Wag Tricks, Treats, and Fireworks! - Newsletter Edition 76

In this week’s edition:

1. Editorial: Festive vibes, Spotlight on insights, Bifrost treasury partner, Inspirational.

2. Top Story - Sparking Inspiration & Pha-mazing Treats at the Mythical Party!: Themed highlights include inspiring Ethereum, Phala, and Mythical.

3. Featured Report - Wagtastic Tips & Tricks!: Find your way with The Wag.

4. Wag Roundup: News from our Finders Program between October 29th and November 4th.

5. Extras: Credits and anything else.

Editorial

What is up, my friends!

By the time you read this week’s newsletter, quite a lot may have already happened. It’s that time of year when many of us are in for a fright. Some will be stepping away from their screens to celebrate the light, and the night will be filled with fireworks and parties as things culminate on November 5th.

With this theme in mind for our top story this week, we will Wag Tricks, Treats, and Fireworks! Polkadot is certainly providing tips and tricks, as well as some rolled-up TEEats. The mythical volume is rocketing up, and the fireworks certainly went off with the announcement of a Pudgy Party.

Meanwhile, last week’s feature update covered some nice insights about the rollups in our ecosystem, via the research from our Finders Program. In line with the festive spirit, this week our featured report will provide you with some Wagtastic pointers to get involved and push ahead.

Speaking of insights, we are proud to see our news roundup in the spotlight. Our mission has always been about unlocking the potential of the community, and it's nice to see their contributions being recognized. If you want to get involved, then our feature in this week’s edition is recommended reading.

For those who want to take it up a notch, then Bifrost returns as a treasury partner to entice creators to make some Waves. The Bifrost bounty officially starts on November 3rd, and there will also be an associated Talisman Quest to follow. We have also opened this bounty to those in the lingo lounge looking to produce content in their native language.

As mentioned last week, our bounty hub is currently in a period of free submission. We encourage creators to use it as an opportunity to take their own initiative, to expand their creative thinking, and extend their reach. We believe this can inspire some sound results–just check out the awesome infographic by Cmosh.

Need more inspiration? You might want to watch The Universal Machine!

Dodow, Chief Editor

Top Story of the Week - Sparking Inspiration & Pha-mazing Treats at the Mythical Party!

Written by yay.oi

What’s poppin’, pumpkins! Did you have a spooktacular Halloween, or has the market grabbed you by the ghoulies? While we’ve experienced a trick or two this week, they were far outweighed by a massive haul of treats and some fireworks to boot. So, sit down, grab your candy haul, and let’s get scary!

Halloween costumes are a great opportunity for self-expression. They’re a chance to embrace your inner child, push boundaries, or step into your dream role. While you could stick with the classics like our very own TOD, who rocked a fresh take on the jack-o'-lantern look, it can be fun to ruffle a few feathers. For Luuu, that meant taunting a bull or two.

However, if you’re really looking to turn heads and get people talking, you could dress your protocol roadmap up to look eerily similar to Polkadot. This week, some in the community observed that Ethereum may have taken a page from the Polkadot playbook, opening up a lively debate about what exactly is happening here. Is it a case of appropriation, appreciation, or merely just convergent evolution?

Ethereum borrowing from Polkadot does make for a fun and memeable narrative. However, the proposals recently refined by Vitalik Buterin have been circulating for quite some time, so aren’t necessarily a sudden pivot, as some have suggested. Both Polkadot and Ethereum are both open-source projects that have similar goals. But Polkadot’s forkless nature allows it to iterate a lot more easily, making it likely to be first past the post on most occasions.

While there aren’t too many tricks going on at the Ethereum protocol level, Phala might complain tricksters in the Ethereum memecoin community are meddling with their TrEEts. It all started with the launch of their provably fully autonomous AI Agent tee_hee_he on Twitter.

Secured inside a trusted execution environment (TEE) for an initial period of seven days, tee_hee_he was given exclusive ownership over its Twitter and Ethereum accounts. It was then released upon the unsuspecting public, who immediately took a shine to it.

