Deutsche Telekom buys Polkadot (DOT)
One of the world’s largest telecom companies has shown its support for Polkadot by purchasing a significant amount of DOT tokens. Deutsche Telekom, through one of its subsidiaries, is set to become a Polkadot validator as well, just days since the first Polkadot parachains went live. Deutsche Telekom blockchain
The telco has already gone deep into the space by providing infrastructure support (as well as participation in) the proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanisms of blockchain oracle service Chainlink; Flow from non-fungible token (NFT) pioneer Dapper Labs; and Celo, a mobile-first payment network.
But by diving into Polkadot, Deutsche’s innovation department is going one step further: T-Systems will not only be providing node-running infrastructure to users staking assets on Polkadot, but the firm has also purchased a “significant” trove of Polkadot’s native cryptocurrency, DOT, to stake on its own behalf, which has involved integrating a crypto business function into the telco’s accounting system.
Deutsche Telekom subsidiary T-Systems MMS will use its infrastructure to participate the public blockchain network Polkadot as a validator. In addition, T-Systems MMS has acquired DOT tokens, and supports interoperability between decentralized blockchain networks. DOT, the native token of the Polkadot network, is one of the largest cryptocurrencies in the world.
Polkadot aims to solve the lack of interoperability between blockchains, which today are typically data silos. To do so, Polkadot’s relay chain, the central chain of Polkadot, coordinates the interactions between different parallel networks, called parachains. By participating in the Polkadot network as a validator, T Systems MMS supports the secure and trustworthy exchange of messages between independent blockchains.
For the provision and secure operation of the infrastructure, the Deutsche Telekom subsidiary will use the Open Telekom Cloud. It meets the strict requirements for security and compliance in the European legal framework. The independence of the Open Telekom Cloud supports the decentralization and thus the resilience of the blockchain network.
“As Deutsche Telekom, we have always supported the collaboration of people and companies, now also with decentralized technologies. Polkadot is a heterogeneous, multi-chain network allowing various blockchains of different characteristics to perform arbitrary, cross-chain communication under shared security. We fully believe in this future vision of a connected world,” says Dr. Andreas Dittrich, Head of the Blockchain Solutions Center at T-Systems MMS. Deutsche Telekom blockchain
