Polkadot's Creator Gavin Wood Talks JAM Chain Upgrade: A Game-Changer for Decentralized Networks
In a recent interview with Bullish CEO Tom Farley, Polkadot creator Gavin Wood revealed his primary focus on developing the next iteration of the Polkadot protocol, known as JAM Chain. This upcoming upgrade aims to address Polkadot's historical struggles in building an active user base for decentralized applications (dApps) and competing with platforms like Ethereum and Solana.
The challenges Polkadot faced with adoption were attributed to its complex ecosystem, making it difficult for developers to engage. The need to understand Layer 0 architecture, work with parachains, and manage the costs of securing parachain slots hindered the network's growth. Unlike Ethereum, which supports smart contracts directly, Polkadot required developers to use parachains, limiting user base and utility of the DOT token.
However, the JAM upgrade promises to revolutionize Polkadot's development process by allowing developers to deploy smart contracts directly on Polkadot's Layer 0, eliminating the need for parachains. This change is expected to attract more users and provide a tangible use case for the DOT token beyond staking and governance.
Wood hinted that JAM could serve as a general-purpose environment, classified as Layer 1, with services running on JAM considered Layer 1.5, while blockchains secured by JAM could be seen as Layer 2. Powered by the RISC-V Polkadot Virtual Machine (PVM), JAM enables the creation of DAOs and wallets without centralized intermediaries, similar to Ethereum.
Furthermore, DOT tokens will gain new utility as deposits to enhance data, code, and state capacity in services, incentivizing developers and users economically. With a target throughput of 850MB/s, JAM surpasses the capabilities of Ethereum 2.0 and Solana.
While the gray paper for JAM Chain is still in development, aiming for version 1.0 by next summer, Wood emphasized the uncertainty in software and protocol development, making the timeline a target rather than a fixed deadline. The rollout of this upgrade is expected to introduce permissionless code execution, eliminating the need for governance approval or parachain leasing, and enabling the development of self-sovereign DAOs and wallets.
In conclusion, the JAM Chain upgrade for Polkadot holds great promise for revolutionizing decentralized networks and expanding possibilities for decentralized finance, governance, and identity management. Stay tuned for more updates on this groundbreaking development in the world of blockchain technology.