Naturally, a memecoin followed, although it was launched on Ethereum by a completely unrelated team. By (provably) denying their association with the TEE token, the team was met with hostility from its growing memecoin community. They were labeled as FUDders, while also being criticized for not launching their own token associated with the project.

In the meantime, tee_hee_he found itself flagged on Twitter for being an untagged bot, with the devs unable to intervene until its initial seven-day lockdown had run its course. So, for the AI Agent it’s a case of wait and see. As for the token, it’s still trending at the top of the Ethereum ecosystem on DexScreener.

This leads us to our first big Halloween treat of the week. You don’t have to wonder what’s trending at the top on Hydration anymore. Possibly caving to the increasingly unhinged requests from our beloved Gavun Wud, DexScreener has finally begun indexing Hydration.

With the data now at hand, it probably comes as no surprise that WUD has trended at the number one spot consistently. Gavun Wud fans have another treat in store for them very suun with the upcoming release of Flappy Wud 2.0.

Reviews from the elite few closed beta game testers have been very positive, but not much has been revealed about changes to the gameplay. What is known is that this will be the first release to implement the effects of the Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Diamond Tier NFTs. These NFTs are earned by the top burners of the WUD/Hydration LP Burn NFT Campaign.

While Gavun Wudn’t be able to stop flapping even if he tried, Gavin Wood probably flew first class. Another treat for the Polkadot community, our founder and head architect Gavin Wood is jetting off to Thailand as a confirmed speaker at the Sub0 Reset in Bangkok. He will be asynchronously joined by fellow Polkadot co-founder Rob Habermeier.

Sub0 this year will be a big shift from previous events, with a renewed focus on Web3 hacker culture. It promises to be all treats and no tricks, with free tickets, food, and drinks, thanks to funding from the Polkadot treasury.

With recent reductions in treasury spending, some may be critical of such a large event spend. However, some big changes to DOT tokenomics are projected to increase treasury inflow. The inflation parameter changes from the community’s signal vote have already been implemented on the Westend testnet. They also feature in the Polkadot Runtime 1.3.4 upgrade, which will be voted on in a root referendum soon.

As for the JAMmy treat that we’ve all been craving since Gavin Wood’s keynote in April, a tidbit of news from JAMdot this week planted a few more seeds of excitement. They announced that PyJAMaz, their Python implementation of JAM, is now producing blocks, bringing them one step closer to their share of the 10M DOT JAM Implementer's Prize.

A seemingly small treat, a simple Gmfrom Hyperbridge founder Seun Lanlege, was to some the biggest treat of all this week. If you know, you know. If you don’t know, here’s a hint.

That may be enough Polkadot treats to fill your bag to bursting point, but we’ve got plenty more news to celebrate. Get ready to light up the night, because the fireworks are just getting started.

Igniting the flames is Stellaswap which has just completed a massive burn of 50% of its total supply. This is the first phase of their new Reborn strategy, which will bring increased value and utility to STELLA.

Reborn will see the introduction of veSTELLA, a token that can be minted by locking STELLA. Holders of veSTELLA will receive protocol revenue in USDC, and will be able to vote on which Stellaswap pools can be incentivized.

Meanwhile, we’re counting down to the explosive launch of Peaq, with its impressive lineup of DePINs and vast number of devices. After a slight delay to prepare for day one listings on some major exchanges, the mainnet launch and token genesis has been set for November 12th 2024.

But the biggest fireworks of the week comes from Mythical, whose epic news about the 2025 launch of Pudgy Party spread far and beyond. Long-term Pudgy Penguin holder Ivan on Tech is pumped to see Web3’s best IP hosted in Mythical’s wide-reaching gaming ecosystem.

The mobile multiplayer game for Android and iOS promises to break the mold of traditional battle royale games, with an emphasis on cooperation and shared rewards. Players can look forward to simple yet addictive gameplay and, of course, fully customizable penguin avatars that are sure to bring an even bigger boost to the Mythical Marketplace.

