Polkadot continues to expand its ecosystem through the parachain slot auction mechanism, enabling innovative projects to secure dedicated space on the network and contribute to Web3’s decentralized future. In the ongoing 28th auction round, three standout projects—OAK Network, Crust Network, and OmniBTC—are actively competing for a parachain slot. These projects bring unique value propositions in automation, decentralized storage, and cross-chain finance.
This article explores each project’s vision, technology, auction strategy, and crowdloan rewards, offering a comprehensive overview for users interested in participating or learning more about Polkadot’s evolving infrastructure.
OAK Network: The Cross-Chain Automation Hub
OAK Network aims to become the central automation engine for Web3, delivering ready-to-use smart contract automation across blockchains. It enables features like recurring payments, auto-compounding staking rewards, dollar-cost averaging (DCA), and stop-loss trading—without requiring users to manually trigger transactions.
Built on Substrate with WebAssembly, OAK uses an event-driven execution model that triggers transactions based on time, price movements, or changes in smart contract states. This approach eliminates the need for constant user interaction or third-party bots.
For example, OAK’s Kusama canary network, Turing Network, partnered with Nova Wallet to launch an auto-compounding staking feature. After a single signature, users’ small staking rewards are automatically reinvested daily, increasing APY by up to 3% compared to standard staking.
Key Advantages of OAK
- No Private Key Management: Unlike traditional automation tools that require custody of keys or repeated signing, OAK leverages time-based triggers and XCM (Cross-Consensus Messaging) to execute transactions securely without exposing private keys.
- On-Chain Security: Execution is fully decentralized and doesn’t rely on off-chain servers. Events are monitored and executed directly on-chain, ensuring robust security.
- Native Upgradability: As a Substrate-based chain, OAK supports forkless runtime upgrades, allowing seamless protocol improvements without network disruption.
Turing Network launched on Kusama in April 2022, proving the viability of OAK’s core technology.
Auction Strategy
- Slot Lease Duration: 96 weeks
- Target Slot: 28th Polkadot parachain slot
- Contribution Cap: 150,000 DOT (already reached)
👉 Discover how automated Web3 transactions could transform your digital asset strategy.
Crowdloan Rewards
- Total Rewards: 15 million OAK tokens (1.5% of total supply)
- Base Reward Rate: ~75.5 OAK per DOT contributed
- Distribution: Released linearly over 8 quarters (every 3 months) after token distribution begins
Bonus Incentives
- 10% Early Bird Bonus: For contributions between September 20–24
- 5% Late Participation Bonus: For contributions after September 24
- 2.5% Turing Network Participant Bonus
- 10% Referral Bonus (5% each for referrer and referee)
Crust Network: Decentralized Cloud Storage for Web3
Crust Network offers a decentralized cloud storage solution built on IPFS, providing secure, private, and censorship-resistant data storage. It enhances the basic IPFS protocol with advanced consensus mechanisms and developer-friendly APIs.
Crust combines three core technologies:
- MPoW (Meaningful Proof of Work): Ensures fair and verifiable storage contribution by measuring actual data stored.
- GPoS (Guaranteed Proof of Stake): A stake-backed consensus mechanism inspired by NPoS for high performance and reliability.
- TEE (Trusted Execution Environment): Acts as a trustless auditor, periodically verifying that nodes correctly store user data, preserving confidentiality and integrity.
Cross-Chain Integration & Applications
Using XCMP and HRMP channels, Crust has integrated with major Polkadot parachains like Moonbeam, Acala, Phala, and Bifrost via its xStorage pallet, enabling cross-chain data storage services.
The network already hosts over 1.2 million files and supports real-world applications such as:
- Crust Market: A decentralized marketplace where users can place storage orders directly on-chain.
- Crust Files: A Web3 version of cloud storage—users can upload, encrypt, view, download, and share files securely.
