Polkadot has been tagged by crypto and DeFi experts as the United Nations of blockchains. DOT is also the 11th largest digital asset by market capitalization.
This article takes an overview of Polkadot, its core areas of business, and - most importantly for prospective investors - the pros and cons which can help answer the question: Should You Buy Polkadot?
Polkadot (DOT) traded on cryptocurrency exchanges in August 2020 and little was known about the blockchain which was driving the price of the cryptocurrency. DOT has performed extremely well as a trading asset and returned 220% in 2021 for investors.
The crypto boom of 2021 which saw Binance Coin (BNB), Dogecoin (DOGE), Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) reach new highs did not leave DOT behind. DOT reached an all-time high of $55 on 4th November 2021.
Polkadot came into the crypto finance space with a special mission: to provide interoperability. This is the main reason why it is using its heterogeneous multi-chain network to ensure digital assets and its components can be shared across several blockchains.
Ethereum started to upgrade its network to Ethereum 2.0. Once it reaches full functionality, other upgrades could see its network become interoperable. Charles Hoskinson’s Cardano (ADA) promises great features with the possibilities of smart contracts although it’s yet to register a single use case.
If Cardano reaches full functionality and becomes the third generation of blockchain, there is a huge chance that Cardano can rival Polkadot’s technology. This is because it could provide interoperability and better scalability.
With stern competition staring at Polkadot in the not-too-distant future, will DOT survive based on the unique features provided by its network? On the positive side, will DOT join Cardano and Tron (TRX) to give Ethereum strong competition in the next 5 or 10 years?
For a cryptocurrency that is less than two years old to command huge investor interest in terms of daily volumes recorded, is Polkadot overpriced?
With decentralized finance applications such as Polkaswap, Polkastarter and ExeedMe commanding huge trade volumes, is Polkadot a good investment in 2022 and beyond?
Most importantly, for novice traders and investors - what are the pros and cons which can help answer the question; should I buy Polkadot?
Contents:
Polkadot Price Prediction: What Are Analysts Saying About Polkadot?
The Bottom Line - Should You Buy Polkadot?
Polkadot At A Glance
In this section, we will give an overview of Polkadot, including the primary reason why it was created. The price performance of the cryptocurrency from 2020 till now will also be thoroughly assessed.
Co-founder of Ethereum Gavin Wood, Thiel Fellow Robert Habermeier and Peter Czaban are founders of Polkadot. Gavin Wood is widely credited as the face of Polkadot.
Gavin Wood came to a standstill while working on the Ethereum Project. He needed to include a certain specification called Sharding to improve the scalability of Ethereum 2.0.
After being able to identify such an important feature which would improve the speed of processing, Gavin Woods decided to tackle all the problems which may arise from Sharding.
In a short period of time, he moved on from a mere conception of an idea and wrote a white paper to support his findings. It took him four hours to come up with a heterogeneous multi-chain network. He named it the POLKADOT PROTOCOL.
The Web3 Foundation is based in Switzerland and oversees the continuous development of the Polkadot Protocol.
What is Polkadot?
Polkadot is referred to as an open-source sharding multi-chain protocol which facilitates the cross-chain transfer of not only tokens but any asset or data type. In the process, it makes several blockchains interoperable with one another.
There are four components or layers of Polkadot. They are Relay Chain, Parachains, Parathread and Bridges.
The Polkadot Relay Chain is the heart of the blockchain. It helps with the creation of consensus, shared security and interoperability across different chain networks.
Polkadot Parachains are chains that are independent enough to have their own tokens. They can also be optimized for specific use cases.
Polkadot Parathread is a bit similar to parachains. Its primary function is to provide flexible connectivity based on an economic model which is popularly known as pay-as-you-go.
Bridges create compatible connections that allow users to transfer data or tokens securely between blockchains whether they belong to public institutions or private enterprises.
Why Was Polkadot Created?
The main reason for the creation of Polkadot is to facilitate interoperability between blockchains.
With such a unique feature, developers can create blockchains which can communicate with other ledgers.
Through the feature of interoperability, developers decide how fast blocks of transactions can be confirmed across several digital ledgers.
How Many Polkadot Coins Are In Supply?
There is a circulating supply of 1.12B DOT from a total supply of 1,235,944,612 DOT, at the time of writing.
DOT Price Performance from 2020 to Date
DOT opened at $2.90 and closed at $2.88 with a trade volume of $49 million on 21st August 2020.
Since that day, DOT has performed extremely well taking absolute advantage of the renewed interest in cryptocurrencies from institutional investors to novice traders and investors.
