Polkadot releases one-stop marketplace for Substrate pallets
Proof-of-stake blockchain Polkadot has achieved a significant feat in its development, as it rolls out Substrate Marketplace, a one-stop shop for exploring the many Substrate pallets currently available.
The move comes in conjunction with a major update to Polkadot’s Substrate Developer Hub aimed at improving the Substrate learning and building experience.
Pallets are the building blocks of Substrate’s blockchains, modules and support libraries that users can use, modify, and extend to build the runtime logic to suit the needs of their blockchain.
To recap, Polkadot enables the use of parachains which are custom, project-specific blockchains that are integrated within its native ecosystem. The launch of Substrate Marketplace makes it easier for developers to browse available pallets while planning their Polkadot, Kusama, or solochain project.
In addition to open-source pallets natively included with FRAME, developers are now also able to browse those developed by the community and offered back to them under various open-source licenses.
Substrate Marketplace works by sourcing pallets pushed to crates.io and runtimes from teams’ github repositories via GraphQL API. While developers can view pallets published by Parity and the community on crates.io, Substrate Marketplace provides a more tailored experience for Substrate developers building their own chain.
The custom-made Pallets have been built using Substrate, the modular blockchain software development kit underpinning the Polkadot network.
For ease of browsing, Substrate Marketplace is divided into three primary sections. The first section is called “Runtimes,” which allows users to see examples of the business logic enabled from combining capabilities of multiple pallets. This section contains listings of over 100 complete runtimes, including those of popular parachain projects.
The second section, dubbed ‘Pallets,’ allows visitors to browse through nearly 100 open source modules. Pallet listings are easily browsable by category and contain all existing native-FRAME pallets in addition to a wide range of pallets contributed by the community.
The third section is a handy one dedicated to the listings of over 120 active projects across the Substrate and Dotsama ecosystems. The marketplace includes various blockchain application, from DeFi to file storage, and gaming to smart contracts.
“As the range of projects and pallets associated with Substrate continues to grow, Substrate Marketplace is set to assume a crucial role in navigating the set of options available to developers of all experience levels. Parity envisions that a large community of innovators, developers, startups will continue to contribute and expand the library of available modules with a growing number of both open-source and commercial pallets. Substrate Marketplace, in turn, provides a place for these teams to gain visibility on their work,” the statement reads.
Earlier this year, Polkadot community has approved the upgrade of Statemint, its parachain dedicated to asset functionality. Polkadot’s common good parachain now allows network users to mint NFTs for the first time, teleport them from one chain to another and even track them across chains. Statemine, in its role as the canary network for Statemint, opens up a new world of possibilities for NFTs which have previously been confined to their own chains.
