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Polkadot is currently the talk of the crypto town. The promising blockchain network, headed by Gavin Wood and Robert Hebermeier, is preparing for its much-anticipated parachain launch process.

According to the Proposal for First Parachain Auctions on Polkadot, the idea is to launch a total of 11 auctions in two batches, similar to the methodology team followed for its highly successful Kusama parachain slot auctions. The proposal further reveals that there will be one auction for the first batch every seven days and will most likely begin November 11th.

The final auction of the first batch will commence on December 15th. Likewise, the second batch is scheduled for rollout between December 23, 2021, and March 9, 2022, with one auction taking place every two weeks. However, bear in mind that the proposal is currently being reviewed and is subject to change, and hence, the schedule isn’t set in stone.

Polkadot’s Kusama parachain auctions for batch one and two turned out to be a massive hit, with all 11 auctions garnering significant traction. These auctions witnessed a flurry of promising blockchain projects, wherein all of the participants together raised upwards of $1 billion via crowdloan initiatives .

Following the announcement of the Polkadot parachain launch, DOT prices skyrocketed, breaking the $40 resistance for the first time in five months . A lineup of exceptional projects, some already live and working on Polkadot’s testnet Kusama, will also enter the auctions, thus taking the competition up a notch. That said, take a closer look at some of the most promising contenders of the upcoming Polkadot parachain slot auctions.

Prime Contenders For The Polkadot Parachain Slot Auctions

Centrifuge, a decentralized asset financing protocol that merges real-world assets with DeFi is first up on the list. The platform unlocks global economic opportunity by connecting lenders and borrowers in a decentralized platform, allowing anyone to tokenize their real-world assets like invoices, real estate, and royalties. Once tokenized, users can use it as collateral to access financing through Centrifuge’s asset-backed lending dApp Tinlake.

Centrifuge’s testnet Altair secured the ninth slot in recent Kusama parachain slot auctions. The platform has already crossed $20 million in TVL and is doubling every month, increasing the project’s probability of acquiring a slot in the upcoming Polkadot auctions.

Acala, the DeFi hub for Polkadot, is another promising project with probably the best chance of winning a slot in the upcoming auctions. The layer-1 smart contract platform is highly scalable, offers full compatibility with Ethereum, and is optimized for DeFi with built-in liquidity and ready-made financial applications. Additionally, Acala provides a full suite of cross-chain financial apps, each designed to address the rising need for hybrid financial (HyFi) solutions.

Other than this, Acala’s testnet Karura was the first winner of Kusama’s slot auctions, raising upwards of 500,000 KSM. To further expand its potential, Acala has entered into a strategic partnership with Blockdaemon to support its first liquid staking derivatives for DOT and KSM, which marks the dawn of a new class of hybrid financial products.

Moonbeam Network, the Polkadot-based smart contract-enabled parachain offering unparalleled compatibility and interoperability with Ethereum, is next on the list. Moonbeam’s sister network Mooriver is currently live on Kusama and has established itself as the fastest-growing parachain with the Polkadot ecosystems, achieving a total value locked (TVL) of more than $90 million.

Moonriver is currently flooded with projects, some live and others ready to be deployed, including decentralized exchanges (DEXs) like SushiSwap, IDEX, and Injective, oracles like Chainlink, NFT platforms, stablecoins, liquidity protocols, and much more. Additionally, multiple DeFi projects like Lido and C.R.E.A.M Finance have also announced possible integrations with Moonbeam, which will bring liquidity staking to both Polkadot and Kusama ecosystems.

An open-source protocol for the Web 3.0 ecosystem distributing claim-based identity credentials, KILT Protocol is another promising contender to watch during upcoming parachain auctions. KILT Protocol won the sixth slot in the recent Kusama parachain slot auctions, raising a total of 220,000 KSM.

KILT’s model ensures that individuals, organizations, objects, and even machines can claim verifiable, revocable, and anonymous credentials that trusted entities can validate. The Polkadot Liquidity Mechanism (Polimec), which runs as a Parathread on Polkadot to help inject liquidity into Polkadot-based projects, utilizes the KILT Protocol for the issuance, proof, and verification of KYC/AML credentials.

The next project, Manta Network, the privacy-preserving DeFi stack built on Polkadot, is another potential contender for the much-anticipated Polkadot parachain auctions. Built on Substrate, Manta Network uses zk-SNARK to provide high throughput, end-to-end anonymity, and high cross-chain interoperability.

Manta Network’s testnet, Calamari Network, is the winner of the seventh Kusama parachain slot, further increasing its chances of emerging victorious in the upcoming Polkadot auctions. Moreover, the platform is backed by a consortium of prominent investors and firms, including crypto hedge fund CoinFund, alternative investment firm ParaFi Capital, and Web 3. investment fund LongHash Ventures, CMS Holdings, Divergence, Spartan Group, Global Coin Ventures, SkyVision Capital, Zee Prime, and SNZ, among others.

Last but not least is Nodle, a connectivity provider for the Internet of Things (IoT). The Nodle Network is expected to be one of the leading contenders with the potential to win a slot in the first batch.

By design, Nodle leverages “the smartphone infrastructure,” wherein mobile application developers and consumers compete and participate in the network using their smartphones, and earn “Nodle Cash” for their contribution. Because the project is designed to empower individuals and create atomistic competition by granting every smartphone owner an opportunity to participate and earn passive income, Nodle has received exceptional community support, further strengthening its chances of securing a parachain slot.