With Bitcoin leading a rally towards the end of the year, DOT more than doubled its price to trade for a coin at $9.29 by the end of 2020. In the process, DOT increased by 220.345%.
DOT opened at where it left off at $9.29 on 1st January 2021 and closed at $16.12 by the end of January. Polkadot rallied across several price milestones ($20, $25, $30, $35 and $40) before reaching its current all-time high of $55 by November 2021. The coin closed the year at $26.72.
In the first 4 months of 2022, Polkadot's price was fluctuating between $14 and $31, but the crash of the crypto market in the summer months of 2022 drove DOT's price down to the $6 level. Currently, DOT has a price of around $6.5 and a market capitalization of $7.25 billion.
After such a performance, what are the pros and cons you should consider before making an investment on Polkadot?
Read Also: Polkadot Cryptocurrency: How It Works and Where to Buy?
Crypto asset investing is highly volatile and unregulated in some EU countries. No consumer protection. Tax on profits may apply.
Pros Of Buying Polkadot
Polkadot brought gains to investors as a result of the crypto boom of 2021. With that said, DOT is a relatively younger cryptocurrency that appeared on cryptocurrency exchanges in August 2020.
What has caused its rally so far? Is the blockchain technology behind the cryptocurrency so good? Or is the rally related to investors acting on the next golden goose?
What are the reasons to buy Polkadot? What are the pros behind an investment decision on DOT?
✅ Huge Developer Activity on Polkadot’s Network
For smart contract blockchains, developer activity plays an essential role in informing prospective users and investors about the progress of a project.
As per information retrieved from Sanbase on developer activity, Polkadot is in the top 3, with Kusama and Cardano. Polkadot has 486.6 developers designing and building new protocols on its Network. Also, Polkadot has decentralized applications that are recording relatively better volumes than its competitors, which has positively affected its overall valuation.
More development brings protocols that can challenge Ethereum’s reign as the king of the decentralized finance space.
✅ Polkadot Relies on Diversification to Drive Its Price
Polkadot, like all cryptocurrencies, thrives on the speculation of supply and demand. Aside from that, it also relies on the smart contracts applications running on its blockchain to increase in price.
Polkastarter (POLS) primarily enables projects to raise capital in an interoperable, decentralized and permissionless environment. At the time of writing, POLS had a trading price of $0.47 and a market capitalization of $46.7 million.
Exeedme (XED) is a gaming platform that was designed with the primary role of creating new revenue streams for the users of the application. At the time of writing, XED had a trading price of $0.055 and a market capitalization of $4.7 million.
Kusama (KSM) is a scalable multi-chain network for radical innovation and early stage Polkadot deployments. At the time of writing, Kusama had a trading price of $42.2 and a market capitalization of $357 million.
Polkaswap (PSWAP) is a non custodial AMM decentralized exchange (DEX) which was uniquely designed for the Polkadot ecosystem.
This shows that DOT has a good grip on the decentralized finance space. More applications in the decentralized exchange (DEX) and lending category would surely increase the cryptocurrency’s rank on the list of global digital assets.
✅ Successful Partnerships
There are several projects which have achieved awesome trade volumes and market capitalization after it got into a partnership with Polkadot. Some of these projects are the Celer Network, REN and OCEAN Protocol.
CELER
Celer (CELR) is a layer-2 scaling platform which enables fast, easy and secured off-chain transactions for generalized off-chain smart contracts.
Polkadot’s official handle on Twitter, tweeted on 20th February 2020 that “Celer Network will build its advanced State Channel Network technology on Polkadot, enabling nearly instantaneous, low-cost and trust-free transactions for @substrate_io based chains”.
The integration of CELR with the ecosystem of Polkadot was announced on 19th January 2021. The CELR project released its state channel substrate model which supports layer-2 scaling and instant payments on Polkadot.
CELR opened at $0.007432 and closed at $0.00812 on the day of the announcement. It gained 9% in less than 8 hours. Currently, CELR has a trading price of $0.04 and has returned 46% from the day of the announcement till date.
Much of this increase can be attributed to CELR reaching an all-time high of $0.1987 on 26th September 2021.
OCEAN
Discussions of a partnership between the Ocean Protocol and Polkadot started to gain traction in July 2020. The primary role of Polkadot in this partnership is to help bridge data assets across blockchains to unlock innovation.
On 26th January 2021, it was announced via @ocean protocol in a tweet that, “Ocean Protocol is entering the @Polkadot ecosystem via an integration with @MoonbeamNetwork”.
