Sharded blockchain Polkadot recently set tongues wagging after confirming the next batch of parachain auctions on its experimental network Kusama. But as the crypto community waits with bated breath for candidates to announce themselves, it’s worth remembering that Polkadot is already alive and kicking in its own right. Founded by Ethereum O.G. Dr Gavin Wood, Polkadot has long been touted as a viable rival to the world’s best-known smart contract network, a consequence of its sophisticated infrastructure, thriving developer community, and promise of true interoperability between applications running on separate chains. Already a top 10 cryptocurrency by market cap (DOT), the platform has been five years in the making and ultimately aims to support a global network of interoperable parachains and parathreads seamlessly communicating with each other. In the near future, deploying on Polkadot could be a no-brainer for savvy developers – both from a cost and performance perspective. But that’s all for the future. In the here and now, the flourishing Polkadot ecosystem is such that users can take advantage of various opportunities whether their interest lies in trading, gaming, building, privacy or IoT. Here are three ways to leverage the Polkadot blockchain right now. Stake DOT to Earn Yield Because Polkadot uses a Nominated Proof-of-Stake (NPoS) algorithm, staking is integral to the security of the network. In direct staking, you...
