making it easy for first-time users to easily onboard, transfer tokens through links and get to understand the Polkadot ecosystem.

The app features one-click staking and simple usernames that serve as addresses for all parachains, eliminating the need for fragmented addresses. It also removes the hassle of seed phrases by using Apple and Google cloud storage, making it easier to send DOT.

A novel feature of the new app, Polkadot Pay, aims to simplify on/off-ramping and enhance crypto usage in daily activities. Enabled by Raise, Polkadot Pay allows payments from your non-custodial wallet in over a million stores and websites across the United States while receiving a 20% cashback on purchases sponsored by the stores.

Future development will expand this service to over 33 countries and even more stores. While specific cryptocurrencies and payment methods have not yet been defined, further updates are expected soon, with the product launch slated for the second half of 2024.

The Novasama team continued to lead the excitement again as they announced the Nova & Mercuryo debit card, powered by Mastercard, allowing users to spend their crypto at any Mastercard-enabled store or outlet. The concept involves creating wallet accounts that serve as spend cards, with the value of cryptocurrencies in the wallet becoming the card balance. Users can then use this account from their Nova wallet to make payments and purchases worldwide, eliminating the need for multiple steps to convert their tokens.

Keeping up with the theme of simplification and onboarding of the masses, InvArch showcased a demo of the InvArch multi-party computation (MPC). The MPC addresses the problem of account fragmentation, where different chains require separate wallets and accounts to manage assets and interact with apps.

Functioning as an Omni-chain access layer, the MPC features programmable accounts with access to any chain. Through an account on the MPC, users have a single account that can transact on any chain. Simply connect an account from any wallet and transact on any chain.

Wallets can integrate this feature to let users interact with any blockchain from a single wallet without creating separate accounts. DApps can also use this to offer their services across multiple blockchains, ensuring continuous access regardless of the chain.

From addressing the ease of onboarding users to making onboarding builders easier, Fabian Gompf, CEO of the Web3 Foundation, introduced a new Polkadot ecosystem fund in partnership with Scytale. This fund will support early-stage startups built on Polkadot by providing growth capital. It will also have a liquid arm to support existing projects by providing liquidity and other forms of support.

This ecosystem fund will be led by Scytale, a leading investment management firm with an impressive track record in the Polkadot ecosystem. Scytale has previously invested in successful projects like Centrifuge, Moonbeam, Astar, KILT, Tanssi, and many others. They aim to invest in innovative projects with high return potential through the new ecosystem fund.

Funding is expected to be operational by October 2024. Interested teams can contact Mark Cachia and Christoph Kampitsch from Scytale, or Fabian Gompf from the Web3 Foundation for more information and funding requests.

Similarly, the Polimec team recently proposed the Polkadot Growth Initiative (PGI), an on-chain bounty to invest in emerging Polkadot projects. Currently under discussion, this initiative will hold funding rounds exclusively on Polimec's platform, contributing a fixed 10% to each project's funding goals. This move aims to encourage the development of innovative projects on Polkadot.

These advancements highlight efforts to enhance the user experience on Polkadot and support the ongoing development of innovative projects. The Polkadot app will increase accessibility, while payment solutions like Polkadot Pay and the Nova card enable users to freely use their cryptocurrencies anywhere. InvArch’s approach with MPC simplifies interactions by eliminating the need for multiple accounts across different networks, providing a solution usable on any blockchain.

Regarding funding, the initiatives from Scytale & Web3 Foundation and the proposal from Polimec for the PGI ensure that new projects can easily access the necessary funds as well as ascertain support to build their products. This is crucial for fostering innovative solutions and unique services on Polkadot.

News from the Finders Program

Written by Sanchez

• Peaq Network has set out its roadmap for its mainnet launch. With the pre-launch network live, the team is working on wallet integrations, on/off-ramps, EVM Smart contract pallets and more before the eventual launch of the mainnet, proposed for weeks 37/38.
• AVA Protocol (formerly OAK Network) has won 74th Polkadot parachain auction with a self-bid of 2000 DOT.
• VLaunch, the influencer backed launchpad focused on DePin and RWA sectors is joining the peaqosystem as the first launchpad on Peaq. VLaunch will provide users early access to DePin projects building on Peaq.
• Fabian Gompf, the CEO of the Web3 Foundation, has teased a new/revamped funding program under the banner of Decentralized X which houses programs such as Decentralized Futures and Decentralized Voices.
• Scytale announces a new Polkadot ecosystem fund in collaboration with the Web3 Foundation, to invest in innovative startup projects on Polkadot. The ecosystem fund will launch on October 1st 2025.
• Bjorn Wagner, the CEO of Parity Technologies has announced the Polkadot App, a self-custodial wallet intentioned at making the onboarding of users on Polkadot seamless. The app will feature one-click staking, Apple or Google Passkeys instead of seedphrases, simpler address formats, sending tokens through links and Polkadot Pay which enables the use of crypto for purchases in over 33 countries.
• Novawallet has in partnership with Mercuryo, launched a debit card enabled by Mastercard. This debit card enables the spending of cryptocurrencies in your wallet as it mirrors the value of tokens in the wallet. This will be supported in all stores and outlets that accept Mastercard for payments.
• Moonbeam has teamed up with The Hug and Rarible to launch an artist grant initiative which will reward 7 artists with $1000 each with their artwork displayed on Rarible as an Open Edition mint.
• The Soverign Nature Institute in collaboration with Unique Network and Wallet Connect launched the dynamic DOTphin NFTs on Polkadot for in person and online attendees of Polkadot Decoded. The NFTs will evolve based on user engagement
• The free mint for the fourth character for the Age of Chronos is now live.
• Houdini Swap integrates Moonbeam enabling transfer and swapping from any chain and token to Moonbeam.
• With liquidity incentive pools expected soon, holders can now transfer their ACA and LDOT token to Hydration.
• Kylix Finance, a multi-chain lending platform has been selected as a recipient for a Decentralized Futures grant. The full deployment of the platform is expected in Q2 of 2025.
• Bifrost has released the report of their technical investigation into the abnormal movement of BNC which occurred on July 6th. While the on-chain code and the security of its assets were unaffected, the security of the off-chain script code was overlooked resulting in the incident. The team has so far recovered over 3 million BNC, initiated buy backs and have followed due process to prevent reoccurrence of the incident.
• Polimec has proposed the Polkadot Growth Initiative, an on-chain bounty which will provide a fixed investment in upcoming projects on Polkadot using the Polimec fundraising infrastructure. PGI will provide a 10% investment of a project’s funding goal to incentivize the building of more innovative products on Polkadot.
• Basilik integrates OpenGov for the governance of the chain.
• DOT Play have submitted a new proposal with a lower ask of 400k DOT from the initial 1 million DOT. DOT Play aims to create a comprehensive and engaging platform that will attract and support game developers looking to leverage Polkadot’s cutting-edge technology.
• KILT has submitted a proposal to swap its current parachain lease with parachain 3358 also owned by KILT. This swap will extend its lease till May of 2026.