OCEAN opened on the day of the announcement at a price of $0.6082. OCEAN has gone on to reach an all-time high price of $1.94 on 10th April 2021.
OCEAN is currently trading at a price of $0.60 and has a market capitalization of $373 million. It has returned 1763% in the process.
REN
REN provides liquidity and interoperability between a large number of blockchains which includes Bitcoin, Ethereum and Polkadot.
REN announced in a tweet on 22nd July 2020 that, “We are excited to be building with @AcalaNetwork and @Polkadot. It speaks to the power of RenVM and is a key step in Ren’s larger vision of enabling permissionless transfers of value between any blockchain”.
At the time of the announcement, REN was trading at an average price of $0.15. REN reached an all-time high of $1.83 on 20th February 2021. REN had a price of around $0.40 at the time of writing. In a year, REN has returned 379% for investors.
With more partnerships in the future, more protocols would become interoperable with each other through Polkadot. Once this happens, DOT may test the price forecasts of several analysts who are predicting a minimum price of $100 in the near future.
✅ Relatively More Scalable Than Others
Scalability has been one of the problems associated with the use of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies. Polkadot makes provision of two forms of scalability. They are transactional and economic scalability.
Polkadot makes provision for TRANSACTIONAL SCALABILITY by spreading transactions across multiple parallel blockchains. For ECONOMIC SCALABILITY, Polkadot enables a common set of validators which provide security to multiple blockchains.
As of the time of writing, Polkadot scales approximately one thousand transactions per second. This is relatively better than Ethereum which still uses proof of work. Ethereum 2.0, which will employ proof of stake, has not yet achieved full functionality. Because of this, Ethereum currently supports 15 to 30 transactions per second.
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) supports 116 transactions per second. Cardano supports 1,000 transactions per second. Litecoin supports 56, Binance Coin supports 300 and Bitcoin supports 4.6 transactions per second.
Tron is the only smart contract blockchain that can theoretically scale faster than Polkadot. Tron scales approximately 2,000 transactions per second.
Speaking on the potential of the Network if it achieves full functionality, founder Gavin Wood wrote in a tweet that, “Latest benchmarks indicate @polkadotnetwork, even without parachains or multithreading, will still push a sustained rate in excess of 1,000 [transactions per second]. With parachains and multithreading then maybe 1,000,000 [transactions per second], 100% secure, upgradable and decentralized”.
With Ethereum’s high fees, several developers could in the near future, opt for Polkadot as the primary smart contract blockchain of their choice. This would see more DOTs used in processing millions of transactions. This could go on to reflect positively in the market valuation of the cryptocurrency.
✅ Interoperability
As more developers joined the blockchain train, a competition ensued about who was going to become the dominant force of the space.
Fortunately, Polkadot right from its inception made it known that it’s in the decentralized finance space to get blockchains together and not rule over them. This is the main reason why it has been tagged as the United Nations of blockchains.
Polkadot allows different varieties of blockchains to exchange and make use of information. Due to this, cross-blockchain transfers of any type of data or asset and not just tokens are enabled.
A question that typically arises is how secure Polkadot is as a result of hosting several blockchains on a single platform. Polkadot’s availability scheme and novel validity go a long way to provide the means for different chains to interact with one another in a secure manner.
With security in pole position, you can be rest assured that the network of Polkadot would not be compromised. This would see more blockchains linked to the platform which would ensure more activity and volume on the cryptocurrency.
Crypto asset investing is highly volatile and unregulated in some EU countries. No consumer protection. Tax on profits may apply.
Cons Of Buying Polkadot
Despite the positives and the potential of the cryptocurrency due to its network, DOT is not a perfect digital asset. It has a single pitfall which you should take into consideration before making an investment decision on the cryptocurrency.
❌ Infinite Competition from Smart Contract Blockchains
There is competition from other smart contract blockchains such as Ethereum, Tron, the Binance Smart Chain and Cardano with regards to decentralized applications. When Cardano becomes fully functional, this competition would gain a lot of heat in the decentralized finance space.
One thing you should remember is Bitcoin introduced blockchain technology to the whole world. Then Charlie Lee created a “lite” version of the cryptocurrency, Litecoin. Dash and Dogecoin followed as purely transactional digital currencies. More than 8,000 altcoins have since been added to the number of digital assets on the market.
Ethereum brought about the possibilities of smart contracts and others followed. In the same way, Polkadot was the first-mover in terms of interoperability but others would set in sooner rather than later.
