Gavin Wood, the founder of the Polkadot protocol, has unveiled a new gray book outlining the upcoming Join-Accumulate Machine (JAM) upgrade for the network. This announcement took place during Wood’s presentation on the future of Polkadot at the Token2049 crypto conference in Dubai.
Wood introduced the JAM Implementer’s Prize, a 10 million DOT prize, to encourage diverse development of the JAM protocol.
Polkadot unveils JAM upgrade
According to the announcementthe JAM upgrade aims to replace the relay chain, which acts as the central data chain in the Polkadot network, with a “more modular and minimalist design” that will allow Polkadot to run generic services and increase network stability.
The parachains service within JAM will support existing Substrate-based parachains, allowing developers to continue using Substrate to develop and deploy their blockchains.
Notably, these services have no predefined limits on code, data, or state capacity and can provide additional capacity DOT deposits for more capacity.
JAM’s design includes several technical improvements. It replaces WebAssembly with the Polkadot Virtual Machine based on the RISC-V ISA, an open-source instruction set architecture (ISA) used to develop custom processors.
It also introduces SAFROLE, a SNARK-based block production algorithm. These upgrades are reportedly designed to optimize performance and scalability within the Polkadot network.
Towards decentralization?
To realize the vision of “a truly decentralized protocol,” Polkadot aims to support multiple customers implementations. In addition, the JAM Implementer’s Award was established to encourage and fund projects that contribute to the development of JAM implementations. The announcement further reads on the matter:
We believe that supporting a range of implementations in different programming languages will strengthen the foundation of the ecosystem. It distributes the power of protocol implementers more broadly and reduces the risk that a bug in one implementation will take down the entire network.
The JAM Implementer’s Prize will partner with existing and future funding initiatives that support Polkadot’s ecosystem and technology stack. These initiatives include decentralized futures, subsidies, and Polkadot’s on-chain treasury.
The prize is activated when JAM is validated as a Polkadot technology via the network’s on-chain governance mechanism.
Overall, Gavin Wood’s introduction of the JAM upgrade and its associated 10 million DOT price reflects Polkadot’s intention to increase usage and adoption of the protocol. JAM’s modular design and incentives for multi-client deployments are also expected to contribute to the ongoing efforts to decentralize the Polkadot network.
As development of JAM continues, the Polkadot ecosystem welcomes proposals from teams interested in implementing it in various programming environments.
Despite the recent announcement, the network’s native token, DOT, has failed to achieve the downward trend witnessed over the past month. Currently trading at $6.75, this reflects a significant price drop of 24% in the last 30 days.
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