Highlights of Apillon and the Polkadot ecosystem — Q1 2023
Initial features and first adopters of the Apillon platform, Polkadot ecosystem growth and parachains’ support of Web2 businesses and…
Initial features and first adopters of the Apillon platform, Polkadot ecosystem growth, and parachains’ support of Web2 businesses and users.
With Q1 of the year in the books, it’s time to retrospect what was cooking at Apillon and in the Polkadot corner of the Web3 space.
First, the not-so-new kit on the block, Apillon.
1. Apillon
The first months of the year were a real catalyst for Apillon, as the fruits of hard work months prior were brought to the public. Things started falling into place product-wise, and the team spread the word far and wide about improved ways to build the Web3 ecosystem.
In late January, the invitation-only Closed Beta of the Apillon platform launched, opening the gate to engineers seeking to onboard the Web3 train or accelerate their journey. Here is what else the team worked on, delivered, and expanded.
- 1.1 Platform integrations & Web3 services
- 1.2 Adoption
- 1.3 Features & Functionalities
- 1.4 Events
- 1.5 Community
1.1 Platform integrations & Web3 services
The Apillon platform redefines the Web3 development experience by delivering easy access to the features of Polkadot parachains via drag-and-drop Web3 services and straightforward API calls.
A modular approach allows users to create interoperable and cross-chain dapps from the get-go without having to dive deep into the technical characteristics and specifics of individual networks and protocols.
🔗 In the Closed Beta stage, Apillon partnered with Crust Network to deliver Web3 Storage and Web3 Hosting services on the platform. The first case of implementing a Web3 service is the apillon.io website which has become unstoppable via decentralized hosting.
🔗 Soon after, Apillon partnered with Phala Network to provide trustless and supremely efficient off-chain computing power. The integration of Phala to the Apillon platform is in the making and will be released soon.
📢 More partnerships with key ecosystem players are yet to be announced, be the first to hear about them.
1.2 Adoption
The launch of the platform’s Closed Beta attracted quite a crowd.
Considering the facts that the entire concept had been conceived just a few months prior, that the Beta stage offers only a handful of initial features, and that the target audience of software and web engineers is very niche, the stats are more than encouraging and demonstrate the need for Apillon’s presence on the market.
📊 Total Beta users on the platform: 506
📊 New users per day on average: 5.6
User engagement drew a similar skyline: developer activities surged in mid-January with over 1,300 server requests, just around the time the Apillon Ambassador Program launched and the highly anticipated Closed Beta saw the light of day.
A couple more spikes lined up in early February following important partnership announcements and the team’s notable presence at key industry events. Since then, developer activity has frequently generated over 200, 300 server requests per day.
1.3 Features & Functionalities
Apart from the built-in capabilities of the Apillon platform at launch, additional features were gradually rolled out to enhance the Web3 development experience and give more power to the builders’ community.
🔑 IPFS & IPNS connectivity delivers the option to store and host website and app data in a decentralized manner while retaining its editability.
🔑 Polkadot wallet login supports one-click entry to Apillon user’s account via Polkadot.js, SubWallet, or Talisman wallet. The option to register an Apillon account in a fully Web3 manner using digital wallets will be made available in future versions.
🔑 Apillon Governance model was published to demonstrate how builders can participate in the expansion of the Web3 ecosystem, perfect the development experience and co-design the Apillon platform through decentralized decision-making and weighted voting.
1.4 Events
Spreading the word beyond online spaces, the team showcased the platform and left a mark from high-ranked Web3 events to smaller gatherings of Web3 enthusiasts.
📍 The third edition of Polkadot Meetup Ljubljana delivered a first-hand presentation of Apillon’s work by CEO Matjaž Sobočan and a demo of the platform’s Closed Beta by CMO Nino Kutnjak. Together with Valery Gantchev of HydraDX and Rust developer Stanko Krstič, the team served deep insight into advanced ways of building Web3 solutions.
📍 The first Polkadot Meetup Zagreb was co-hosted by the Apillon and Astar Network teams and got the ball rolling wider across the region. The second edition is coming up shortly, responding to a growing interest in the Polkadot ecosystem.
