Founder of Manta Network, viktorji.eth, has recently criticized the Polkadot project, stating that it lacks real value in the context of Web3 and exhibits «toxic» behavior. According to him, Polkadot behaves extremely inadequately and prefers teams from Europe and the USA, ignoring its colleagues from Asia. As an example, viktorji.eth mentioned the Polkadot Academy event that took place in Hong Kong in February, which cost over a million dollars. He expressed dissatisfaction that only every fourth participant was from an Asian region.
Viktorji.eth’s Critique of Polkadot
Viktorji.eth, as the founder of one of the largest TVL protocols not associated with Polkadot, stated that his team does not want to interact with the ecosystem of this blockchain, characterizing it as extremely toxic. He noted that, in his opinion, developers should consider joining other more promising platforms, such as Solana, Ethereum, and Bitcoin.
Additionally, viktorji.eth talked about a meeting with Gavin Wood, the founder of Polkadot, who, according to the critic, did not know that Manta Network is one of the leading projects in Wood’s ecosystem. This, in his opinion, underscores the lack of a real decentralized approach from the Polkadot team.
The developer also expressed regret that the Polkadot team is not making significant efforts to support «builders» and ecosystem participants. He noted that many community members were interested in a roadmap for the Atlantic project, one of the parachains, however, there is no such roadmap, as all efforts are focused on the Manta Pacific project. Viktorji.eth characterized the Polkadot ecosystem as largely «dead».
Criticism of Polkadot intensified after a former project developer under the pseudonym Web3 Philosopher pointed out the «insane» spending on «inappropriate» marketing. He compared the actions of the Polkadot leadership, including Gavin Wood, to the situation at FTX and Crypto.com, which only fueled negative sentiment towards the blockchain.
Web3 Philosopher also noted that blockchains like Optimism and Arbitrum are directing hundreds of millions of dollars to support their teams, highlighting the contrast with Polkadot’s approach to funding and developing its community.