Crust’s mainnet launched in September 2021, followed by its Kusama counterpart, Crust Shadow, in January 2022.
Auction Strategy
- Slot Lease Duration: 96 weeks
- Target Slots: 26th to 32nd Polkadot parachain slots
- Contribution Cap: 100,000 DOT
Crowdloan Rewards
- Total Rewards: 20,000 CRU tokens (0.1% of total supply)
- Base Reward Rate: ~0.2 CRU per DOT contributed
- Distribution: Linear release over each lease period, starting after parachain goes live
OmniBTC: Powering Full-Chain Finance
OmniBTC is a full-chain financial platform developed by the ChainX team. It aims to bridge Bitcoin into multi-chain DeFi ecosystems through seamless swapping and lending capabilities.
Its two flagship features include:
1. Full-Chain Token Swaps
Powered by LayerZero, users can perform one-click swaps between any tokens across different blockchains—eliminating the complexity of bridge hopping and fragmented liquidity.
2. Bitcoin Cross-Chain Lending
Users can lock their BTC via ChainX’s Taproot multi-sig to mint XBTC, then use it as collateral to borrow stablecoins from any supported chain. This brings Bitcoin—the largest crypto asset by market cap—into active DeFi usage across chains.
Once OmniBTC secures a Polkadot parachain slot, it will launch a new Wasm+EVM chain with LayerZero deployed in its EVM environment. Combined with XCM, this setup will enable:
- Instant swaps between Polkadot-native tokens (e.g., aUSD, USDT on Statemint) and assets from external chains.
- Stablecoin pools backed by cross-chain assets.
- Bitcoin-backed borrowing using Polkadot ecosystem stablecoins.
👉 See how integrating Bitcoin into DeFi could unlock trillions in dormant value.
OmniBTC’s swap aggregator is already live on Arbitrum and BSC, with integration into ComingChat—a Web3 social finance app with over 8 million global users—expected within two weeks.
Auction Strategy
- Slot Lease Duration: 96 weeks
- Contribution Cap: 120,000 DOT
Crowdloan Rewards
- Total Rewards: 28,000 SO tokens (0.1% of total supply)
- Base Reward Rate: ~0.3 SO per DOT contributed
- Token Swap Mechanism: SO tokens will be exchangeable 1:1 for OmniBTC’s upcoming mainnet token (total supply: 21 million)
Additional Benefits
- Holders of five-digit or six-digit CID addresses receive a 10% bonus (1:1.1 conversion ratio)
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is a Polkadot parachain auction?
A: It's a competitive process where projects bid DOT tokens to lease a parachain slot on Polkadot’s relay chain for up to 96 weeks. Winning projects gain permanent connectivity and shared security.
Q: How do crowdloans work?
A: Users contribute DOT to support a project’s bid. In return, they receive the project’s native tokens as rewards. Contributed DOT is locked during the lease period but returned afterward.
Q: Can I withdraw my DOT during the lease?
A: No. DOT remains locked until the end of the lease term (e.g., 96 weeks). However, reward tokens may be distributed gradually.
Q: Are these projects building on Kusama first?
A: Yes. OAK (Turing Network), Crust (Crust Shadow), and others tested their tech on Kusama before advancing to Polkadot.
Q: Is there risk in participating in a crowdloan?
A: The primary risk is opportunity cost—the locked DOT cannot be used elsewhere for nearly two years. Always research the team and roadmap before contributing.
👉 Learn how locking DOT in crowdloans could yield high-value early-access opportunities.
By supporting OAK Network, Crust Network, or OmniBTC in the current Polkadot auction cycle, participants aren’t just contributing capital—they’re helping shape the next generation of Web3 infrastructure in automation, storage, and cross-chain finance.
Each project represents a critical layer in the evolving decentralized web: autonomous execution, secure data persistence, and universal asset interoperability. As Polkadot continues to scale through parachains, these innovations will play pivotal roles in driving adoption and usability across ecosystems.