Getting Started on Polkadot
This post is to record the day I started on Polkadot (bought it last two days, phew lucky me) and share my steps on staking on the blockchain.
So I came across this video link which is A Polkadot For Beginners Guide which I find quite useful to guide us through the history of internet and right onto Polkadot. This gives me an overview of where Polkadot stands in the development of technology, specifically on communication.
So here's the video to watch before you start anything. Note that you can jump to minute 40 if you are already familiar with blockchain.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kw8eu2VadFA
Getting Started on Polkadot
The hype of DOT has just started and within a week or so, after DOT was listed on Binance, it went bonkers and shoot up over 6USD from 3USD (well, of course, it is not as crazy as the Defi Space). In addition, knowing that there are people around me had already started buying DOTs at an early stage and had been talking about it, I think it is time to get into it and learn about it. Another factor that convinced me to start is how it went from nowhere to the number 6 market cap blockchain in the market! 5.8 billion USD, that is not a small sum and quite hard to get hit by 51% attack.
Having no idea at all on what is Polkadot is all about, I started to dig into some reading materials which I will share along the way in this write up.
The first official reference that I go to is the wiki for Polkadot which is the most accurate but maybe a bit technical in some part. The reference is very comprehensive and you can go to whatever topic that you would like to learn just by clicking on the topic itself
I also went on to watch Gavin Wood explain about what is Polkadot is all about from his point of view which is very interesting to learn of.
Opening An Account and Buying Polkadot
So the next thing I gotta do is to open an account to store my DOTS and also I need to buy them in the first place. So I headed to Binance which I have extra USDT in my Spot Wallet and traded some DOTS (I am not sharing the process of spot trading here which is quite basic). Then, I headed to the link below to learn about opening an account on Polkadot blockchain.
Before you dive into the video, you can install this Google Chrome Extension which is your Polkadot wallet in essence here.
So once I have two accounts (one Stash and one Controller), I transferred my DOTS from Binance Spot Wallet to my Stash Wallet. The process just took me around 1 minute (I did not count it though but is fast) for the DOTS to show on my wallet.
Staking and Putting Your Skin In The Game
When talking about staking, it is quite similar to how HIVE blockchain behaves. There are Validators and Nominators for the staking roles. Validators are like witnesses in the HIVE blockchain where they are the ones running the blockchain. As for Nominators, they are like all staked (with HIVE POWER) users whereby we could nominate/vote for the validators that we think is capable and actively playing their part. So in essence, one would need a minimal amount of around 3 DOTS to start the game where you will need a STASH Account which is like your cold wallet and CONTROLLER Account which is your hot wallet to stake into the blockchain.
To me, staking is like a vote of confidence for the project. Thus, Polkadot at this point of time has shown its potential and capability to become a viable "business" which is acting as a bridge for different chains. So far, we can see a lot of new blockchains popping up but there is no intermediary entity that could connect all of them. Then there comes Polkadot that could fill in the gap. Moreover, Dr Gavin Wood also gave quite a lot of confidence to me on the execution and roadmap for Polkadot.
My verdict, might as well start small and start staking to help the blockchain grow. It is a win-win situation anyway.
Below is the official tutorial video from Polkadot Network team that you can refer to stake in the blockchain and note that the most validators you can nominate are 16 which will also fetch a fee when you nominate more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMzhM1m4I-k&t=4s
Tadaa, nominated 3 with the best profit/era lol. No idea who are they but just trying out for a start.
Conclude And Observe
So, that is about it for my sharing. Hope that helps and I look forward to seeing how my stake can grow as well. Will be putting up another write up maybe one month later to see what had happened with my stakes. Anyone here is a validator, do reach out to me so that I could increase some stake and nominate you too!
(Posted on Steem Blockchain as well on my personal blog)
