Polkadot looks to 10x transaction speed in new updates

Polkadot (DOT) announced new updates to its roadmap, including the asynchronous backing optimization that will increase its transaction speed by at least 10x.

In a Sept. 26 blog post, Polkadot stated that it has been working to improve the network’s parachain scalability, relay-chain governance, cross-chain communication, and parachain development.

Asynchronous backing

The asynchronous backing will be the first significant upgrade to the Polkadot parachain consensus algorithm since it launched in December 2021. It would increase performance on the network to between 100,000 and 1,000,000 transactions per second (TPS) from the current 1,000 TPS.

The network plans to achieve this by shortening the parachains block time to 6 seconds and increasing each block’s block space by a factor of 5 – 10.

It will also make parachain blocks reusable if they fail to reach the relay chain in the first attempt. According to the post, this update will be ready for deployment on Kusama by the end of 2022.

Parathreads

Another development in the roadmap is Parathreads which will improve the ease of building on Polkadot. It will allow developers to build on the network without winning a parachain auction.

Described as “pay-as-you-go parachains,” they are “simple, easy, and accessible entry points for launching an L1 chain on top of Polkadot and Kusama.” The Parathreads are scheduled to be ready within the first half of 2023.

Nomination pools

The blog post revealed the Polkadot ecosystem was working towards a “Nomination Pool and Fast Unstake” upgrade.

According to the post, the Nomination pool would be a major upgrade to Polkadot’s staking system, allowing users to create staking pools that others can join. In the end, the new update would allow smaller nominators to partake in the staking system.

The pools have been live on Kusama since June.

Other developments

Other planned developments include XCMv3, an improvement on XCM universal language for cross-chain communication.

Beyond the infrastructural improvement, Polkadot plans to update its governance to make it as decentralized as possible with the Polkadot Fellowships –it is scheduled for deployment on Kusama before the end of this year.

Other improvements are targeted at staking, bridges, and community building.