Events from the Finders Program

Written by yay.oi

Monday, July 8th

• Peaq founders Max Thake, Leonard Dorlöchter, and Till Wendler had an AMA about their network launch and token listing.
• Kingdom Ventures hosted Polkadot Head Ambassador Leemo to discuss OpenGov, DAOs, and more.

Tuesday, July 9th

• On July 9th, WebZero hosted the Polkadot Builder's Day at the Blockspace Hacker Café in Brussels, featuring presentations, panels, and workshops by Ezio Rojas and Blockya (Polkadot Head Ambassadors), Radha Dasari (Web3 Foundation), Seun Lanlege (Polytope Labs), Clara van Staden (Snowbridge), Alberto Viera (Paper Moon).
• This was followed by the KOLkadot Treasury FUDvaganza, an open mic where KOLs were invited to convince the shrimps, whales, and DVs of OpenGov that they deserve a piece of that Polkadot Treasury pie.

Wednesday, July 10th

• Immediately before Vitalik Buterin's EthCC keynote, Gavin Wood warmed up the crowd with his speech titled: “Web3 Beyond the Protocol: How We Can Forge Truly Resilient Virtual Services”.
• Polkadot hosted Bill Laboon and Leemo for a live tutorial on how to submit a treasury proposal on July 10th.
• Also on July 10th, PoKe shared their plans to integrate large enterprises and government entities into the Polkadot ecosystem at the Blockspace Hacker Café in Brussels.
• Frequency, MeWe, and NovaWallet hosted an evening at Bozar Brussels featuring demos of Frequency and NovaWallet tech, and talks about how Frequency can help give you back control over your online social identity.
• In collaboration with Beatport, the Polkadot Decoded opening party featured DJs: (dj)2, Ellen Allien, Estella Boersma, STDJ, and a special appearance by DJ Gavin Wood.

Thursday, July 11th

• The Polkadot Decoded 2024 Main Stage kicked off with keynotes from Parity CEO Björn Wagner, followed by Chief Architect Gavin Wood.
• First up on the Polkadot Decoded Impact Stage on July 11th, was Polkassembly CTO Nikhil Ranjan who guided us through some of the latest changes to governance, such as Collectives and how identities and reputation will become more important in the future.
• Next, was Tommi Enenkel (Alice und Bob, OpenGov.Watch) who addressed the current state of the Polkadot ecosystem and proposed a development strategy for its future.
• Antonio Antonino, Software Engineer for KILT Protocol, presented a proposal for Identity Hub, a framework for unifying identity mechanisms across the Polkadot ecosystem and beyond.
• Also on the Polkadot Decoded Impact stage, Kim Schneider, Senior Manager of Web3 at Deloitte, discussed the regulatory challenges of corporations engaging with DAOs in the constantly evolving Web3 landscape on July 11th.
• In the evening of July 11th, Gavin Wood continued his JAM Gray Paper World Tour at the Blockspace Hacker Café in Brussels.

Friday, July 12th

• The Women of Polkadot got together in the morning to build connections and enjoy a delicious Belgian brunch at Le Phare du Kanaal, Brussels.
• In collaboration with Bash, the official Polkadot Decoded after party at Fuse, Brussels featured: KiNK (live), Avision, and Tal Fussman.

Saturday, July 13th

• Decoded may have wrapped, but WebZero kept things going at the Blockspace Hacker Café on July 13th. The main event was a Polkadot DeFi panel featuring Hydration, Stellaswap, and Bifrost that discussed unique usecases, innovations, and onboarding capital.
• Earlier that day, Bifrost took the stage to talk about cross-chain LSTs and what they've got planned for the future.
• Finally, Hydration got us hyped for Polkadot DeFi Summer 2024 and beyond.

That is all for this week. If you enjoyed the newsletter, please share it. You can subscribe on Substack to receive an email when next week's edition is ready. And if you're participating in creator staking on Subsocial, you can interact to increase your rewards — perhaps a good two-for-one deal by providing feedback or comments.

Awesome cover art created by Dodow.