Polkadot brings together the best features from multiple specialized blockchains. Furthermore, it enables the blockchains to perform forkless upgrades. This is comparable to app updates on your smartphone.

After the release of the whitepaper in October 2016, it took until May 2020 to launch the first version of the mainnet. Partnerships were announced with T-Systems and Chainlink, accompanied by a long list of experienced investors (e.g. Polychain).

DOT is a native token used to pay transaction fees, to secure the network through staking, to govern the further project development and to add blockchains to the network.