So, that’s a wrap for a very exciting festive week in the Polkadot ecosystem. There’s plenty more to come as we prepare for all of the exciting events in Bangkok. You can read all about it in next week’s newsletter, or if you’re inclined, you could join us to help report on the build up to Sub0.

What a week eh? We had ether imitation tricks or treats from dot community, all rounding up in a party-filled show of fireworks backed by OpenGov!

Featured Report - Wagtastic Tips & Tricks!

Written by Sanchez

Greetings, ghouls and goblins—it’s spooky season! As we gather around the cauldron, this week’s newsletter bubbles insights to help creators get started on Wag. There are loads of tricks and tips to get you started. But before we conjure up those details, let’s take a moment to talk about the magic of community.

Community is essential to any project. It brings together users, builders, and contributors who believe in the purpose of a project and are committed to its success. This sets community members apart from temporary contributors focused mainly on providing a service. At Wagmedia, a core goal is turning interested Polkadot community members into thriving creators.

Through WagMedia, creators can contribute via the Finders Program, which could potentially lead to a spot in our weekly newsletter. They can also participate in the Bounty Hub, retroactive content, reporting content, non-Anglo content, and more. Now on to what you’re here for–Tips & Tricks (TT) to get you started.

While newbies are welcome to join, they are expected to have some footprint and familiarity with the ecosystem. Recommended activities include: reading the Polkadot Wiki, joining Discord servers of ecosystem projects, attending discussions and AMAs, and following prominent accounts on X (such as the official Polkadot account). TT1 = be a part of the community.

After joining Wag, the Finders Program is an ideal first step for newer creators. The program involves the sourcing of news and developments around the ecosystem, ensuring creators become more knowledgeable. To learn more about the Finders Program, you should read yay.oi’s coverage, which provides in-depth insights. TT2 = understand your role as a finder.

An excellent way to boost finds is by following projects on the affiliates section on the Polkadot X account. Creators can find more news and projects by joining Polkadot-related lists like this on X. They can also find more news by tracking projects on the Parachain.info website and searching for their social media accounts. TT3 = establish data points.

Following ecosystem general purpose L1s like Moonbeam and Astar can also greatly help, as they would have their own ecosystem of dApps. Ranging from DeFi to NFTs, meme-coins to real-world assets, and much more. Some popular picks include Stellaswap, Beamswap, Astar Degens, and Destore. TT4 = dig deeper into the ecosystems.

However, it is important to ensure sourced updates are Polkadot-centered and haven’t already been posted on Discord, as this helps prevent errors. It is crucial you read the updates and articles carefully to understand their significance for the audience. TT5 = details matter.

Summaries to be posted on Discord should capture the essential information and not copy-pasted directly from the source. Spending time to understand what a protocol does and reviewing other updates enhances your summaries by adding more context and insight. TT6 = provide something useful.

Those who take the Finders Program seriously, get the opportunity to work in Web3 journalism on our weekly newsletter. In fact, if you take the time to read one of our newsletters, you may find them useful. For instance, the featured updates from our newsletter provides researched insights. Check out our coverage on Hydration and Moonbeam. TT7 = learn from publications.

Outside of the Finders program, creators can contribute to bounties or create content on any topic. Bounties highlight significant developments but limit the scope of the content. That said, creators can create on any Polkadot-related topics as they see fit and post them in the retroactive channel. NOTE: rewards for your work are not guaranteed.

Want your work to shine? Join the Finders Program to gain a deeper understanding about various projects, as well as the latest updates. Work on simplifying information or providing succinct summaries, and eventually you will build a coherent picture. TT8 = establish research & writing foundations.

Adding images to content not only improves aesthetics but also enhances comprehension. For inspiration, check out Pablo's standout creations for DOT X TON, and the two architects of blockchain and TuringM4chines' response to Ledger support on Polkadot, a meme for Hyperbridge and a bounty submission. TT9 = understand aesthetic appeals.

The structure of your content is just as crucial for retaining your audience's attention. Simplifying your work, providing metrics, and using catchy hooks can significantly help keep readers engaged. Be cautious about AI, as it’s less likely to appeal to intelligent readers. TT10 = work on your structure.

