Acala Wins First Polkadot Parachain Slot Auction

Acala (ACA) has won the first action for a Polkadot (DOT) parachain slot lease, used to interact with the main Polkadot blockchain. Acala locked up over $1.3 billion in DOT for 96 months after raising the funds through a crowdloan campaign with over 80,000 wallets participating.

Acala is an Ethereum-compatible smart contract platform on the Polkadot network. Acala offers a platform for bringing dApps to Polkadot, as well as an all-in-one DeFi solution for investors with low fee transactions payable in many cryptos. Acala's canary network, Karura (KAR), operates on Polkadot's canary network, Kusama (KSM). Like Acala, Karura's parachain slot was secured through a crowdloan.

Parachain Slot Auctions

Polkadot is a platform for making blockchains that use Polkadot's main blockchain for consensus. Projects on Polkadot use parachain slots to interact with the main blockchain. Acala explains, "the parachain slot auction is a way for blockchain startups to compete by bidding in an auction for the privilege of launching and operating on Polkadot while also benefiting from its security and connectivity to other blockchains."

Polkadot's technical capabilities limit the number of slots, and is currently auctioning 96-month leases for the first 11. Projects that win a parachain slot lease will lock up DOT tokens for the full term of the lease: 96 months. Some projects bidding for parachain slots are self-funded, while others rely on crowdloans.

Crowdloans

Bidding for the second parachain slot lease is open through November 25, so most crowdloan-funded projects will be accepting contributions through that date.

Moonbeam (GLMR), an Ethereum-compatible protocol, is the largest remaining project funded through a crowdloan. Moonbeam's canary network, Moonriver (MOVR), was the big winner of the Kusama parachain slot crowdloan projects. Crowdloan investors in Moonriver have received MOVR that today is worth roughly $5,400 per KSM contributed.

Based on current KAR values, Acala's canary network, Karura, paid $140 per KSM contributed in its crowdloan on Kusama. Acala also raised less overall DOT than Moonbeam, but the "candle" in the candle auction blew out during a period when Acala had contributed more DOT than Moonbeam.