In April 2024, Polkadot announced the Join Accumulate Machine (JAM), a major upgrade to the blockchain network. This update aims to replace the current Relay Chain with a more modular and minimalistic design. The proposed technical principles and goals of JAM were outlined in the JAM Gray Paper, written by Polkadot creator Gavin Wood. Following a near-unanimous vote of approval from DOT holders in May 2024, the JAM upgrade was confirmed.
JAM will enable Polkadot to run generic services and smart contract logic on its network, similar to how developers build on Ethereum. The new system will be permissionless, allowing anyone to build services on top of it without having to bid for leases at auction. Instead, developers can purchase computational resources known as Coretime from the Agile Coretime model, which uses DOT tokens for transactions.
The JAM supercomputer, also known as the Polkadot Virtual Machine (PVM), will use RISC-V, an open-source processor architecture widely adopted by tech firms like Google and Nvidia. The Polkadot Palace, a specially built supercomputer in Portugal, will test the mainframe, which is expected to increase data availability and processing capacity significantly. Wood believes that JAM’s approach could address scalability issues faced by other blockchains as they grow in size and complexity.
JAM’s introduction will transform the Polkadot ecosystem by offering a more accessible platform for developers to build services directly on the Relay Chain. The current limit of 50 parachains on the network will be replaced by a more flexible model where services built on JAM will handle functions like governance and staking. The JAM chain itself will have almost no functionality of its own, serving as a distributed computer that can run various tasks.
The launch of JAM is expected to take several years to develop before deployment. Unlike previous updates, JAM will be introduced all at once, with no gradual iterative approach. While existing parachains on Polkadot will continue to function normally, they will no longer be the only products running on the network. The Web3 Foundation has ensured that parachains will still be prioritized even after the introduction of JAM.
Developers interested in implementing the JAM protocol can participate in the JAM Implementer’s Prize, which offers up to 10 million DOT as a reward. The prize aims to incentivize diverse implementations using alternative programming languages to Solidity, which is commonly used in current parachains. The application process for the prize is still being finalized, but developers can sign up early to participate.
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