📍 At ETHDenver, the must-attend event in Q1, Apillon added some spice to the Web3 melting pot with a product presentation and a dedicated booth. The crowds got a first-hand grasp of the platform’s functionalities and even dubbed it a “UX gift to Polkadot”.
📍 At Paris Blockchain Week, the leading Web3 event on European soil in March, the team reiterated the role of improved UX in Web3 adoption — a common thread of the event and a proof that Apillon solves a real and pertinent issue of the ecosystem.
🔎 Walk through more details of Apillon’s packed event calendar.
1.5 Community
The Apillon platform serves a niche community of Web2-turned-Web3 developers, but it can only do so much on its own. To establish a strong position in the ecosystem, it takes more than a solid product — it takes a village.
Pursuing the goal of educating and giving a hand to everyone climbing the wall of Web3, Apillon released a few community-building incentives.
📢 Ambassador program aims to accelerate the adoption of the platform and Web3 technologies through various contribution tiers,
📢 Referral program rewards individuals for spreading the word of Apillon in the developer and Web3 communities,
📢 And, answers to 10 burning questions about Apillon clear any doubts about the platform, its objectives, functionalities, and goals.
2. Polkadot ecosystem
Regardless of the market sentiment, the Web3 space keeps building, and the Polkadot ecosystem is one of the most active. Together with its parachains, the network has delivered plenty in terms of development activities and real-life use.
2.1 Polkadot
🔎 Polkadot Network is an ecosystem that unites and secures a growing number of specialized parachains connected to the Relay Chain and facilitates the cross-chain exchange of data and assets. The Apillon platform is primarily built to cater to the Polkadot ecosystem.
After an impressive QoQ growth in 2022 and a massive spike in mid-December, the Polkadot Relay Chain continues the path of steady growth with thousands of newly created accounts every day.
The Cross-Consensus Message Format (XCM) is a complex language system that allows parachains to exchange messages with one another, the Relay Chain, and even outside the Polkadot ecosystem. The next version of XCM, XCM V3, will launch soon and deliver improved programmability, bridging to external networks, NFTs, and more.
The expansion of XCM is one of the key elements of Polkadot’s continued growth, and strong XCM activity demonstrates ecosystem vigor and the importance of interoperability in Polkadot-based apps.
In other news:
👉 Smoldot, a light client for Polkadot and other Substrate-based chains, was released. It allows users to interact with a chain without an RPC endpoint, shedding reliance on node providers such as Alchemy and Infura to support interactions with the Polkadot blockchain. Smoldot contributes to greater decentralization and independence from node providers, aligned with the ethos of blockchain technology. Read more
👉 This year’s edition of the Polkadot Blockchain Academy will take place at Berkeley, California, USA, to train the next generation of blockchain engineers. With the Academy, Polkadot continues its education efforts and every year adds to the pool of talents building the Web3 space. Read more
2.2 Crust Network
🔎 Crust Network is a decentralized cloud storage provider that supports multiple storage-layer protocols like IPFS and provides instantly accessible on-chain storage functions. Crust Network powers the Web3 Storage and Web3 Hosting services on the Apillon platform.
👉 Early this year, Crust Network went officially online after winning the 30th Polkadot parachain slot. A myriad of dapps already harness the power of decentralized storage with Crust, and the Apillon platform has been proudly integrating its services since day one.
👉 Crust Cloud, a Web3 toolsuite that lets developers upload multiple data sets in batches, was launched. It supports direct integration via RESTful APIs, cutting the need for manual data upload. Web3 Buckets, core innovation in Crust Cloud, employ NFT infrastructure that allows users to manage storage resources directly via a digital wallet. The Crust Cloud concept of storing data in batches resembles Apillon’s Web3 Storage buckets as a more dynamic way of managing storage capacities. Read more
👉 Customized IPFS gateway function was integrated to ensure speed and efficiency for new users uploading data to Crust. Read more
👉 Crust’s Global Community Gateway Collection program kicked off to optimize the response speed of the network and improve user experience. The community is encouraged to supply independent gateways to expand the reach of the Crust Network and enhance its global storage capacities. Read more
👉 Crust partnered with Equilibrium via XCM integration and allows Crust users to access EQD stablecoins as a stable option for storage fee payment. Read more
2.3 KILT Protocol
🔎 KILT Protocol is an open-source blockchain protocol for creating Web3 credentials that are verifiable, revocable, and anonymous. KILT Protocol will power the Web3 Authentication service on the Apillon dashboard.
