How to Build a parachain on Polkadot

Interoperability between blockchains is necessary for productive collaboration. However, many of the currently available cross-blockchain communication solutions may be difficult, burdensome, and limited. They frequently lack full security and also involve a third party. To some of these issues, there is only one remedy, though.

The Polkadot network has created a protocol that makes it safe and secure for blockchains to communicate with one another. With the help of this protocol, parachains or blockchains can be built and linked to the main Polkadot network. It enables message and transaction transfer between chains, resulting in shared security and tremendous scaling potential.

In this post, we'll examine Polkadot in more detail and give an illustration of how to construct a parachain using a substrate architecture. An open-source architecture called the substrate enables programmers to build blockchains that are highly configurable. Substrate comes packaged and prepared for usage. It allows connections to Kusama or Polkadot. It is the perfect framework for parachain creation because of this. To help decentralised systems and web3 in general advance, Polkadot developed the parachain paradigm.

The creation of parachains using substrate in Polkadot will now be discussed.

What are Parachains?By acquiring a parachain slot, many chains can connect to one another using the Polkadot relay chain. Parachains are heterogeneous multichains. Parallel Layer 1 blockchains called parachains run on top of Layer 0 relay chains.

Runtime logic, economics, and native tokens are all possible in polka dot parachains. By connecting to Polkadot's relay chain, parachains also get more security. Additionally, they gain the advantages of other parachains, including scalability and interoperability, via Polkadot.

Digital wallets, IoT and DeFi apps, as well as web3 infrastructure, can all be deployed using Parachains. To get over issues with scalability and applicability that are inherent in siloed blockchains, Polkadot advises developers to deploy parachains on Polkadot. Blockchains with polka-dot patterns might be private, public, or hybrid.

The working mechanism of Polkadot architectureLayer 0 and Layer 1 are the two operating levels of the Polkadot network. The parachains are part of layer 1. The primary relay chain, Layer 0, powers all of the parachains. Nodes that connect a parachain to a relay chain are called collators. They are fully functional nodes in the parachain that transmit important data.

It's possible that parachains have unique implementation needs and tokens. They also outline the collator nodes' incentive system. Due to Polkadot's interoperability, parachains can communicate with one another, preventing every transaction from clogging the main relay chain. Staking transactions, governance, and security sharing with the entire network are all done through the relay chain.

The parachains are accessible for purchase by other crypto projects, which is Polkadot's distinctive approach to cryptocurrency. To get these limited parachain spots, projects must place first in an online auction. Normally, these auctions take place after parachains have been tested and put into use. The DOT tokens are the bidding currency for these auctions. Once a parachain is acquired, a project can modify it.

How to set up parachain?Deploying your own blockchain requires a difficult setup process called parachain. You can create a parachain on substrate by doing the subsequent procedures. Create a runtime logic first. For this, the substrate parachain template shown below can be used:

Step 1: Runtime logic

Git clone https://github.com/substrate-developer-hub/substrate-parachain-template to copy the parachain template.

• Enter the substrate-parachain-template directory to get the parachain template.

#Verify the correct commit: Check out polkadot-v0.9.30 using git

Build the collator template for the parachain: cargo build —release

• Verify the node is created correctly by running./target/release/parachain-collator —help to see if the help page prints.

Step 2: Build wasm executable

The runtime logic should then be converted into a wasm executable. All of the chain's STF will be located in the wasm code folder. For the project to be deployed to parachain, this code blob is necessary.

Step 3: Submit wasm code for validation

Next, send in the wasm code that Polkadot validators use to check the chain's STF.

Step 4: Bring the collator node into the picture

A collator is used by the Polkadot validator to identify the current STF. Your parachain must have a maintainer that is the collator node. To join Polkadot's relay chain, it must generate fresh block candidates and send them to the validators. Your substrate-built chain logic can be transformed into a Polkadot-compatible parachain using Cumulus.

Relay chains are not supported by the built-in networking layer of Substrate; only single ones are. Chain logic in the substrate is Polkadot compatible thanks to the Cumulus addition. This enables you to create a parachain for your blockchain.

Step 5: Use Cumulus to convert your chain logic into a parachain

Only single chains are supported by the integrated networking layer of Substrate. Any chain that is connected to relay chains is not supported. Here, Cumulus extension can be useful. The Cumulus addon transforms your blockchain into a parathread or parachain, making your substrate-built logic Polkadot compliant.

Parachain analysisPolkadot’s Rococo testnet is used to test the parachain.

Rococo testnet

By testing your parachain using Rococo, you can make sure that messages are being sent and received between the parachain and the relay chain. The relay chain receives messages first, followed by the parachain. For testing, Rococo use Cumulus and HRMP (Horizontal Relay-routed Message Passing).

Run the next command to get ROC tokens after that:

Your Rococo address is!

Rococo parachains have the same runtime code as their equivalents, but different parachain IDs will be needed to register with relay chains. To run a Rococo collator, compile the binary listed below.

polka-dot-collator in cargo build —release —locked

Getting some ROC tokens from the Rococo Faucet is the last stage in the testing phase. For this, the following command can be used:

polkadot-collator./target/release/chain $CHAIN —validator

Parachain deploymentYou must deploy your parachain on Polkadot after successfully testing it for cross-chain transfer. You will want a parachain slot to accomplish this. Address format chains that are substrate-based employ SS58 encoding.

Obtain a slotA parachain slot is difficult to obtain because Polkadot only provides a few amount of unlocked slots each month. For the parachain slot to be filled, a connection to the Polkadot network is necessary. The parachain must take the slot if it wants to be included at each relay chain block.

EndnoteIn addition to interoperability, scalability, and shared security, parachains provide additional advantages. Both startups and established businesses use Polkadot, a blockchain protocol that is continually expanding, to promote blockchain development. So, getting professional assistance is the best course of action if you want to construct and test a parachain. To close the sale and obtain the best Polkadot blockchain development services, speak with a professional Polkadot blockchain development business.

LeewayHertz is a web3-focused software development company with extensive expertise in blockchain, gaming, Nfts, metaverse, DeFi and other web3 technologies.