Smart contract chains could initiate forks to improve their platforms with new features. If this happens, Polkadot could face additional competition in blockchain interoperability.
Since cryptocurrencies are highly volatile, we recommend doing an extensive analysis before making an investment decision.
You can add DOT to your portfolio of investments alongside low volatile assets such as stocks, commodities, bonds and metals. This would help balance any losses you may incur in the near future.
Polkadot vs. Cardano
Polkadot and Cardano have several similarities as well as differences. The founders of the two cryptos are also co-founders of Ethereum.
Polkadot and Cardano differ in the following ways. Currently, Charles Hoskinson has tagged his technology, Cardano, as a potential ‘Ethereum Killer’ if its Network achieves full functionality.
On the other hand, Gavin Wood has found a great space in the saturated market of blockchain technology. He has provided a technological solution which allows all the smart contract chains to access each other.
Polkadot scales relatively faster than Cardano. Further to that, Polkadot has more decentralized finance applications which powers its novel token, DOT, while Cardano does not have a single use case.
On a price level, DOT has a relatively better price which is trading at $6.5 while ADA trades at around $0.45, at the time of writing.
In regards to developer activity, Cardano is 3rd of all other smart contract blockchain with 425.7. Polkadot is in first place with 486.6 developers working on innovative products on its network.
Both cryptocurrencies show potential in the future as they returned gains for investors in 2022.
Ethereum vs. Polkadot
Ethereum and Polkadot also have similarities and differences. As similarities, they are both smart contract blockchains which are leading the way in decentralized finance applications and protocols. Their cryptocurrencies (DOT and ETH) are not primarily driven by the forces of supply and demand.
DAPPS running on their respective networks such as Polkastarter and Uniswap among others sees great user activity which reflects in its valuation. The founder of Polkadot is a co-founder of Ethereum.
The differences between Polkadot and Ethereum are related to features of scalability and interoperability.
Polkadot has a relatively faster scaling time as it processes approximately 1,000 transactions per second. This could go up to 1,000,000 transactions when it reaches full functionality. Ethereum currently processes 15 to 30 transactions per second. This could go up to 100,000 transactions once Ethereum 2.0, which employs proof of stake, reaches full functionality in the near future.
Moreover, Polkadot aims to unite all blockchains through its feature of interoperability but Ethereum wants to be the leader of smart contract blockchains.
Overall, Ethereum’s first-mover status gives its blockchain an advantage over Polkadot in terms of patronization by investors. Ethereum is by far the better investment since it’s the second most popular digital asset and second largest by market capitalization.
Ethereum's market capitalization of $162 billion is 22 times the valuation of Polkadot.
Crypto asset investing is highly volatile and unregulated in some EU countries. No consumer protection. Tax on profits may apply.
Polkadot Price Prediction: What Are Analysts Saying About Polkadot?
DOT’s price in the short and long term has been analyzed on a fundamental and technical level. There are several analysts and experts who forecast bullish sentiments for Polkadot in the short and long term.
A few are not that optimistic about the future of DOT but have made conservative predictions about the cryptocurrency.
Let us take a look at predictions which better answer the questions, what will be the price of DOT in 2022 and the next 5 to 10 years?
Coin Price Forecast foresees a substantial increase in price for the cryptocurrency in the long term. The analyst forecasts Polkadot to have a trading price of $15 to $20 in the next 3 years.
Long Forecast predicts Polkadot to have a price of $3.25 by the year’s end of 2023 and $5 in 2024.
DigitalCoin predicts Polkadot to have a price of $15 by the end of 2023. Experts at DigitalCoin further forecast DOT to have a trading price of $21 by the year’s end of 2024, $23 (2026), $33 (2027) and $47 (2028).
Analysts of Cryptopolitan believe Polkadot would reach a new price milestone of $100 in 2028.
Analysts of CoinPedia predict Polkadot could reach above $42 by the end of 2025, so long as it continues to improve and upgrade its protocol.
Experts at Trading Beasts predict Polkadot to have average trading prices of $6.6 by the end of 2023 and $8.3 (2024).
What Will Polkadot Be Worth in 2025?
Experts at Long Forecast predict DOT to have a price of $5.8 by the end of 2025.
Experts at DigitalCoin predict Polkadot to have a trading price of $28 by the end of 2025. Analysts of Cryptopolitan forecast the same price for Polkadot, $28 by the end of 2025.
