Bow-tie structure of the Polkadot transfer network

Abstract

While there are many data collection and analysis tools for Ethereum - the largest smart contract blockchain by market capitalization, development of similar tools for other smart contract blockchains is lacking. Reasons for this are non-existent standards, changing specifications d ue t o rapid development, common usage of the off-chain storage, and lack of developers. One of such blockchains is Polkadot - a layer- zero blockchain featuring a single relay chain whose role is to secure smart contract transactions on multiple other parachains. In this paper we describe a data collection pipeline for Polkadot blockchain that we then use to perform an analysis of the bow-tie structure of its transfer network over time, with special emphasis on the role of nominators and validators in this structure. We find evidence that t he Polkadot ecosystem iss lowly maturing from a system dominated by nominators and validators, both of which require some technical skill as well as willingness to bond sufficient amount of funds, into a system increasingly populated by regular users using the financial services of Polkadot.