Polkadot Community Ratifies the JAM Upgrade, Celebrating the Network's Fourth Anniversary

The Polkadot community celebrated the blockchain's fourth anniversary by ratifying the highly anticipated Join-Accumulate Machine (JAM) upgrade. The proposal received unanimous support, with backing from over 31 million DOT tokens.

The Polkadot community has celebrated the blockchain’s fourth anniversary by ratifying the highly anticipated Join-Accumulate Machine (JAM) upgrade.

The proposal received nearly unanimous support, with over 31 million DOT tokens voting in favor of the upgrade.

JAM ratification, technicalities, and next steps

JAM is a decentralized hybrid system that aims to offer secure and scalable smart contract functionalities by merging features from Ethereum within Polkadot’s framework.

This upgrade is widely celebrated within the community as the next phase in Polkadot's evolution. It replaces the network's Relay Chain with a more modular, minimalistic design.

Polkadot founder Gavin Wood presented the update's Graypaper at the Token2049 crypto conference in April.

On May 27, Wood revealed that the community had ratified the proposed upgrade with a near-unhappy governance vote, adding that work was ongoing to finalize the Graypaper to version 1.0.

However, the ratification does not immediately trigger any changes. Instead, it indicates the community's readiness to accept and oversee the JAM upgrade under the Technical Fellowship's supervision.

4 year anniversary, Polkadot’s growth, and SEC’s surprising DOT stance

On May 26, the Polkadot network completed four years since the launch of its Genesis block in 2020.

Polkadot is a blockchain network designed for speed and scalability. It utilizes multiple parallel blockchains, called "parachains," to distribute processing demands. The network also boasts a native governance token, DOT, which the SEC has not classified as a security.

This distinction stems from the SEC's view that DOT has evolved into software, unlike other digital assets that have faced regulatory scrutiny from the commission. Notably, DOT remains one of the few cryptocurrencies that the SEC has not yet labeled as a security.

Polkadot has achieved remarkable success and adoption across various metrics. One notable area is staking, where it has outperformed other proof-of-stake networks.

Staking allows participants to support the network's security and operations by locking up their digital assets and earning rewards in return.

According to DotLake, about 58% of DOT's total supply, roughly 822.5 million tokens (approximately $6 billion), is currently staked on the network. This is significantly higher than Ethereum, which has approximately 27% of its total supply locked, as reported by Nansen.

Moreover, Polkadot's decentralized governance system, OpenGov, is actively driving initiatives to advance the network's goals. The community has passed several proposals, including the ratification of the JAM upgrade and other developments.

Mentioned in this article

Oluwapelumi Adejumo

Oluwapelumi values Bitcoin's potential. He imparts insights on a range of topics like DeFi, hacks, mining and culture, underlining transformative power.

Liam 'Akiba' Wright

Also known as "Akiba," Liam is a reporter, editor and podcast producer at CryptoSlate. He believes that decentralized technology has the potential to make widespread positive change.

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