CoinPedia predicts Polkadot to trade in the price range of $23 and $42 by the end of 2025. Experts at Coin Price Forecast predict Polkadot to trade for a coin at $15 in June and close 2025 with a price of $17.
Polkadot Price Prediction 2030
Coin Price Forecast predicts Polkadot to have a trading price of $26 by the end of 2030.
Can Polkadot Reach 100 Dollars?
Yes, experts at Cryptopolitan foresee Polkadot crossing $100 in 2028.
Read More: Polkadot Price Predictions
Where To Buy Polkadot?
There are several cryptocurrency exchanges and brokerages where Polkadot can be purchased. Due to the numerous controversies and risks surrounding cryptocurrencies, we believe eToro is the best among the rest to safely and securely hold your coins.
eToro has been in business for a long time and has the necessary certifications and licenses from well accredited regulators globally. Follow the steps below and purchase your first DOT coins.
The FIRST STEP is to SIGN UP. Provide your full name, email and residential address and phone number.
The SECOND STEP is to VERIFY YOUR ACCOUNT. To prevent identity theft and credit and debit card fraud, you must go through a short process called Knowing Your Customer (KYC).
In this step, you’ll need to provide a government-issued identification card which includes all the details you input in the FIRST STEP, plus your signature.
The THIRD STEP is to DEPOSIT FUNDS. Without funds, you cannot purchase your first DOTs. Deposit funds through your Debit or Credit Card or other online payment outlets such as Skrill, Neteller and others.
The LAST STEP is to NAVIGATE to POLKADOT. On this page, you can purchase your first DOT and it will be processed and added to your account.
Crypto asset investing is highly volatile and unregulated in some EU countries. No consumer protection. Tax on profits may apply.
The Bottom Line - Should You Buy Polkadot?
Polkadot is worth buying in 2022 as per the price forecasts of analysts.
Inasmuch as there is an infinite competition from other smart contract blockchains such as Ethereum, Cardano, NEO, EOS and Tron, Polkadot is third only to Uniswap and Solana when it comes to developer activity.
Polkadot has 486.6 developers building new applications on its platform.
Decentralized finance protocols and applications under lending, exchange, yield aggregators and autonomous organizations could be flooding DOTs Network soon.
Once all these are in place, DOT’s price would not be determined by interoperability, scalability or mere partnerships. It would benefit from the real world use cases of the Polkadot network. This would bring more activity to the cryptocurrency and increase the overall valuation of the asset.
With more than 91% of DOT in circulation, if the creators of the cryptocurrency do not release more coins, the laws of supply and demand will set in. Once this happens, DOT will change hands based on prices that investors are willing to pay for it. This could cause the price of Polkadot to increase substantially in the near future.
Evidently, Previsioni Bitcoin predicts DOT to have a price of $20 by the end of 2022. If we are to go by Previsioni Bitcoin’s prediction, then Polkadot DOT is an asset you should consider adding to your investment portfolio due to its potential in the future.
eToro – Top Cryptocurrency Platform To Buy Polkadot
eToro have proven themselves trustworthy within the Crypto industry over many years – we recommend you try them out.
Crypto asset investing is highly volatile and unregulated in some EU countries. No consumer protection. Tax on profits may apply.
FAQs
What Is a Polkadot Parachain?
Polkadot Parachains are chains which can be optimized for specific uses and can have their own tokens due to their independent nature.
How Many Parachains Does Polkadot Have?
Polkadot has five parachains.
Is Polkadot Overpriced?
Polkadot is not overpriced. Based on price forecasts from analysts across DigitalCoin, Coin Price Forecast, Trading Beasts, Previsioni Bitcoin, Cryptopolitan and FX Leaders, DOT could be trading for two, five or ten times its current trading price in the future.
Based on data on developer activity on the network coupled with continuous partnerships and programs being conducted in India and around the world, DOT could be worth more in the future.
What Is Polkadot All Time High?
Polkadot reached an all-time high of $55 on 4th November 2021.
What Makes Polkadot Unique?
Polkadot’s INTEROPERABLE FEATURE makes it unique. It aims to provide a platform where all blockchains can unite, exchange and make use of information.
What Is The Point Of Polkadot?
Polkadot was created to unite all blockchains so that they can interact with one another through the exchange and use of data.
Can You Stake Polkadot?
YES. You can stake Polkadot. You should note that if you want to earn great rewards through staking, stakes below approximately 200 DOT would not earn you much.
You should stake more than 200 DOT which would set you back approximately $5,200. With such an amount, you stand a chance of reaping enormous staking rewards.