Polkadot[1] [DOT] certainly provided more than its fair share of drama and news during the parachain slot auctions. However, as the excitement dies down and the market struggles to recover from multiple crashes and macro-level setbacks, how has the #14 biggest crypto by market cap been faring?
At press time, DOT was dotting wallets[2] at $15.11 after slipping by 1.55% over the last day. In the past week, however, it has lost 16.19% of its value.
The jury is out. . .but Messari is in
Messari’s report[3] on the state of Polkadot for the first quarter of 2022 revealed a wealth of information about the asset, its strengths, and weaknesses. While noting the success of the parachain auctions, the report pointed to the strength of Polkadot’s development scene. It stated[4],
“Developer activity through 2021 and Q1 2022 was consistent, with 14/15 months (93%) registering over 10,000 developer activity events.”
Though activity recently took a hit due to the parachain auctions and a focus on older features, the report added[5],
“Overall, Polkadot’s developer activity is among the strongest in crypto.”
Meanwhile, Santiment data revealed that while fluctuations were visible, Polkadot’s development activity has been more or less within the same range since about mid-January 2022. This is a sign of stability.
An Achilles heel?
So what does Messari think is Polkadot’s challenge area in 2022? Well, there are several factors. These included the reported inaccessibility of the Polkadot JS[7] wallet and the wider lack of knowledge about the ecosystem. The report stated[8],
“In Q4 2021, new users flooded Polkadot to partake in the inaugural, novel parachain slot auctions. However, excitement surrounding the ecosystem has steadily declined through Q1
