Polkadot's mainnet has recently undergone a runtime upgrade, resulting in an unexpected halt in parachain activity. This upgrade is designed to modify the chain's logic without relying on a hardfork, which is typically slow, inefficient, and error-prone due to the need for extensive offline coordination.

Polkadot's unique approach to runtime upgrades allows parachains to upgrade their logic without the need for a hardfork, thanks to the Wasm functionality in Substrate, the framework that powers Polkadot, Kusama, and other connecting chains. Polkadot stores its runtime on a dedicated blockchain, which can be upgraded by modifying the on-chain logic and eliminating the coordination challenge of requiring numerous node operators to upgrade before a specific block number.

The Polkadot runtime upgrade, however, resulted in a temporary pause in block production on other competing parachains, including Moonbeam Network, which confirmed the impact on its parachain around 10:27 am UTC on April 21. This is not an uncommon occurrence in the industry, as other platforms like Solana and Polygon have experienced similar short-term outages following upgrades.

The Polkadot runtime upgrade is part of the JAM protocol release, which aims to replace the Relay Chain interoperability protocol with a more modular and minimalistic design. However, the upgrade has not yet positively affected the price of DOT, the native coin of the Polkadot ecosystem. At the time of writing, DOT is trading at $7.06, representing a 2.18% decrease within the last 24 hours, causing a drop from its daily high of $7.29.