🐂 top news
The Web3 Foundation published its annual report.
The Polkadot Technical Fellowship approved #RFC0017, which proposes to redesign key aspects of the coretime market.
Cointelegraph now runs a Polkadot validator as part of their CTDG initiative to contribute to decentralization and help secure Web3.
AltLayer now supports Polkadot native rollups.
Kusama launched a new website designed by Erin.
The Decentralized Nodes Program opened applications for its third cohort until July 31st, offering up to 20% validator commission stakes.
Unique's collaboration with TapNation activated 650K new gamers on Polkadot through Reward Mode.
Bifrost's vDOT surpassed 15 million tokens, representing 1% of DOT supply with 16 million liquid staked.
BlockDeep Labs published another update on the RFC-0097: Staking Unbonding Queue implementation.
⭕️ ecosystem
Hydration suspended CFG and KILT swaps due to token migrations and advised liquidity providers to remove funds from the Omnipool.
Snowbridge enabled ERC-20 token transfers to Kusama via Polkadot Asset Hub, with direct Ethereum bridging expected in Q3 with v2.
Kheopskit launched as a library simplifying wallet connections to dApps on Polkadot and Ethereum.
OriginTrail surpassed 1 billion knowledge assets on its DKG.
Acurast reached 300 million transactions on its testnet.
Bifrost shared a monthly report for June.
peaq published its ecosystem report for Q2 2025.
Nova Wallet teased that multi-sig wallet management is coming to the app.
Chrissy stepped down as general counsel after 3.5 years at Parity.
Stellaswap launched veSTELLA, enabling holders to direct emissions while earning rewards and protocol revenue shares.
Mythical Marketplace reached 105K monthly active users.
Vortex reached $1.5M in volume on Pendulum.
🏛️ governance
For more information on Polkadot governance statistics, check out the Polkadot Dune governance dashboard.
🆕 new
Ref 1638: Funding OneBlock+ and PaperMoon’s 2025 developer education & community expansion plan (~$376K)
Ref 1639: Funding the development of Papi Simulator, a developer tool and playground (21,960 DOT)
Ref 1640: Topping up the Polkadot Assurance Legion bounty (500K DOT)
Ref 1641: Funding 12 months maintenance for ParaSpell XCM tools (~$148K)
Ref 1642: Funding Colorful Notion for 9 months of Dune integration work (~$610K)
Ref 1644: Funding LimeChain for phase 2 of devGround (~$172K)
Ref 1645: Upgrading the runtime to v1.6.1
Ref 1651: Topping up the Polkadot System Parachains Collator bounty
Ref 1652: Funding a crowdsourced research on the topic of capped DOT supply and step-change inflation
🕓 confirming
Ref 1588: Reinstating bounty curators and doing some bounty housekeeping
Ref 1612: Funding the maintenance and further development of Subsquare ($444K)
👍🏾 passing
Ref 1608: Seeking approval for the direction of the Polkadot Payment Card
Ref 1619: Funding the development of Pop CLI ($577.5K)
👎🏾 failing
Ref 1593: Funding the development and release of WAGOI (660K USDC)
Ref 1614: Funding the Polkadot Ambassador Fellowship for 9 months (1.98M USDC)
Ref 1611: Funding the development of JAMTON (~99K USDT)
Ref 1623: Seeking feedback to explore an alternate direction for Polkadot's Ethereum-compatibility layer
Ref 1624: Funding the development of Lunokit ($49.2K)
Ref 1625: Funding the continuous development of ReactiveDOT ($89K)
Ref 1626: Rebranding DOT to JAM in 2026
Ref 1627: Funding the Polkadot Art Space ($34K)
Ref 1631: Funding the development of Pixelproof ($575K)
Ref 1634: Sponsoring Politecnico di Milano’s Blockchain & Web3 Observatory (~$59K)
Ref 1635: Hire an ecosystem talent lead ($130K + 3K DOT)
Ref 1637: Funding Milestone 2 of the development of Cyborg Network (~$137K)
✅ approved
Ref 1584: Refilling the Marketing Bounty (200K DOT)
Ref 1586: Funding Merkle Science to provide compliance and security capabilities to Asset Hub (100K DOT)
Ref 1589: Funding milestone 4 of dAppForge development (108K USDC)
Ref 1591: Funding the Polkadot Community Foundation for 1 year (632K USDC)
Ref 1595: Funding the further development of RegionX Hub ($49K)
Ref 1629: Upgrading Coretime system chain to 1.6.0 and increasing cores to 100
❌ rejected
Ref 1590: Funding Gossamer for the Q3-Q4 development of Go, an alternative client implementation of Polkadot (815K USDC)
Ref 1592: Funding a Pudgy Penguins <> Mubert Protocol Events Tour (81K USDC)
💰 opportunities
Web3 Foundation is hiring for several positions, including Technical Educator, Senior Investor Relations Manager, and Senior Software Engineer.
Fill out the OpenJobs form to be added to the directory so potential employers can find you.
📺 what to watch and listen to
Interview with Mandala Chain by TheDotsTalks.
The Importance of a Modern Client Library in Building Scalable Applications by OpenGuild.
Balance Sheet - 2025-Q2 Creating the Polkadot Treasury Report by Alice und Bob.
Friday DOT news pump (Hydration’s $267M TVL Explosion: Is Polkadot DeFi Taking Over? Kusama’s ZK EVM Secrets Revealed!) weekly ecosystem recap by The Kus.
The Polkadot App with Birdo - Spending Crypto with the Easiest Web3 App Ever? - Space Monkeys 198 by The Kus.
📖 what to read
The Blockspace at Permissionless: How gaming is bridging the gap in Web3 by Polkadot blog.
5 Reasons Why Polkadot is the Underdog That'll Make It by TheDotsTalks
As the JAM testnet approaches, something extraordinary is happening behind the scenes by Daniel Cukier.
Why OpenGov is the best governance system out there by Leemo.
Why One Fund Manager Went All-In on Polkadot, and What He Sees That Others Don’t by Mr Shift.
Thank you for taking the DOT leap!
