Understanding Polkadot’s System Chains
The Polkadot ecosystem is a network of interoperable blockchains designed for scalability and specialization. At its core is the Relay Chain, which provides shared security and coordinates communication between connected blockchains called parachains.
Parachains run in parallel and can be customized for specific use cases—like DeFi, identity, or gaming—while relying on the Relay Chain for validation and cross-chain messaging. This architecture allows Polkadot to scale efficiently while supporting diverse applications.
The Polkadot Relaychain handles:
- Staking
- Consensus
- Securing Parachains
- Governance
- Coordination between Parachains
However, the Polkadot Relaychain lacks common functionality such as smart contracts, NFTs, Identity management, asset management, and bridging which are necessary to serve the flourishing Polkadot ecosystem and its parachains
Introducing System Chains
Adding these capabilities to the Polkadot Relaychain itself would bring a noticeable impact to the speed, transaction fee cost, and complexity to the Polkadot network and its maintenance.
Luckily, Polkadot already had a system for fragmenting the network into smaller, focussed blockchains - Parachains!
System chains are specialised Parachains that handle core protocol functions, offloading work from the Relay Chain to improve overall network performance. By moving key logic to these chains, Polkadot leverages its parallel execution architecture to scale efficiently.
Who controls System Chains?
Polkadot's system chains are owned and governed by the Polkadot network itself, meaning the community of DOT token holders through on-chain governance.
They are not controlled by private teams or companies. Instead, their development, upgrades, and usage are managed via Polkadot’s decentralized governance process
Polkadot's System Chains
Polkadot Asset Hub
Polkadot's Asset Hub is a system parachain for issuing, managing, and transferring assets like tokens (e.g. stablecoins) or NFTs. It’s optimised for low fees and supports cross-chain use via XCM, making it the go-to place for projects to launch assets that can be used across the Polkadot ecosystem.
Polkadot Bridge Hub
Polkadot Bridge Hub is a system parachain for connecting Polkadot to external blockchains like Ethereum. It provides a secure, dedicated channel for cross-chain asset and message transfers.
Polkadot Collectives
Polkadot Collectives is a system parachain for hosting official governance groups, like the Technical Fellowship and Polkadot Alliance. These groups support the network by reviewing proposals, promoting standards, and guiding ecosystem decisions. It enables specialized, scalable, and secure governance within Polkadot.
Polkadot People
People Chain is designed to handle digital identity and reputation. It helps create trusted, verified identities and reputation systems that can be used across the Polkadot ecosystem for things like governance, social apps, and preventing fake accounts.
Coretime
Coretime allows for the purchase of Polkadot’s Relaychain Core compute and validation services for a short period, down to the block.
Previously, the only way to access the Polkadot Relaychain’s validation services was to rent a fixed term lease by winning a Parachain Auction. This was costly and led to inefficient use of Coretime, as Parachains which have won a slot long term may not be necessarily using the Relay Chain’s capability fully for their entire term.
How to build on Polkadot’s System Chains
Teams building dApps, indexers, and back end services need to connect to each System Chain via its RPC endpoint.
OnFinality is committed to supporting all Polkadot System Chains and offers several ways to connect
RPC Endpoints
dApps can access OnFinality’s pool of shared RPC nodes for free!
Polkadot Asset Hub (formerly Statemint)
https://statemint.api.onfinality.io/public
wss://statemint.api.onfinality.io/public-ws
Polkadot Bridge Hub
https://bridgehub-polkadot.api.onfinality.io/public
wss://bridgehub-polkadot.api.onfinality.io/public-ws
Polkadot Collectives
https://collectives.api.onfinality.io/public
wss://collectives.api.onfinality.io/public-ws
Polkadot People
https://people-polkadot.api.onfinality.io/public
wss://people-polkadot.api.onfinality.io/public-ws
Coretime
https://coretime-polkadot.api.onfinality.io/public
wss://coretime-polkadot.api.onfinality.io/public-ws
Sign up for an API Key with higher rate limits here http://app.onfinality.io/signup
Dedicated Nodes
OnFinality’s one-click solution makes it easier than ever for you to deploy, run, monitor and scale nodes just for you.
Dedicated Nodes are cost effective for teams who expect high traffic volumes, and can be run for a short period of time - for example during the initial sync of a SubQuery project.
Get started here
Enterprise Nodes
Let OnFinality manage and scale load balanced dedicated RPC nodes for you so that you can grow in confidence.
For the largest teams requiring uninterrupted, guaranteed access to Polkadot System Chains with low latency.
Suitable for critical applications such as bridges and custodial services.
Contact support@onfinality.io to learn more about our enterprise solutions
About OnFinality
OnFinality is a blockchain infrastructure platform that saves web3 builders time and makes their lives easier. OnFinality delivers scalable API endpoints for the biggest blockchain networks and empowers developers to automatically test, deploy, scale and monitor their own blockchain nodes in minutes. To date, OnFinality has served hundreds of billions of RPC requests, supports over 120 networks including Avalanche, BNB Chain, Cosmos, Polkadot, Ethereum, and Polygon, and is continuously expanding these mission-critical services so developers can build the decentralised future, faster!