As the gas fees continue to plague the Ethereum ecosystem, many projects are finding refuge in other smart contract platforms, such as Binance Smart Chain, Polkadot, etc. I will not argue about the Ethereum gas fee being a security mechanism or how other networks have security tradeoffs. The fact is, the jungle is too big for a single lion and Polkadot is another contender.

In this article, we will look at some projects coming into the Polkadot ecosystem which I think are here to stay.

I am not affiliated with any projects listed in the article nor I advise you to invest in them, I just want to share them with you and help you make your own decision. All price data is taken from coingecko.

ChainX (PCX)

ChainX is a bridge built on substrate and one of the oldest projects in the dot ecosystem. It is the layer 2 solution for Bitcoin with an aim to make Bitcoin more useful by providing smart contracts, a faster payment channel, and DeFi through a synthetic version of Bitcoin called XBTC.

ChainX is also a cross-chain bridge for any blockchain to the dot ecosystem. Moreover, it would also facilitate inter-chain communication for different chain assets and the X-Tokens.

Put simply, ChainX has 4 modules to perform the mentioned operations-

• PCX Module — It takes care of staking, payment of fees, on-chain governance, distribution of inter-chain mining rewards, and backing bitcoin financial derivatives.

• DEX Module — This is a cross-chain transaction module to circulate assets on different chains for minimum costs.

• Inter-Chain Module — This is a gateway for different chain assets and X-Token. It mainly includes an inter-chain transaction verification system, an on-chain mintage program, and a deposit and withdrawal program for X-Tokens.

• Relay Module — This is an information exchange and verification system between ChainX and outside chains. It mainly consists of a chain information update program, chain monitor program, and inter-chain information collection and transmission program.

Current Price /Market Cap — $10.15/$103,196,028

Circulating/Total Supply — 10,167,800 / 21,000,000

Reef Finance (REEF)

Reef finance is a DeFi platform with access to liquidity from CEXs and DEXs and blockchain networks such as Ethereum, Avalanche, and others outside Polkadot.

Reef uses an AI-driven personalized engine called Reef Yeld Engine to provide customized DeFi investments for users with varying risk tolerance and requirements.

Reef recently introduced the first DeFi blockchain called reef chain on substrate framework. This would provide a hub for DeFi projects to build on. Reef chain is also an EVM-compatible chain with functionality to port your existing solidity project from Ethereum to Reef chain without changing any code.

Reef Token is the native currency on Reef Chain for transaction fees and on-chain governance. The token is also available as an ERC-20 token on Ethereum and BSC with a 1:1 with the native token.

Current Price /Market Cap — $0.041/$519,695,842

Circulating/Total Supply — 12,666,667,338 / 20,000,000,000

Also Read: Coinbase Card Review

Phala (PHA)

Phala Network is a privacy-preserving cloud computing service that offers computing power similar to traditional cloud services but with the additional security of Trusted Execution Environments (TEE) Hybrid Blockchain Architecture where developers can deploy their smart contracts.

**Trusted Execution Environments** run on CPU but outside of operating system and main memory. TEE holds its own cryptographic keys and only allows data from third party which meet its security criteria.

PHA token has several use cases-

• Phala CPU miners must stake 1,620 PHA/core which could be slashed in case of misbehavior. This is to ensure security.

• PHA also functions as a governance token that must be staked to take part in Phala DAO.

• PHA tokens are used to purchase network resources such as trusted computing resources, on-chain/off-chain computing, and storage.

• Settlements for other services or products such as Web3 Analytics, cross-chain bridges for permission-less chains, and trading protocols.

Current Price /Market Cap — $0.94/$164,883,953

Circulating/Total Supply — 177,634,380 / 1,000,000,000

Ocean Protocol (OCEAN)

The value of data is reaching new highs each day and with that, corporations are doing everything in their power to control and misuse it for their own benefit. Ocean protocol aims to give users control over their data and how it is used by using a decentralized blockchain.

Ocean Protocol has two main products-

• Data Ecosystem Platform — It comprises tools such as Ocean blockchain, smart contracts, and software development kits, to allow owners to upload their data, retain control over it, and monetize it to buyers.

• Decentralized Data Marketplace — It consists of two marketplaces: Enterprise and Community, to meet the needs of clients in healthcare, logistics, mobility, etc, and the wider community.

The OCEAN token is used to stake, buy, and sell data, and govern community funding.

Current Price /Market Cap — $1.19/$503,421,403

Circulating/Total Supply — 426,026,836 / 1.41b

Kusama (KSM)

Kusama needs no introduction, thus I kept it for the last. It is the cousin of Polkadot built on nearly the same code base. It is an experimental development environment for teams/developers to prepare for Polkadot. It is used for research and development and as a testbed for Polkadot.

Kusama has two blockchains: relay chain and parachains. In the relay chain, the transactions are permanent, much like Polkadot, and parachains are customizable and can use relay chains for additional security. This allows projects to attract users and gain traction before their official launch on Polkadot.

KSM token can be used for network validation, nominate validators, bond parathreads or parachains, and network governance.

Current Price /Market Cap — $524.38/$4,707,988,360

Circulating/Total Supply — 8,980,098 / 10,000,000

These were the few projects building on Polkadot which I think have huge potential. I don’t think Polkadot is the only solution and that it will thrash the competition.

There are other networks, of course, such as Cardano, Avalance, Solana, Atom, and Binance Chain which are also trying to solve the three major problems: Scalability, Interoperability, and Sustainability. These platforms have their own benefits and also attract amazing projects.

You can check out my free curated list of resources on Gumroad to learn more about cryptocurrencies, or visit my socials. Why I am Betting on Cardano (ADA) The crypto of the futurelevelup.gitconnected.com These 5 Cryptocurrency Projects May Surpass Bitcoin These projects will lead the crypto industrymedium.com How to Make Money With ETH2.0 Hold, Stake, DeFimedium.com