👉 The revamped KILT website introduced the Checkout Service that lowers the threshold of creating a digital identity. Anyone, individual or enterprise, can create KILT DIDs at scale for their staff or customers without the use of cryptocurrency. Read more
👉 In collaboration with Public Pressure, the Web3 media pioneer, KILT’s infrastructure will be used for issuing public credentials to verify the authenticity of music NFTs and enable self-sovereign user login on the platform. The use case serves as a role model for projects aiming to deliver superior product offerings, smooth user onboarding, and cross-ecosystem interoperability. Read more
2.4 Moonbeam Network
🔎 Moonbeam Network is a smart contract platform for building cross-chain connected applications, enabling users to interact with multiple blockchains simultaneously.
👉 Moonbeam Dapp launched v2 interface, delivering smoother navigability and visible workflow for cross-chain transfers. Read more
👉 Kapa.ai, a ChatGPT-powered development assistant bot, was launched. Powered by a semantic retrieval system for technical knowledge sources and large language models, kapa.ai answers developers’ questions in no time, accelerating the Web3 development process. Read more
👉 The Moonbuilders Academy added a course on extracting historical on-chain data with Subsquid’s indexing SDK and archives. With the soon-to-come integration of both Moonbeam and Subsquid into Apillon, the developers eager to understand more about their intricacies can sign up and dive into technical details. Read more
👉 The first implementation of OpenGov on Moonriver passed via the community vote, representing a step towards on-chain governance based on community feedback. Read more
2.5 Phala Network
🔎 Phala Network is a decentralized cloud that offers secure and scalable computing. Phala Network will power the Web3 Computing service on the Apillon dashboard.
👉 Detailed Roadmap 2023 was published with clear plans for new features and improvements, including Phat Contract to become a core part of the Web3 builders stack. Scaling off-chain computer needs, Phala aims to deliver next-generation Phala Compute and expand supported secure worker technologies. Read more
👉 The Phala Builders Program was launched to provide funding, guidance, and support for projects that build on Phala and use Phat Contract. Smart contract developers are encouraged to harness efficient and trustless off-chain computation in the ecosystem of choice, including Ethereum and EVM chains, Polkadot, and BSC. Read more
👉 Phat Contract’s Closed Beta stopped accepting implementation applications on March 31, while use case submissions close on April 21, before the Mainnet release. Phat Contract will deliver a no-code experience, giving everyone access to powerful off-chain computation and one-click deployable Web3 solutions. Read more
2.6 Other
👉 Sony Network Communications has joined forces with Astar, a multi-chain smart contract network, to launch a Web3 incubation program for projects focused on the utility of NFTs and DAOs. Read more
👉 Toyota partnered with Astar to sponsor the network’s hackathon and potentially use the developed DAO solutions to boost business efficiency and team management. Read more
👉 Beatport, the global leader in electronic music for DJs, producers, and fans, has joined forces with Aventus to launch Beatport.io, a digital collectible marketplace. Bringing Web3 capabilities to the electronic music culture, the platform will allow artists to sell music as unique digital assets and boost fan engagement. Read more
Onwards and upwards
With the pace of Web3 evolution showing no signs of slowing down, parachains, dapps, and infrastructure projects are expected to continue delivering in Q2 and beyond.
Stay tuned for more to come, embark on the journey and add your share to the Web3 space.
⧓ About Apillon
The Apillon platform serves as a unified gateway to the Web3 services provided by linked Polkadot parachains. Following the multi-chain vision, Apillon powers the transition of developers to Web3, simplifying its adoption in the real economy, and expanding its versatility as the ecosystem grows. With Apillon, Web3 services are within reach for every developer, regardless of their background and experience with blockchain technology.
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