Elastic Moments! - Newsletter Edition 98

In this week’s edition:

1. Editorial: Market rally, scaling updates, and scaling the creator economy.
2. Top Story - Scaling Blocks: We take a closer look at Elastic Scaling and other Polkadot ecosystem scaling matters.
3. Featured Wag Roundup: News from our Finders Program between May 8th and May 14th, plus how creators can scale.
4. Extras: Credits and anything else.

Editorial

What is up, my friends!

The markets are rallying, with Bitcoin pushing higher and major alts seeing bigger moves, albeit mostly from recent lows. CT seems to be filled with optimism, inflows are increasing, deals look promising, and interest is up as web searches for promising shitcoins rise. Furthermore, a certain coin has reached the S&P 500, with more good news if you deribit longer.

While markets curve up and blobs form, the next update in the Polkadot Ecosystem is stretching our attention. As briefly covered in our top story on DOT Roadmaps last week, Elastic Scaling was planned for this past week. So, in this week’s top story, we shall take a closer look at what went down, as well as other ecosystem scaling matters.

On the topic of scaling, we will also provide a feature that touches on how creators can approach it. This comes off the back of last week’s WAG content report for April, where we covered a drop-off in standards last month. Perhaps more time on expanding knowledge and research is needed. Hence, we’ll combine the feature with our full news roundup.

To ensure you’re up to date, be sure to follow us on X or subscribe to our weekly newsletter!

Dodow, Chief Editor

Top Story of the Week - Scaling Blocks

Written by yay.oi

What’s Stretchin’, Armstrongs? While the broader market has been flexing some serious gains, the Polkadot protocol is limbering up for the marathon ahead. With Async Backing and Agile Coretime already delivered, Elastic Scaling is the final pillar of the Polkadot 2.0 scalability trinity. While there will be some slight delays on Polkadot, this week we finally welcomed Kusama 2.0

Elastic Scaling launched on Kusama last Friday with the deployment of Runtime 1.5.0. With it, comes the ability for parachains to scale resources up or down on demand. Due to Polkadot’s multicore architecture, it allows parachains to dynamically adjust the number of cores they use, from one to twelve, though each configuration comes with some trade-offs.

For use cases where low latency is paramount, 12 cores will provide 500ms blocks and up to 12 MB/s of DA bandwidth. The trade-off is reduced compute power due to only 500ms of processing time per block. In CPU intensive applications, a three-core setup will provide 2-second blocks, 3MB/s of DA bandwidth, and 6 seconds of execution time.

Regardless of trade-offs, the beauty of Elastic Scaling lies in its dynamic adaptability. Parachains can scale up resources in times of high demand without wasting idle resources when usage is lower.

Finally, this dynamic adaptability has landed in a working environment on Kusama, though the launch of Runtime 1.5.0 emphasizes the sister chain’s role as the canary in the coalmine. This is because, shortly after deployment, reports of long delays to block finality began rolling in.

The problem stemmed from an incompatibility with validators running older node software. Runtime 1.5.0 introduced v2 descriptors, replacing the Parachain ID with a core index to facilitate Elastic Scaling. Validators using older node software couldn’t recognize these blocks, triggering a dispute storm that disrupted finality.

Reverting to v1 descriptors was the fix that brought finality back on track. A Whitelisted Caller Referendum fast-tracked the patch’s deployment within 48 hours. Despite cypherpunk efforts to shake the canary moniker, Kusama again proved its value as a live testing ground for major upgrades.

Yet this benefit for the broader ecosystem came at a cost for Kusama-based projects such Acurast Canary, which faced hours of finality delays. The setback comes at a time when Acurast itself is scaling up its operation.

Acurast is a DePIN which offers decentralized compute powered by a global network of incentivized mobile device users. A glance at the ol’ Spammening dashboard shows it to be the most active chain on Kusama.

Furthermore, Dotlake data on May 12th, 2024 reveals daily transactions (855,591) comparable to the entire Polkadot ecosystem (951,530). With mainnet launch and TGE on the horizon, this week Acurast is raising $5.4M with a token sale on Coinlist.

That is not the only way to get your hands on some ACU tokens. First, you could join the Cloud Rebellion, Acurast’s community engagement program. Beyond that, participating in Acurast’s compute network offers a chance to receive incentives while contributing to the growth of its infrastructure.

Providing mobile compute can be done using the idle time of your daily phone or a dedicated device. Plenty of older devices are supported, even with a broken screen. Despite their size, modern cell phones offer many advantages over traditional rack-mount servers. An empirical study showed Acurast performed tasks 34% faster than AWS with far lower power consumption.

Additionally, the Hardware Security Modules and Trusted Execution Environments found in smartphones mean Acurast can handle enterprise-grade confidential compute tasks, as evidenced by its partnerships.