Reading the works of other creators and learning from them is valuable in your journey. Understanding the approach they use can help guide your creations. In addition to the feedback you receive, studying the feedback these creators receive from directors can also help shape your work. This allows you to adopt effective techniques and avoid common mistakes. TT11 = learn from others.

WagMedia has an enchanting role in the Polkadot ecosystem, acting as both a content creation hub for diverse content and a launchpad for new creators. It summons individuals to contribute, helping some transform into ecosystem agents. For those eager to venture forth, WagMedia stands as a foundational pillar, ready to unleash their full power.

One of WagMedia’s future paths forward is to help unlock Polkadot’s potential across the African continent. Those leading the proposed Polkadot Africa mission, have chosen to draw on the potions offered by Wag to advance their efforts. The vision is to harness the regional talent pool to mold creators, who will cast their craft to support the development of local builders and businesses on Polkadot.

In a way, this approach embraces the mystical, interoperable, and modular nature of Polkadot. It will be exciting to see how this unfolds. Africa is a region of great interest, as many other leading Web3 ecosystems like Ethereum and Solana, have ventured onto the continent where mass adoption can thrive.

Through WagMedia, Polkadot Africa can create magic for our ecosystem to fulfill its potential. This approach can also be used to empower other Polkadot missions and extend network effects. While nothing is certain, what’s encouraging is that it demonstrates the resilient strength of our community.

Wag Roundup

Written by yay.oi & Sanchez

• Dotlake has released their Polkadot insights for October. Thanks to Mythical onboarding over 5 million accounts, the total number of unique accounts on Polkadot has increased by 63% to 13 million. The Relay Chain validated a whopping 32 million transactions, almost half of them from Neuroweb. With the active validator set expanded to 500, the Nakamoto Coefficient has jumped to 136.
• JAM Implementer's Prize candidate JAMdot Technologies announces that PyJAMaz, its Python implementation of JAM, is now producing blocks.
• Mythical Games and Pudgy Penguins have announced the Pudgy Party mobile game set for release in 2025. The game featuring obstacle-dodging gameplay will be available on iOS and Android, allowing players to enjoy it with family, friends and others worldwide.
• Holders of the Sovereign Nature InitiativeDOTphin NFTs canlevel up their NFTs to the third evolution stage, Naia, at sub0 Reset. The proof-of-participation NFTs can be leveled up by claiming new POPs at Polkadot ecosystem events.
• Destore has updated the DESTORE token allocation ratios for its ISPO participants, offering a 2X boost for everyone involved, with the ISPO continuing into Q1 of 2025. They also recently shifted their reward model from an equity share structure to a system that rewards ISPO participants directly with DESTORE tokens.
• Stellaswap is introducing veSTELLA, which brings significant changes to the platform. By locking STELLA, users can obtain veSTELLA, enabling them to vote on and boost emissions for specific pools. Different protocols can offer bribes to veSTELLA holders, incentivizing their votes. Additionally, veSTELLA holders will receive 83.5% of all trading fees on Stellaswap and 100% of all bribes.
• The MYTH-DOT isolated pool has been hydrated, allowing liquidity providers to farm and earn up to 128% rewards in vDOT and HDX on Hydration.
• Acala has partnered with derivatives infrastructure provider Fufuture to introduce Coin-based perpetual options to the network.
• Following the approval of the Wish-For-Change Referendum 1139, which proposed reducing Polkadot's inflation rate to 8%. The approved parameters have been tested on the Westend network to confirm their effectiveness. A new referendum is now live, seeking to upgrade the Polkadot Relay Chain and Asset Hub to apply these parameters on Polkadot.
• Members of the ambassador collective have submitted a proposal to implement their manifesto for the Polkadot ambassador program.
• In the latest episode of Decentralized Mic on October 30th, Polkadot hosted Tommi Enenkel (OpenGov Watch) and Raul Romanutti (Just Open Source) to discuss all things governance-related.
• Full Wag Roundup 29th October to 4th November.

Extras

• Awesome cover art created by Dodow.

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