Polkadot news

Polkadot's Treasury lost $1.38 million after an attacker exploited a vulnerability that had been fixed in June but was never deployed to production systems. The breach targeted dotUSD, the network's decentralized stablecoin, which launched in October. The flaw was initially rated as medium severity, as its interaction with dotUSD was not foreseen at the time of assessment; it was later upgraded to critical. The attacker used Polkadot's cross-chain messaging to reduce dotUSD's recorded supply without altering user balances, distorting prices in the DOT/dotUSD pool. The Treasury, as the pool's sole liquidity provider, absorbed the losses. No user funds were lost, and dotUSD remained fully backed by USDT. Parity, the blockchain infrastructure firm, faced challenges in containing the attack. An emergency halt by Snowfork was bypassed when the attacker ran an independent relayer. The fix was deployed via runtime upgrade 2.5.1 on October 26, followed by a correction of dotUSD's supply on October 30. Parity is overhauling its security processes to improve vulnerability assessments, deployment checks, and emergency response.

Polkadot's Fearless Wallet browser extension leaked users' private keys for nearly 20 months, exposing DOT holders to potential theft. The Polkadot Community Foundation warned on Oct. 21 that malicious code in extension versions 3.0.1 and 3.0.3 through 3.0.5 could collect credentials and transmit them to an external server. Eight users reported unauthorized transactions totaling 17,286 DOT. The breach highlights a trade-off from a July network upgrade that reduced DOT unstaking delays from 28 days to about one or two days. While improving liquidity, the shorter window diminishes the time available to recover funds from compromised staking accounts before attackers can transfer assets. Recovery services, such as PAPI Rescue, had warned of this risk before the upgrade and now face narrower intervention opportunities. The foundation urged affected users to immediately create new keypairs in a different wallet and move funds. It also warned against unsolicited recovery offers and noted that moving exposed credentials to another app leaves users vulnerable. Changing passwords or reinstalling the extension does not resolve the underlying exposure.

Polkadot warned users of the third-party Fearless Wallet browser extension to treat their accounts as compromised and move funds, following a private key leak. The notice, published October 21, 2026, revealed that extension versions 3.0.1, 3.0.3, 3.0.4, and 3.0.5 sent private keys to an attacker-controlled server when wallets were unlocked. Malicious code entered via a GitHub pull request on February 19, 2025, and was active intermittently until at least October 10, 2026, exposing users for over 19 months. Eight users reported unauthorized transactions totaling 17,286 DOT, but Polkadot cautioned that many more accounts could be at risk. The Chrome Web Store still listed an affected version with about 6,000 users when the warning was issued. Polkadot emphasized that Fearless Wallet is not an official Polkadot product. Users were advised to generate new keypairs in a different wallet, such as Nova Wallet, and transfer funds immediately, as updating the extension would not protect leaked keys. For staked or locked funds, Polkadot pointed to tools like PAPI Rescue and warned against recovery scams.

Polkadot's DOT token fell near $1 on Oct. 8, trading at $1.032 after a 7.6% daily decline, as the network launched its native dotUSD stablecoin. The price approached key Fibonacci support at $1.017, with the $1 psychological level directly below, and a sustained break could lead to $0.949. A 4-hour rounded top formation places the next support at $0.936, while the Supertrend indicator has turned bearish with resistance at $1.140. The dotUSD stablecoin reached mainnet via OpenGov, initially backed by USDT with a $2.5 million USDT mint and $2.5 million in DOT to seed liquidity. The first phase allows one-for-one minting against USDT without oracles or liquidation, while a later phase will introduce DOT collateral and borrowing mechanisms. Analysts had previously noted DOT's compression above resistance, but the recent move has been downward, highlighting the $1.017 support and $1.086 recovery hurdle.

Polkadot's community is voting on a governance proposal to create dotUSD, a native decentralized stablecoin intended to become the network's primary dollar-pegged asset. The plan includes an initial phase where dotUSD is minted against USDT, followed by a second phase using DOT as collateral. The proposal has received strong early support, with 97.5% of votes in favor in a snapshot. The full system would let users lock DOT in vaults to mint dotUSD, with mechanisms like liquidations and a stability pool to maintain the peg. The proposal also ties into Polkadot's new economic model, which includes a fixed DOT supply and a Dynamic Allocation Pool. The community foundation's role would be administrative only, with no control over the stablecoin.

Polkadot governance is voting on Referendum #1944, which proposes creating a protocol-owned, DOT-backed stablecoin called dotUSD. The measure has drawn 97.5% approval, with 2.31 million DOT in favor. The proposal includes $5 million in initial liquidity, split between USDT and DOT, to reduce reliance on third-party stablecoins like USDT and USDC. If approved, dotUSD would be over-collateralized and serve as the default stable asset across Polkadot's ecosystem. This is Polkadot's second attempt at a native stablecoin, following a similar pUSD proposal earlier in 2025. The move aims to address liquidity fragmentation and counterparty risk, though the stablecoin's health would be tied to DOT's price performance.

Polkadot (DOT) led a rotation into legacy layer-1 tokens on Tuesday, surging up to 20% while Bitcoin and Ether declined. The move was driven by a short squeeze, a 150% spike in on-chain activity, and governance votes that could reduce token supply. Traders now price a 58% chance of a Federal Reserve rate hike in September after a strong jobs report. Analysts say DOT's sustainability depends on whether the proposed token burns effectively curb inflation.

The Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation has listed 21Shares' Polkadot Staking ETF under the ticker TDOT, coinciding with the fund's rebranding from the '21Shares Polkadot ETF' to the '21Shares Polkadot Staking ETF' on August 27, 2026. The fund, which launched on Nasdaq in March 2026 as the first US spot Polkadot ETF, holds DOT tokens and stakes 40-95% of them, passing quarterly yields to shareholders. Its current staking yield is 2.04%, with a 0.30% management fee, and assets under management have declined from an initial $11 million to approximately $7.5-$7.9 million. The DTCC listing itself predates the fund's launch, having been registered in October 2025 as standard pre-launch preparation. TDOT is part of a broader 21Shares trend applying staking models to ETFs for Ethereum (TETH), Solana (TSOL), and Sui (TSUI), all of which were rebranded in August 2026. For investors, the ETF offers exposure to Polkadot staking without needing a crypto wallet, with distributions handled through standard brokerage accounts.

Grayscale Investments has withdrawn its ETF registration statements for Cardano (ADA), Polkadot (DOT), and Hedera (HBAR) from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The asset manager stated it no longer intends to proceed with the planned distribution of shares for these funds. The withdrawals were initiated by Grayscale, not rejections by the SEC, and no securities were issued or sold. The three filings were submitted late Friday, following initial proposals in early 2025. The decision comes as all three tokens have seen significant declines, with ADA down 41%, DOT down 54%, and HBAR down 35% year-to-date. Grayscale provided no reason for the withdrawals and could potentially submit new registrations in the future.

Polkadot's Referendum 1890 mandates validators to stake at least 10,000 DOT of their own funds, aiming to remove key barriers to staking participation. The change, currently showing 100% approval in OpenGov, is set to take effect May 31, with non-compliant validators risking being chilled. Once enacted, nominators become unslashable, and the unbonding period drops to 24–48 hours. By mid-June, validators will earn rewards in unlocked DOT with a one-year vesting, while stablecoin payouts cover operational expenses, phasing out the commission model. Polkadot states the redesign reduces risk for nominators and enables faster exits, marking a significant shift in staking economics. Validators must deposit the 10,000 DOT by the deadline to avoid penalties.