For founder Alessandro De Carli, where DePIN is today reminds him of Bitcoin’s early days. Absolutely anyone with the right equipment can plug into the network and reap the rewards.

Currently, Acurast has amassed 60K onboarded devices across more than 130 countries. It’s a global compute network powered by proud contributors. Built for decentralization, security, and scalability, it will continue leveraging its growing network to fuel a sustainable vision for the future.

Meanwhile, from onboarding thousands of devices to the ambitious vision of bringing the masses to Web3, Astar has shared a proposal that could considerably shape its future. The next step involves scaling its tokenomics to maintain a competitive edge and promote long-term value stability.

Astar Tokenomics 3.0 proposes to phase out inflationary emissions, eventually capping the supply at 10.5B ASTR. This strategic shift directly addresses a growing trend within institutional markets, which tends to favour fixed-supply economic models.

The network fee burn rate would drope from 80% to 50%, while collators’ share would rise from 20% to 30%. The remaining 20% would fund and support the treasury with providing grants, protocol-owned liquidity, builder support, and coretime payments. Given Astar’s focus away from its Polkadot L1, some may be surprised to see coretime prioritized at all.

Since the launch of the Polygon-based Astar zkEVM, and subsequent migration to the Soneium Ethereum L2, Polkadot barely gets a mention from Astar. According to founder Sota Watanabe, the Polkadot L1 will be the primary focus for Phase 2 of Astar Evolution.

Growth in the ecosystem relies on builders, with Astar’s dApp staking mechanism offering sustainable funding and incentivizing ASTR stakers to influence distribution. Tokenomics 3.0 ensures the approach’s longevity, while the Community Council discusses stricter eligibility for projects, including clear Astar integration and measurable impact on network metrics.

Even as projects recalibrate and refine their strategies, there’s no slowdown in sight. From Kusama catching runtime bugs to Acurast scaling compute across continents, the Polkadot ecosystem is demonstrating its resilience under pressure.

As Polkadot 2.0 nears and JAM looms, the importance of resilience across the stack grows. It seems that, now more than ever, we may need to double down on diversity, adaptability, and strong governance. Polkadot’s next phase will test these foundations, and we will need to be ready.

Featured Roundup - Wag Roundup (May 8th to May 14th)

Written by Dodow

Scaling Content

For those of you who have made it to the Wag Discord, the opportunity to learn, grow, and earn rewards awaits. That said, not all waggers are adjusting accordingly, as last month we received a lot of submissions, but not many made it into April’s WAG. Aside from taking on board the feedback through WagMedia, following are some thoughts on how to scale your content.

Spamming is overrated. Daily content is only really expected when you’re at the professional and recognition level of TheKus. Therefore, do yourself a favour and allow time for your content to settle. Perhaps spend some time working on your brand via engagement.

Remember, your audience's time is precious. This was mentioned by Jay Chrawnna during the early days of WagMedia. You should seriously consider spending time on preparing your script, video, article, thread, etc., to ensure views are not wasted.

Sure, AI might speed things up however smart audiences can often tell when it’s being liberally used. As pointed out by IcoBeast it’s best to avoid AI slop, and this applies whether you’re yapping or wagging.

Furthermore, spend some actual time in the trenches. Try using the protocols, as you tend to find that the audience appreciates the authenticity of your journey. This avoids an awkward moment or two that you might want to keep private.

Actually, there’s a lot more you can learn from yapping, and Goku’s thread is well worth reading. It’s not about the number of followers you have, rather it’s more about who can hold attention. Be mindful of this when creating your next video or thread.

Speaking of considering your next video or thread, folks have been fading guides and tutorials. Regardless of your native language, a quality video tutorial or guide can really help. In fact, there currently isn’t enough video content in crypto!

The sound storytelling of top content typically stems from building up your knowledge. It’s rarely just based on a single source, otherwise you might as well just let the audience read that instead. It might be worth spending time finding it or reading the weekly news found by the community. Curated by the community. Backed by OpenGov.

DOT Ecosystem News

• Acurast is dialing up decentralized compute, powered by mobile devices. Those who got in contact with CoinList before May 15th could connect to an allocation of 60M unvested ACU tokens (6% of supply) at a rate of 9 cents USD. If the signal is strong, availability could double to 120M.

• Peaq is enabling some airspace incentives as it onboards Alpha AI, a drone-powered 3D city mapping DePIN.

• Perhaps we call it the Kusama 2.0 moment. Cypherpunk times await, now that you can build with more throughput on demand as Elastic Scaling went live.

• Experimental support for PolkaVM smart contracts becomes available via Pop CLI v0.8.0.

• Things are starting to add up in the Polkadot forum discussion, where Webzero plans to merge Sub0 and Decoded into a new flagship event. The idea is to host Sub0: Symbiosis 2025 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, ahead of this year's broader industry DevConnect event.

