Trustless Love - Newsletter Edition 86
In this week’s edition:
Editorial: Love vibes, sharing this week’s ecosystem love stories, and reading DOT love letters.
Top Story - DOT is Love: plenty of love stories to uncover this past week.
Featured Report - DOT Love Letter: we take a closer look at Messari’s Polkadot Q4 Report.
Wag Roundup: News from our Finders Program between February 6th and February 10th.
Extras: Credits and anything else.
The full newsletter can be enjoyed via this link.
Editorial
What is up, my friends!
Love is in the air and on the field as the Commander of the Free World makes history as the first sitting president to attend the Super Bowl. Some will be celebrating, while others will be heartbroken with the result. Rather than make a swift exit, you can enter the mythos and replay the moment your way.
In terms of replaying things, the announcement of yet more tariffs has caused angst in the markets. That said, while retail sentiment leans towards heartache, the institutional relationship with Crypto remains confident. At the same time, we now have a country replaying the Trumpian adoption approach and turning up the heat with the launch of a memecoin.
Speaking of adoption, sometimes it’s worth DeFing convention by embracing those close to you and potentially making the community great again. Meanwhile, over in the Polkadot ecosystem, we’re on the road to unifying our love for the cloud. In keeping with these emotions, we’ll continue our love mission with the Polkaverse in this week’s Valentine’s-themed top story.
Given that it might be hard to handle emotions when you receive a love letter from the likes of Messari, this week’s featured report will be uncovering our desires with a recap of Messari’s Polkadot Q4 report. Additionally, you might want to check out Vampsy’s Part 2 Analytics report for even more insight.
Looking for more passionate insight? Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter and get your weekly dose of hot news and great takes, delivered straight to your inbox.
Dodow, Chief Editor
Top Story of the Week - DOT is Love
Written by yay.oi
What’s beating, heartbreakers? The Feast of Saint Valentine is upon us and the DOTing Polkadevoted have been yapping their affections louder than ever this week. It’s almost as if they know something we don’t. Whatever that may be, one thing is for sure – love is all around us at this special time of year.
Take Austrian Polkadot “power couple” Alice and Bob, for example. This week, those inseparable lovebirds published the latest edition of their passion project The Polkadot Treasury Report 2024. It paints a much rosier picture of the pink protocol compared to their previous work.
While H1 2024 was spent courting the general public with some generous spending, a tightening of the purse-strings, paired with inflation adjustments, has resulted in a healthy treasury balance of $210M. One could assume there’d be some spare change to rekindle the relationship with our old flame Conor Daly.
Alas, it was not to be. Despite winning the affections of four DV delegations, a couple of large DOT holders put that idea to rest in the final days of voting. At least we still have Messi.
If you think that shade of pink that Lionel’s rocking might suit a loved one this Valentine’s Day, Inter Miami CF has got you covered. While stocks last, Polkadot pink training jerseys and quarter-zip training tops are available for purchase on the MLS online store.
For the bigger spenders, perhaps a romantic getaway takes your fancy? How about Paris, the city of love? You’ll be there just in time for NFT Paris 2025, sponsored by Polkadot. More than 15 ecosystem teams will be in attendance, and you’ll be able to catch up with them at Polkadot’s booth while enjoying the works of 48 artists showcased by KodaDot.
Why stop at Paris when Hong Kong is beckoning? You could enjoy a weekend of wining and dining, following it up with some intellectual stimulation on Monday from our very own orator of the heart, Dr. Gavin Wood..............…….
Check out our full newsletter for the full story
Featured Report - DOT Love Letter
Written by Dodow
When the focus is on you, it can sometimes read like a love letter, especially when around Valentine’s. Perhaps Messari recognized this when they packaged their love for Web3’s most resilient ecosystem in their Polkadot Q4 report.
So, how did they make their confession? Did it make our hearts flutter? With a little help from some of our ecosystem’s most passionate storytellers, let’s dive into how Messari’s report resonates. If you’re short on time and just want the key insights, check out Pieky’s timely thread.
Threads are a great way to expand awareness beyond what Messari highlighted. TL;DR: growth of transactions went from 20M to 60M, stellar advancements with trustless bridging, record-breaking TPS performance testing, ~1200 active developers, and a 71% market capitalisation increase.
On to the Ecosystem Analysis section, the main takeaway is the growth of rollups, or is it parachains? Even Messari is a lost soul when it comes to deciding which term to use. Neuroweb and Frequency lead in volume, with Q4 averages of 26M and 9M respectively. There were also notable volume contributions from Phala, Litentry (now Heima), and Mythos.
In terms of active addresses, Messari indicated Moonbeam, Acala, and Mythos led the way with 15%, 3.6%, and 2.7% respectively. However, one of their infographics stated Hydration instead of Mythos? Best we shoot an arrow through that error and focus on the latest infographic produced by the Kusamarian, which shows that 10 of the top 20 rollups are hosted on Polkadot.
The Ecosystem Analysis section also attributed growth to trustless bridges, with Snowbridge boasting 70M TVL. Things have certainly taken shape, as you might fondly remember our top story back in June when Snowbridge launched. CMosh also expressed a soft spot for the launch in his thread........……...
Wag Roundup
Written by yay.oi
The 2025 Inter Miami CF Polkadot pink training jersey has dropped in the MLS online store and is available for $54.99 while stocks last.
The Polkadot Treasury Report for 2024 has been published, and things are looking a little less dire than indicated in H1 2024. While spending for the year totalled a sizable 133M USD, the treasury now has a balance sheet of 210M USD, and the theoretical “runway” has been extended from two years to ten years.
The Messari State of Polkadot Q4 2024 Report highlights a sharp 120% year-on-year increase in transactions, led by Frequency and Neuroweb. Daily active addresses also rose by 44.6% quarter-on-quarter.
This December, the Polkadot Blockchain Academy is launching an in-person technical course on JAM. Selected technologists and academics from Polkadot, Ethereum, and Web2 will learn directly from the builders of JAM. Rumor has it the destination will be unforgettable.
Season 1 of the Peaq Get Real campaign has commenced. Claim your upgradable Peaqonaut NFT and start your real-world interactions with Peaqosystem DePINs now for a chance to share in a $100M incentive pool of tokens, devices, and merch.
Minting of Astar’s vASTR liquid staking token on Bifrost continues to surge, now surpassing 100M.
The Hydration HDX buyback 25-week staking boost campaign has commenced. With 197M HDX distributed over the period, APRs in excess of 30% are expected.
TOD-AI is live on the Polkadot Discord. Head on over and enter your prompt to create your very own TOD image.
Rather than continuing to direct 20% to the treasury, Moonriver Referendum 69 proposes to adjust the proportion of burned transaction fees to 100%.
Edgetributor SUBDAO hosted the second edition of Polkadot India Workshops at IIT Mumbai on February 8th and 9th. The two-day program included blockchain fundamentals, development on Polkadot, and an introduction to JAM.
Extras
Awesome cover art created by SKULLZ.
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