Introducing the Polkastarter Technical Roadmap

6 min readSep 23, 2020

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We are excited to release our initial technical roadmap. Will also outline the Polkastarter platform and our plans for the future.

The final version of Polkastarter will enable Polkadot-based token pools so projects can raise capital in a decentralized and interoperable environment. However, to fully reach our vision, since Polkadot is not ready for the deployment of smart contracts, Polkastarter’s roadmap will have two separate phases.

Phase 1 will start with the launch of a minimum viable product (MVP) on the Ethereum network. The goal of this phase is to test the swap and token sale dynamics, gather user feedback, and prepare a robust infrastructure that can be migrated to Polkadot. With a variety of EVM-compatible Polkadot projects competing to be parachains, we are confident that our work on Ethereum will enable us to bootstrap development work on Polkadot.

Phase 2 will see the full launch of the working product on the Polkadot environment, enabling Polkadot projects to raise funds in DOT or any other Polkadot-based tokens that the project chooses to raise in. Our vision is for Polkastarter to offer cross-chain pools and token sales, by taking advantage of Polkadot’s bridges such as BTC, ETH and USDT.

Polkastarter MVP Core Features

In the past few months, we’ve been actively developing the first version of Polkastarter on Ethereum. The goal for the MVP is to be a fully working fixed swap platform for ERC20 token pools, creating a marketplace that links pool creators and liquidity providers.

Pool creators will be able to create and launch fixed token swaps in a permissionless environment. Liquidity providers will be able to earn and transact in these new tokens. Community incentives such as liquidity mining will be live from day one to bootstrap network effects. Our strong and growing Polkastarter community will be incentivized to improve the usability and interface to optimize the platform experience before launching in Polkadot’s environment.

Fixed Swap Pools

From our homepage, users can explore and participate in several token pools. These will be fixed swap pools, in which two or more parties exchange a fixed amount of tokens for a predetermined price.

In this initial prototype, pool creators will be able to enter pool details like token contract address, name of the pool, limit per address, type of pool access (public, private, whitelist) and, finally, token price.

We are starting with fixed swap pools because they solve one of the biggest problems in automated decentralized exchanges like Uniswap. While these exchanges are great for day-to-day spot trading, they don’t work that well for token sales. It’s usually impossible to get the initial listed token price because bots buy up all the initial liquidity. On the other hand, Polkastarter Fixed Swaps will enable a stable, organized, and fair token swap infrastructure.

In the Phase 1 model for Polkastarter, there will be two basic utility functions made available to POLS token holders: liquidity mining and staking for pool access.

Liquidity Mining

To incentivize participation in the daily token pools, we are launching a liquidity mining program concurrent with MVP launch on Ethereum later this year. In the manner of great DeFi projects like Synthetix and Balancer, this program will distribute a fixed amount of POLS tokens daily. All liquidity providers will receive POLS from this as-yet-undetermined fixed amount on a pro-rata basis. For example, if there is 1000 ETH in fixed swap volume for 24 hours, a user that contributed 100 ETH of that volume will receive 10% of the total daily liquidity rewards.

Liquidity providers can claim their POLS token rewards after 24 hours and will have 7 days to claim their reward tokens on the Polkastarter dashboard. Unclaimed tokens will be sent back to the rewards pool for later distribution.

Staking for Pool Access

For high-demand pools, access can be limited to the top liquidity and network contributors. Password protection and whitelisting are potential features that could provide additional limits. However, to best align the interests of the entire Polkastarter community, the POLS token can be used as a coordinating mechanism. For instance, if community members want access to certain token pools, they must stake POLS tokens. Of course, token pool creators have full autonomy over this process. For projects that use the Polkastarter platform, our goal is to craft diverse token holder communities loyal to the project and invested in its long-term success.

Pool creators can activate POLS staking to limit pool access exclusively to POLS holders. The incentive for this type of behavior from the pool creator is a reduced fee on the total swapped funds. Other incentivize mechanisms will likely arise during protocol development.

Polkastarter network users are only eligible for staking after providing liquidity to the Polkastarter pools. Contributors can lose their staking status if they stop providing liquidity to the network.

Private Pools And Whitelisting

One of the Polkastarter use cases is private fundraising and closed over the counter (OTC) deals. To enable these, we will launch with features like password protected pools and address whitelisting for pool participation.

Permissionless Listings

True decentralization only works if we build a permissionless environment. Though certain Polkastarter features may be enhanced for POLS token holders, anyone will be able to use the protocol in order to create and launch fixed swap token pools. Counter-measures to prevent bot-based and malicious pools will also be integrated.

Other Features

Polkastarter will have key features from day one, including anti-scam features preventing users from buying the wrong token. These include smart contract verification, smart contract information, token import alert and high slippage alerts. All of these mechanisms work together to make users aware that they might be buying at an unfair price. Finally, we would be remiss if we didn’t mention that the platform can be viewed in either dark or light mode.

Polkastarter Roadmap for 2020 and 2021

In 2020, our MVP will go live on Ethereum to enable pool creators to launch in a permissionless environment. This fully working and live prototype will be used to gather user feedback and stress test our infrastructure.

Here is a list of the features you can expect from the Polkastarter development team over the next year-plus:

Q4 2020 — Phase 1 (Minimum Viable Product)

Polkastarter 1.0 (Ethereum Beta)
Permissionless listings
Liquidity Mining
Key token swap information, including smart contract, swap ratio
Fixed swap public and private pools
Private pools with password ideal for OTC and private-sales
Anti-scam features like smart contract verification
High slippage price alerts
Pool swap page with features like max pool amount
Max investment per user limits
English, Chinese and Korean languages

2021 — Phase 2

Our prototype will launch in the Polkadot ecosystem in 2021. This phase will include the launch of multi-chain token pools (Ethereum and Polkadot) and later the first cross-chain fixed token swaps using Polkadot’s interoperability features; KYC integration for those pools that require it; and the development of staking mechanisms like Staking for Pool Rewards and Staking for Governance.

Q1 2021

Polkastarter 2.0
Multi-chain token pools (Ethereum and Polkadot)
Staking for Governance
Staking for Pool Rewards
Community-powered featured project voting
Full KYC integration

Q2, Q3 and Q4 2021

Polkastarter 3.0
Cross-chain token swaps
Dynamic ratio swaps
Sealed-bid auctions
Launch of the governance model
R&D to migrate for a full DAO
Governance platform
Staking for governance
Launch of the full working DAO

The future is decentralized. The future is interoperable. The future is Polkastarter.

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