• The Bat signal is out, calling on Polkadot developers to help shape distinct paths ahead for launching DotCodeSchool, an interactive learning platform.

• Polkadot coretime sales continue to be seized by the Baron, who has renewed all nine cores at 9.2 DOT each and purchased two new cores at 92.2 DOT. He is now offering a discount on the 920 DOT starting price for the next sale. Also on Kusama, it's being offered as a bundle at around 800 KSM.

• Astar is looking to strengthen its future by revisiting its token model with a new proposal. Tokenomics 3.0, projected to go live in 2026, will transition to a fixed supply of 10.5 billion ASTR. It will also introduce protocol-owned liquidity to ensure sustainability through ecosystem growth and coretime purchases.

• You could balance your knowledge in Bali, as the PBA campus, in conjunction with Mandala Chain, opens applications for a three-week course starting on August 24th.

• Energy Web is making progress in aviation sustainability. In partnership with Chooose, the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Certificates Registry enables airlines to trade emissions reduction credits, with Alaska Airlines now onboard.

• The SEC's decision to approve NASDAQ's listing of the 21Shares Polkadot Trust has been delayed until June 24th.

• Aventus’s AVT token is now listed on MEXC. To celebrate this new arrival, an airdrop event with various activities on the exchange has been organized.

• If you failed to complete the KYC for Hyperbridge’s Initial Relayer Offering, you can now request a refund through their portal.

• OpenZeppelin has partnered with Polkadot to bring Solidity and Rust contract libraries, along with development tools, to the forthcoming Hub. This collaboration also focuses on the continued advancement of parachain runtimes and pallets.

• An urgent upgrade was required for at least two-thirds of Kusama validator nodes.

• Check out art in the modular geometry metropolis, as City by Jey is minting on Koda.

• Get ready to battle ChessOnChain, as Polkadot Africa hosts a tournament on May 21st.

• It’s your last chance to accumulate Marks ahead of Evrloot’s TGE, as their season 2 campaign ends on May 28th.

• With gaming tournaments attracting gamers on Moonbeam, N3mus will switch to a fairer distribution of prizes.

• StellaSwap shapes up for veDay. On May 12th, the beta of veSTELLA went live on testnet.

• Colb Finance, a multichain protocol that has expanded to Moonbeam, has secured a further $7.3M in an oversubscribed private round seed extension. The funds will support expansion of cross-border payment rails, promote adoption of its USC stablecoin, and foster growth in emerging markets.

• Following Hydration’s Governance Referendum 80, the vDOT supply cap on its money market was increased to 666K and has since been quickly filled.

• Get ready for MACHINEX, the DEX that opens up trading in the Peaq Machine Economy.

• Kusama Whitelisted Caller Referendum 524, was needed to rectify the disruption to finality following the recent runtime that introduced Elastic Scaling.

• Dollar tweaks in Hydration Referendum 84, adjusting USDC and USDT lending parameters in preparation for Hollar.

• After the finality issues on Kusama, more time is needed before pushing ahead with Elastic Scaling on Polkadot. Please vote NAY on Referendum 1546.

• Following the failure of Polkadot treasury funding for a Humanoid SDK, Robonomics has put forward Referendum 1559. It seeks 150K USDT to develop, promote, and audit smart home devices built on RISC-V.

• Polkadot Referendum 1563, see N3mus seeking 25K DOT to integrate with the Polkadot Hub and expand its gaming to parachains beyond Moonbeam. The funding will also be used to onboard at least 15 more games and provide prizes for over 150 gaming tournaments.

DOT Ecosystem Events

• Webzero hosted a Hacker House with Polkadot during Consensus Toronto, from May 13th to 16th. The event featured a $20K prize pool and also involved speed pitches.
• Did any Heroic participants survive the Polkadot Proof Frag Counter-Strike tournament, battling for a $2.5K prize between May 10th and 11th?
• Messari provided a rundown of Peaq Network’s Q1 2025 report on May 13th.
• Aventus held a livestream on May 13th to share the latest developments on their Atmos (formerly Aventus Aviation) product line.
• Building a Web3 community was the focus of a May 14th panel featuring team members from Aventus, Kylix Finance, and Mandala Chain.
• Check out the new weekly series The Polkadot Ambassador Fellowship Meets…. Episode one, released on May 13th, features the Web3 Foundation.
• Jay repped Polkadot on a multichain infrastructure panel at Consensus Toronto on May 13th.
• Polkadot – Beyond the Noise was presented by Dave Sedacca, Finance Director at Parity, on May 14th at Consensus Toronto.
• ET hosted a DePIN-focused session on May 8th, featuring guests from Acurast, Silencio, and DePIN Hub.
• Silencio discussed their token roadmap live on May 8th.

Extras

• Incredible cover art created by SKULLZ.
• For all you budding creators out there, don't hesitate any longer – join us now! There are plenty of rewards awaiting your creativity.
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