In a growing storm of controversy, the Polkadot blockchain platform is now facing accusations of discrimination and toxicity within its ecosystem, on top of concerns over an impending funding crisis for its Treasury.
Polkadot Criticized For Neglecting Asian Developers
The co-founder of the decentralized network Manta, Victor Ji, recently took to social media to voice his grievances. In a scathing post, Ji claimed that the Polkadot Academy event held in Hong Kong this past February was severely lacking in Asian representation, with less than a quarter of the participants being Asian, despite the event taking place in the region.
Ji further alleged that when he introduced himself to Polkadot co-founder Gavin Wood at the event and mentioned Manta Network, Wood expressed interest in the project, unaware that Manta had already launched its mainnet.
According to Ji, this is “evidence that we are not treated unfairly because we are not working hard enough or doing poorly, but because of our region.”
The Manta co-founder stated that the “OneBlock” organizer had contacted the Polkadot team for days without a response despite their messages being read on Telegram’s social media platform.
Ji emphasized that this funding is crucial for developer organizations in developing countries, and he pledged to personally sponsor $80,000 to support builders leaving the Polkadot ecosystem.
Adding to the controversy, Ji described the Polkadot ecosystem as “highly toxic” and lacking “any real value for web3” while accusing the Polkadot team of being “incapable and not truly decentralized.”
Ji further expressed disappointment that the Polkadot team does not focus on supporting builders on their stack, leading Manta Network to pivot away from developing on the Polkadot parachain and instead focus its efforts on Ethereum Layer 2 solutions.
Fueling Fears Of Potential Insolvency
These allegations of discrimination and toxicity come at a particularly challenging time for Polkadot, as the network’s Treasury also faces a potential funding crisis.
As reported on Monday by our sister website NewsBTC, a recent report on the Polkadot Treasury’s financials for the first half of 2024 revealed that it had spent a total of $86 million while managing $245 million (38 million DOT) in assets, with $188 million (29 million DOT) in liquid form.
The concerning burn rate indicated that the Treasury may face insolvency in less than two years if the current spending patterns continue. This has raised alarms among the Polkadot community, who are now closely monitoring the situation and calling for greater transparency and fiscal responsibility from the platform’s leadership.
As the blockchain platform grapples with these multifaceted challenges, the broader crypto community will be watching closely to see how the platform responds to the allegations of discrimination and toxicity and the looming threat to its financial stability. There has been no official response to these allegations made by Manta’s co-founder.
At the time of writing, DOT is trading at $6.370, up 1.3% in the 24-hour time frame, as the broader market recovers from a sharp correction experienced last week.
Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com