Mapping the Polkadot Ecosystem

In this week’s episode, Anna goes on a grand tour of the Polkadot ecosystem ahead of the launch of Parachains. In this multi-interview episode, she explores the Polkadot ecosystem, how teams are interacting with the existing tech stacks, what they are looking forward to, and how these networks may evolve in the future once Parachains go live.The first speaker is Fabian Gompf, VP at Parity, who explains what’s going on with parachain auctions, how Parity views its role in the Polkadot ecosystem, and how prospective builders can be rewarded. Then comes Derek Yoo from Moonbeam, who talks about the project’s ambitions and challenges as an “Ethereum on Polkadot” parachain. Next up is Ruitao Su from Acala, who describes his vision of Polkadot as a “United Nation.” Finally comes Lucas Vogelsang from Centrifuge, a very early Substrate adopter who has a unique view on what it means for a project to be a parachain.Here are a few useful links:Polkadot’s Parachain’s ExplainedEpisode 5 of Zero Knowledge where Fabi was first a guest on. Gavin Wood on Zero KnowledgeKusama, the chaotic canary network of Polkadot, on Zero KnowledgeWeb3’s Alistair and Jeff on Zero Knowledge All about ZK proofs in the Polkadot ecosystem.Common good parachainsMoonbeam’s siteAcala’s siteAcala’s Sovereign Wealth Fund concept.Centrifuge’s siteZero Knowledge episode on CentrifugeThis week’s intro features a mention of ZKValidator (ZKV) which is currently active on Cosmos, Near, Polkadot and Kusama and soon to be active on Mina. The ZKV is unique in that it is a validator that aims to advocate for and encourage privacy & zk tech on emerging PoS networks. The ZKV connects the zk community with the network community by running private workshops & roundtables, putting together blog posts and reports as well as running dedicated public events focused on these issues. Check out the recent NEAR privacy roundtable report, the