polkadot

Polkadot is a blockchain platform designed to let multiple independent blockchains communicate with each other and share security. Rather than being a single chain like Bitcoin or Ethereum, it uses a central relay chain to coordinate a network of connected chains called parachains. This repository was the original implementation of a Polkadot network node, the software that runs on a computer to participate in the network, validate transactions, and keep the distributed record in sync. It was written in Rust, a systems programming language chosen for its speed and memory safety.

This repository is no longer the active codebase. Parity Technologies, the company behind Polkadot, merged three related repositories together: Polkadot (the node implementation), Substrate (the underlying framework for building blockchains), and Cumulus (the tooling for building and connecting parachains). All three now live in a single repository called the Polkadot SDK.

The consolidation was intended to make development more efficient and to make it easier for contributors to work across the connected parts of the stack. Previously, a change that touched both the Substrate framework and the Polkadot application layer would require coordinated pull requests in two separate repositories. The unified SDK brings all of that under one roof.

The README here is a short notice directing users and contributors to the new location. Any open pull requests against this repository were asked to be resubmitted in the Polkadot SDK. No new code is being merged here. The repository is effectively archived, even if not formally labeled as such on GitHub.

For anyone curious about blockchain development or wanting to understand how Polkadot works under the hood, the Polkadot SDK repository is the current starting point.