Chainsafe wins grant to build third Polkadot client as Aragon endorses protocol for scaling solution

Chainsafe, a Toronto-based tech firm, has received a grant from the Web3Foundation (W3F) to build another Polkadot client in the popular Golang programming language, the Foundation announced Tuesday.

W3F is funding the Polkadot protocol as part of its aim to build a decentralized internet, commissioning Parity Technologies to build the first two clients in Rust and Javascript, with the Rust version due to be launched in Q3. 

The Foundation said it was "critically important to have multiple implementations of the Polkadot protocol for [] decentralization, knowledge dispersion" and to "improve network resilience," noting the need for shared governance without a dominant authority. In theory, it means that if there were "an issue with one client" or language, "it won't impact network availability." 

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Chainsafe also has a grant from the Ethereum Foundation to build the Ethereum 2.0 protocol in Golang. 

Meanwhile, at the AraCon conference in Berlin, Aragon - a platform for creating and managing DAOs - announced they are hoping to launch their own blockchain (Aragon Chain) on Polkadot. Cofounder Jorge Izquierdo emphasised Aragon Chain was still in the early research stage, and the firm would continue to conduct Ethereum scaling research given the project is currently hosted on the Ethereum blockchain. Still, early signs of their firm's announcement came last week as Izquierdo called Polkadot network the 'biggest competitor of Eth 2.0' on Twitter.

The Polkadot protocol was reported to be seeking valuation at $1bn last week.

About Author

Isabel is The Block's London and European reporter. She previously reported for Reuters in Madrid and London, following on from her time as a freelance journalist for the Guardian and the New York Times. She has a Bachelors in War Studies from King’s College London and a Master of Philosophy from the University of Oxford. Conflict of Interest: Edward Woodford, the CEO of SeedCX, is Isabel's brother. She does not report on any issues related to Seed or advise other authors in any regard.