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Architecture

Polkadot is a heterogeneous multichain with shared security and interoperability.

Relay Chain​

The relay chain is the central chain of Polkadot. All validators of are staked on the relay chain in DOT and validate for the relay chain. The relay chain is composed of a relatively small number of transaction types that include ways to interact with the governance mechanism, and participating in NPoS. The relay chain has deliberately minimal functionality - for instance, smart contracts are not supported. The main responsibility is to coordinate the system as a whole, including parachains. Other specific work is delegated to the parachains, which have different implementations and features.

Parachain Slots​

The relay chain can support a number of execution cores, like cores on a computer's processor (a modern laptop's processor may have eight cores, for example). Each one of these cores can run one process at a time. The relay chain allows these cores using two subscription models: parachains and on-demand parachains. Parachains have a dedicated core for their chain and are like a process that runs constantly. On-demand parachains share (not simultaneously) cores amongst a group, and are thus more like processes that need to be woken up and run less frequently (similarly to concurrency in modern computers).

Most of the computation that happens across the network as a whole will be delegated to specific parachain implementations that handle various use cases. The relay chain places no constraints over what parachains can do besides that they must be able to generate a proof that can be validated by the validators assigned to the parachain. This proof verifies the state transition of the parachain. Some parachains may be specific to a particular application, others may focus on specific features like smart contracts, privacy, or scalability — still, others might be experimental architectures that are not necessarily blockchain in nature.

The relay chain provides many ways to secure a core for a parachain for a particular length of time. On-demand parachains share cores (not simultaneously) with other parachains. Both regular and on-demand parachains have the same API and need to buy time on a core with DOT via coretime. Parachains can switch between being on-demand and permanent.

Shared Security​

Parachains connected to the relay chain all share in the security of the relay chain. Polkadot has a shared state between the relay chain and all of the connected parachains. If the relay chain must revert for any reason, then all of the parachains would also revert. This is to ensure that the validity of the entire system can persist and no individual part is corruptible.

The shared state ensures that the trust assumptions when using parachains are only those of the relay chain validator set and no other. Since the validator set on the relay chain is expected to be secure with a large amount of stake put up to back it, parachains should benefit from this security.

Interoperability​

XCM​

XCM, short for cross-consensus message, is a format and not a protocol. The format does not assume anything about the receiver or senders consensus mechanism, it only cares about the format in which the messages must be structured in. The XCM format is how parachains will be able to communicate with one another. Different from XCMP, which is short for cross-chain messaging protocol, XCM is what gets delivered, and XCMP is the delivery mechanism. The best way to learn more about XCM is by reading the specification.

Bridges​

A blockchain bridge is a connection that allows for arbitrary data to transfer from one network to another. These chains are interoperable through the bridge but can exist as standalone chains with different protocols, rules, and governance models. In Polkadot, bridges connect to the relay chain and are secured through the consensus mechanism, maintained by collators.

Polkadot uses bridges to bridge the future of Web 3.0, as bridges are fundamental to Polkadot's interoperable architecture by acting as a secure and robust communication channel for chains in isolation.

Main Actors

Validators​

Validators, if elected to the validator set, produce blocks on the relay chain. They also accept proofs of valid state transition from collators and receive staking rewards in return.

Validators are required to keep enough parachain blocks available for later use in their local storage. Those blocks are retrievable by peers who lack that information, so that they can reliably confirm the issued validity statements about parachain blocks. The Availability & Validity (AnV) protocol consists of multiple steps for successfully upholding those responsibilities.

Nominators​

Nominators bond their stake to particular validators in order to help them get into the active validator set and thus produce blocks for the chain. In return, nominators are generally rewarded with a portion of the staking rewards from that validator.

Collators​

Collators are full nodes on both a parachain and the relay chain. They collect parachain transactions and produce state transition proofs for the validators on the relay chain. They can also send and receive messages from other parachains using XCMP.

Parachain blocks themselves are produced by collators, whereas the relay chain validators only verify their validity (and later, their availability).