Polkadot news

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.

Hyperbridge has revised losses from its April 13 exploit to approximately $2.5 million, about 10 times higher than the initial $237,000 estimate. The updated figure accounts for losses from associated incentive pools and forensic analysis across four EVM chains. The exploit involved an attacker exploiting a vulnerability in Merkle Mountain Range proof verification, allowing unauthorized minting of bridged DOT tokens and draining of escrowed assets. The team is working with Binance and law enforcement to freeze stolen funds, with recovery potentially taking months to a year. If recovery efforts fall short, affected users will be compensated with BRIDGE tokens. The Token Gateway remains paused until the vulnerability is patched and independently audited.

Hyperbridge has revised its loss estimate from a recent exploit to $2.5 million, ten times the initial $237,000 figure. The updated amount reflects multi-chain losses on Ethereum, Base, BNB Chain, and Arbitrum that were not initially calculated. The attack involved an initial extraction of 245 ETH, followed by a forged cross-chain message that allowed minting of 1 billion bridged DOT tokens. Hyperbridge is working with Binance and law enforcement to trace funds, but recovery could take months to a year. If recovery falls short, the team plans to allocate its native BRIDGE token to cover user losses. Bridging services remain paused pending a security patch, with engineers finalizing fixes to address the broader vulnerability class.

The Hyperbridge team has revised its estimate of losses from a recent exploit of its Polkadot-Ethereum bridge, now reporting around $2.5 million, which is about 10 times higher than the initial $237,000 figure. The attack involved minting 1 billion wrapped DOT tokens and draining assets from multiple blockchains, including Ethereum, Base, BNB Chain, and Arbitrum. The stolen funds have been traced to a Binance deposit address, and the firm is working with law enforcement and the exchange to freeze and recover the assets, though it warns this process could take months. Hyperbridge has paused bridging functionality on affected chains and plans to implement stricter security audits to prevent future incidents.

A hacker exploited a vulnerability in the Hyperbridge token bridge, minting 1 billion Polkadot (DOT) tokens worth over $1.1 billion on Ethereum. The exploit was limited to bridged DOT on Ethereum, with native Polkadot assets unaffected. Due to low liquidity on decentralized exchanges, the attacker could only sell the tokens for about $237,000. Hyperbridge has paused bridging operations and is implementing additional security measures.