Polkadot is a project theorized in 2016, whose mainnet was deployed in May 2020. Its goal is to ensure better interoperability of blockchains. To do this, Polkadot presents itself as a layer 0 blockchain, which serves other parallel blockchains called parachains. Since their launch, DeFi-oriented parachains have continued to evolve and now gather more than $1 billion in TVL.
Astar: Polkadot’s unicorn
Astar is one of the parachains in the Polkadot ecosystem. This one was deployed in January 2022 after winning the auction conducted by Polkadot to distribute the parachain slots.
In practice, Astar is a smart contract blockchain supporting multiple virtual machines. Thus, Astar supports both the native environment of Polkadot with WASM and that of Ethereum by implementing the EVM.
Moreover, Astar also presents a multichain dimension by being interconnected to Cosmos and BNB Smart Chain networks.
Earlier this week, the project passed a major milestone in its growth by reaching $1 billion in TVL. As a result, over $1 billion has been deposited across the various decentralized applications hosted on the Astar network.
In practice, this makes Astar the most active blockchain in the Polkadot ecosystem. Thus, this one gathers about 45% of the TVL of the entire Polkadot network.
There are two main projects behind Astar’s success:
- Arthswap, a DeFi protocol with a decentralized exchange and lending pools;
- Starlay Finance, a fork of the Aave protocol offering a lending service.
Astar unveils the Build To Earn
Obviously, Astar does not intend to stop there. Thus, the project has announced the launch of a program called Build2Earn, which is innovative to say the least.
In fact, this program aims to encourage developers to build new platforms on the Astar blockchain. To do this, Astar is offering a base income to developers who have staked tokens for the development of their application.
“To incentivize developers to join the Astar Network, we are implementing a Build2Earn program, where smart contract developers can receive a base income from Astar tokens that have been staked for the digital applications they create.”
Astar Network announcement
As a result, developers of decentralized applications can get a grant without having to go through traditional funding schemes involving venture capitalists.
At the same time, Polkadot’s other ventures are also gaining traction. For example, the Acala project recently announced the opening of a $250 million fund to finance the development of DApps using its stablecoin.
