Polkadot: Can DOT dare to dream of bull run amid growing investor interest?

Crypto and blockchain projects that have healthy long-term potential tend to attract a lot of investors. A Messari report revealed that Polkadot [DOT] currently attracts the blockchain project that attracted the highest number of investment funds in H1, 2022.

The Messari report evaluated 82 funds in the first half of 2022. The fund analysis revealed that 29 out of the 82 investment funds had invested in Polkadot. While the findings are proof that enterprise investors see potential in Polkadot, the real question is, “why?”

Source: Messari

Enterprise blockchain is projected to be one of the biggest growth drivers in the segment in the future. Polkadot’s structure makes it easier for blockchains to rollout their networks without having to build from scratch. Connecting to the Polkadot relay chain also ensures that enterprise blockchains can easily connect to other chains within the same network.

Unfortunately, Polkadot’s strong fundamentals and its ability to attract investment funds have done little for DOT’s price action. DOT traded as high as $55 at its peak in November 2021. On the contrary, the token traded as low as $6.36 in June 2022, which is a far cry from its ATH. It traded at $8.18 at press time after rallying by 18% in the last seven days.

Source: Santiment

DOT’s market cap has been on a sharp drop since October 2021. This is contrary to the increased interest by investor funds. The supply held by whales metric also reveals that deep-pocketed DOT investors have been offloading their holdings for the last six months. This stands in line with the bearish and highly volatile market conditions during the same period.

Kicking into high gear

Polkadot has maintained strong development activities which can be seen in the onboarding of new projects through parachain auctions. Its current long-term goal is the Consortia relay chain launch is scheduled to take place in 2023. Jesse Moris, the CEO of Energy Web Foundation had this to say about the relay chain development,

“By working with Parity to bring the Consortia Relay Chain to life, we can give our members access to new innovations like on-chain governance, native interoperability, robust scalability and other features that Substrate and Polkadot enable.”

Source: Energy Web

The relay chain launch is expected to accelerate Polkadot’s growth. Furthermore, it will allow enterprises to operate customizable blockchains through partnerships in the energy market.

Additionally, the relay chain launch highlights a major reason why institutional investors are getting excited about Polkadot. Such exposure may also fuel a strong comeback for DOT during the next bull run and contribute to the token’s long-term growth.