Parity CEO says Polkadot $1B valuation is ‘a fair number’

The Polkadot protocol is targeting at least a $1 billion valuation after its second DOT distribution, its key teams have told The Block.

Parity CEO Jutta Steiner, whose firm is helping build the Polkadot protocol, said that the $1.2 billion valuation on a fully-diluted value reported by the Wall Street Journal Thursday, “is a fair number.” Other sources familiar with the matter also confirmed that the WSJ figures are “broadly correct,” and that the token sale is ongoing with a scheduled close in Q1.

Polkadot is the first project to come from Swiss-based Web3 Foundation (W3F), and if successful, will allow for cross-chain messaging between different blockchains, allowing for interoperability and scalability.

“Top teams in the space are interested in getting exposure to DOTs because they need them to build on Polkadot [once live],” said Jack Platts, W3F Director of Communications. “We're working with strategically aligned projects to ensure they have access to DOTs... It's critically important they have DOTs when the network goes live to ensure we have a vibrant community of parachains.”

Meanwhile, Steiner nodded to the governance considerations around token ownership, saying, “protocols like Polkadot need broad distribution to avoid collusion.”

Beyond existing blockchain projects, development teams and active VC firms are also expected to participate in the upcoming token sale before a public distribution later in the year.

Polkadot’s last token sale in October 2017 raked in $144 million after issuing 5 million dots, although some of those funds were frozen in a hack. A total of 10 million genesis block DOTs will exist according to the Lightpaper and Polkadot FAQ, leaving a maximum of 2 million block DOTs available for subsequent sales, which the WSJ reported could raise up to “$60 million." Steiner hinted that the next token sale may indeed exceed that figure, and sources close to the matter suggested the number is actually closer to $90 million, although W3F could not confirm.

Polkadot is scheduled to launch in Q3.

Photo by Scott Webb on Unsplash