Astar 2.0: How we got here

Last week on the 15th of June, we announced our new vision, Astar 2.0. This post is the first of a series that provides further information on Astar 2.0 and its background. To understand why we decided to launch 2.0, it’s helpful to look at our history so far and how Astar has evolved in the past years.

Astar 0: Laying the foundation

Technically speaking, we were not even Astar then, but we still operated under the name Plasm Network. It all started with an idea to further enhance the Polkadot ecosystem by building a scalability solution for anyone building high-demand dApps. The team drew heavily on ideas from Plasma Network, now known as Optimisim, to create a solution. It was well received and secured us funding from Japanese investors and the web3 foundation. Thanks to the latter, we quickly developed a close relationship with Parity, the primary entity developing the Polkadot code, which lasts to this day.

We started building the Optimistic Virtual Machine to speed up execution and allow parachains to scale. Instead of using Solidity, we built with !ink so other parachains could easily tap into our network whenever they needed more scale.

We started building a passionate community in Japan and beyond and became recognized in the Polkadot ecosystem. But as we were building, we realized that there was a bigger missing piece in the ecosystem, leading us to pivot to Astar 1.0.

Astar 1.0: Becoming a Multi-chain smart contract hub

In 2021, 2 years after starting to develop, Plasm Astar became Astar enhancing its vision from “just” building Layer-2 solutions to becoming a dApp hub supporting EVM, WebAssembly, and layer-2s.

“From today, we enter a new chapter. A Star is born. Plasm becomes Astar Network in pursuit of becoming a Polkadot-native, multi-chain dApp hub that supports EVM and WASM .” - Sota Watanabe, Founder of Astar Network.

Essential parts of Astar 1.0 include:

• XVM: We believe WASM is the future of smart contracts for its future-proof features and security guarantees. However, we also acknowledged that EVM remains the most active environment, with thousands of users making it attractive for any dev. Therefore, we built a Cross-virtual machine supporting EVM and WASM contracts. With Astar, developers can build solidity smart contracts on our EVM chain that can interact seamlessly with WASM contracts. Thanks to multiple XCM channels to other parachains, anyone building on Astar can move assets across Polkadot chains more readily. WASM smart contracts launched in March this year, and we’re looking forward to seeing more developers build on them.
• dApp Staking: Initially proposed by our CTO as a DeFi yield farming strategy to fund projects, dApp staking has become a backbone of Astars’ ecosystem by providing developers with passive income for their contributions. In essence, dApps that are part of the program earn rewards from native ASTR tokens their community members stake with them. The first versions of our dApp staking served as a proof-of-concept, highlighting the need for it and helping us realize which areas needed further enhancements. Currently, we have over 20,000 stakers supporting the program.

During Astar 1.0, we further increased our foothold in the Polkadot ecosystem, becoming the biggest smart contract hub on Polkadot with the most transactions. We’re also building connections with other blockchain ecosystems that align with our vision, such as Cosmos via Injective.

With 1.0, we successfully pivoted from being a Layer-2 to becoming a multi-chain smart contract hub. But that isn’t all. We also heavily pushed for the adoption of web3 in general and Astar in particular.

Key accomplishments and achievements of Astar 1.0

Leading smart contract multichain hub on Polkadot

Astar has established itself as one of the most active parachains, with TVL frequently among the top 3.

Becoming the go-to-chain in Japan

According to a survey by the Japanese Blockchain Association, an organization with over 100 enterprise members, 43% of the respondents answered that if Astar was their top choice for building dApps.

Listed in Japan

Astar is also the first blockchain from Japan to be listed on its exchanges, despite a strict regulatory regime. Furthermore, the Astar token is registered in Japan as a cryptocurrency and not a security.

Steering regulations

Our founder Sota Watanabe is frequently invited to government discussions on web3, such as during National Digital Day 2022, where aspiring Japanese entrepreneurs discussed the future of digitalization, startups, and crypto.

Enterprise users of Astar Network

Leading Japanese enterprises like NTT Docomo have partnered with Astar to collaborate on speeding up web3 adoption. The major train company Tokyu Railways distributed thousands of train NFTs on top of the Astar network. JR Kyushu is looking to issue NFTs as proof of ride to its millions of passengers later this year.

Toyota Hackathon

As one of the largest companies worldwide, Toyota is the perfect candidate for DAO tooling. For the Hackathon organized in collaboration with Hakuhodo Key3, the automotive giant chose Astar Network as the underlying infrastructure.

Over 420 applicants split nearly evenly between international and Japanese audiences joined, with 12 teams passing the first round and five prizes awarded in the end.

Sony Incubation Program

Working together with Sony Network Communications, we’re running a web3 incubation program to accelerate projects from all around the world. The first round of the program concluded successfully on June 18th with a Demo Day at Sony’s offices in Tokyo and in the Metaverse. You’ll see a lot of new services and products come out of this program. We’re especially excited to see what can happen when renowned IP such as Sony meets the digital economy.

What’s next?

With Astar 1.0, we’ve found our footing in the ecosystem. We’re confident that Astar 2.0 and Supernova will deliver web3 to billions. We’re in the depth of a bear market, and we continue building.

We’ve learned a lot throughout our journey so far, which will benefit us as we enter the next phase of Astar. For example, since we started working on layer-2 solutions, we already have the expertise to build them and make them a reality if an enterprise required them.

We’re also more aware of the areas we have to address and enhance toolings for. Use cases such as gaming require fast finality and near-instant settlement, as well as gas-less transactions. While Astar’s underlying infrastructure currently does not support this, with Astar Link, we will soon have the tools to make it possible. That and many more.

Astar 2.0 is our vision and describes our path forward. We’ll release more details in part 2 of this series. Stay tuned, and thanks for being part of the Astar community.