Polkadot ecosystem turns into a mean fraternity – sorority, Web3 responds

Polkadot, one of the most promising blockchain ecosystems, finds itself in a rather unique and problematic situation. The entity faces financial mistrust, misappropriation, and bad money math. What’s worse? The once-promising ecosystem has been accused of racism and professional toxicity.

Also Read: Polkadot spent $37M on marketing – It was NOT worth it

The crypto community has suffered all vices to this date, or so the crypto community thought. Polkadot has brought new challenges investors, developers, and traders in decentralized finance thought they would never suffer.

Polkadot accused of the imaginable in DeFi

Do you know the mean girls association? Double back. Have you experienced the worst of fraternities and sororities? That should have been left for school and adult maturity, but Polakadot has brought it to the crypto ecosystem.

One user on X writes, “After our project secured funding, we gradually distanced ourselves from the Polkadot ecosystem (as did many other well-known projects).” It gets worse. Allegedly, projects under the ecosystem are struggling to get funding for Web3 projects and events.

In an X post, Victor Ji, co-founder of P0x Labs and Manta Network, says that he and his firms had to distance themselves from Polkadot. He adds, “It is a highly toxic ecosystem that lacks any real value for Web3, and it does not focus on users or adoption at all.”

On the racism front, he adds, “We are simply too busy to disclose the many facts about the discrimination we have faced as Asian founders in this ecosystem (which is a sentiment shared by all Asian founders).” 

Asian developers suffer racism at Polkadot

Victor adds that the Polkadot team is incapable and not truly decentralized. He argues that Gavin Wood (one of the founders at Polkadot, Kusama, Ethereum, Parity, and Web3 Foundation) should spend efforts supporting the builders on their stack. 

According to him, “Polkadot ecosystem is essentially dead […] discrimination against builders, especially hardworking Asian builders in the bear market, is completely unacceptable.”

Regarding the accusations of discrimination against Asian developers in the Polkadot team, you can see how many grants have been given to European/American projects versus Asian projects to understand the situation.

Victor Ji

Victor adds that he and the team are glad they pivoted to Ethereum L2 last year and joined the modular ecosystem. He adds, “We also hope that more developers who are still in the Polkadot ecosystem will choose to join other more active ecosystems such as Solana, Ethereum, and Bitcoin.”

Trouble in paradise over DOTs funding crisis

On the other hand, a recent report released by the Polkadot Treasury for the first half of 2024 has raised concerns over an impending funding crisis. One X user writes, “It’s insane to me how much money the Polkadot treasury is wasting on misplaced marketing. Did we learn nothing from FTX and https://crypto.com?”

Another Web3 member on X notes that Polkadot spent $37m USD in outreach during the first half of 2024, targeting new users, developers, and businesses. However, “Polkadot still seems invisible on X and elsewhere.”

The Treasury has spent a total of $86 million in the past six months, and it currently manages $245 million (38 million DOT) in assets, with $188 million (29 million DOT) in liquid form. The bun rate suggests that the Treasury may be forced to declare bankruptcy within the next two years.

DOT’s market performance

The report emphasizes a 2.4x increase in DOT spending on the expense side compared to 2023-H2. The substantial increase in expenditures was a result of ambitious proposals and larger ask sizes.

DOT is currently trading at $6.41, which is a nearly 1% price recovery in the 24-hour time frame at the time of writing. Nevertheless, the 17th largest crypto by market cap has experienced a 10% decline in the past month.

Despite the fact that the average DOT price increased, resulting in a higher value per DOT, there are growing concerns within the ecosystem regarding the Treasury’s finance appropriation. 

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Cryptopolitan Reporting by Florence Muchai