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Buy Polkadot in Canada

Polkadot made simple

Everything you need to know about Polkadot and how to start investing in it.

Current Price

This one’s easy: the price the coin or token is trading at right now.

$10.59 CAD

+$2.05 (24.01%) past 24 hours

Market Cap
The value of the entire supply of a specific cryptocurrency or token. It’s calculated by taking the price of a coin/token and multiplying it by the total number of that coin/token in circulation.
$12,931,987,040.55
Circulating Supply
The amount of coins that have already been created and are available in the market.
$614,833,941.45
Total Supply
The total amount of coins currently in existence minus any coins that have been burned or removed from circulation.
$1,521,054,969.75
24h low - high range
Low-high range over the past 24 hours.
$7.54 - $8.73
7 day low - high range
Low-high range over the past 7 days.
$6.31 - $8.75
52 week low - high range
Low-high range over the past 52 weeks.
$4.60 - $16.51

Polkadot 101

As sophisticated as they are, blockchains have a tough time speaking to one another, and blockchain networks like Polkadot are trying to remedy that.

The Polkadot ecosystem, which was co-created by a co-founder of Ethereum, launched in May 2020. It is composed of four different pieces: a relay chain, on which transactions are settled; parachains, which are independent blockchains that anyone can create; bridges, which let Polkadot token interact with other blockchains, and parathreads, which are similar to parachains but operate under a different economic structure.

Independent parachains can have their own tokens, but they are also backed by the security of the beefier relay chain, making them safe to use. These parachains can operate simultaneously, allowing the overall Polkadot network to have lower fees and operate faster.

Polkadot’s structure is a departure from the largest smart contract-enabled blockchain right now, Ethereum, on which all transactions are backed by Ethereum miners.

The token that powers the Polkadot network is also called Polkadot, though it’s known as ‘DOT’ for short. The coin raised more than $200 million from investors. It has a market cap of $17.5 billion, as of March 8 2022, making it the twelfth largest cryptocurrency on the market.

Why Wealthsimple Crypto?

Wealthsimple Crypto lets you buy and sell cryptocurrencies all in one easy-to-use app. And as Canada’s first regulated crypto platform, you can trust that your coins are in good hands. How simple is it?

  • 1
    Sign up in minutes right from your phone or laptop
  • 2
    Start trading crypto with as little as $1
  • 3
    No account minimums
  • 4
    No clunky dashboards — just one super simple app
  • 5
    Best of all: you don’t need to be an expert in crypto or blockchain to get started
Get started with Crypto

What can you do with Polkadot?

Lots of people hold DOT for speculative purposes, hoping to profit from the zany ups and downs that characterize the cryptocurrency market. You can trade DOT on crypto platforms and on brokerages such as Wealthsimple.

The Polkadot ecosystem is full of opportunities to put your DOT to work. You can use it as a governance token, meaning that your DOT will function as a voting chip to determine whether protocol upgrades and bug fixes will be implemented. You can also stake your DOT within the network’s proof-of-stake mechanism — that’s how Polkadot processes transactions — and earn rewards for securing the network. You can also “bond” DOT to create new parachains. When you’re staking or bonding DOT, you’re locking it up within the network as collateral and you can’t use it for anything else.

Is Polkadot a smart investment?

Crypto carries risks — but generally speaking, our advice (regardless of whether you’re investing in Polkadot or stocks) is: never invest what you can’t afford to lose. The smartest way to grow your money long term is with a diversified, low-cost portfolio that tracks the market.

How we keep your Polkadot safe

As Canada’s first regulated crypto trading platform, we’re required to meet certain requirements — like using only qualified custodians (like Coinbase Custody) for cold storage.

FYI: Wealthsimple Crypto is not an exchange itself. Instead, we work with multiple exchanges to give you the best Polkadot prices.

And to make sure your coins are extra protected, we’ve partnered with Coincover for an extra layer of security.

If you’re holding crypto outside of Wealthsimple, that’s no problem. You can safely transfer your Polkadot to your Wealthsimple account in just a few taps.

Other cryptos to explore

More info about Polkadot

Want to take a deeper dive? Check out these articles about Polkadot and the world of crypto.

Explore all articles on Crypto

Ready to get started?

Download the Wealthsimple Trade app, create your account, and start trading Polkadot with just $1. It’s that simple.

Get started

FAQs

DOT is the native token of the Polkadot blockchain ecosystem. Specifically, it’s the token used to process transactions on the main relay chain, meaning it’s the most important coin within the Polkadot network. You can stake it in the Polkadot network to earn rewards, use it as a governance token to vote on how the network should be run, or trade it for speculative purposes.

As of January 5, 2022, there are 987 million DOT tokens in circulation, out of a total supply of 1.1 billion DOT. In August 2020, Polkadot redonominated DOT, such that 1 DOT was equal to 100 DOT. This did not alter the market capitalization of the network. The token’s supply rises at an inflation rate of about 10% a year; most of this goes to validators, while some goes to the community treasury. How much DOT is staked to validators determines the percentages of these allocations.

You can spend DOT within applications on the Polkadot network. Certain parachain networks, for instance, support DOT. Since Polkadot is decentralized and open-source, you could also use DOT as a governance token to determine the future of the protocol. This is accomplished by using your DOT to participate in governance votes; in the land of crypto, voters speak with their money. You can also stake DOT within the blockchain’s proof-of-stake consensus mechanism to earn rewards. Lastly, you can simply hold DOT for speculative purposes.

Yep! When you open a Wealthsimple Crypto account, you can get started with anywhere from $1 to $1,500 instantly.

Generally speaking, the CRA treats cryptocurrencies as a commodity. Here’s what they say:

Any income from transactions involving cryptocurrency is generally treated as business income or as a capital gain, depending on the circumstances. Similarly, if earnings qualify as business income or as a capital gain then any losses are treated as business losses or capital losses.

Always keep solid records of any Polkadot transactions. If you use Wealthsimple Crypto to buy or sell cryptocurrencies, we’ll generate some of those tax documents for you.

Polkadot’s current market cap is $12,931,987,041.00.

The current price for Polkadot in Canadian dollars is $10.59.

Buying Polkadot with Wealthsimple is, well, simple. The first thing you need to do is open and fund a Crypto account in the Wealthsimple Trade app. You can connect your bank account and add up to $1,500 instantly.

From there, follow these steps:

  1. Tap the magnifying glass icon in the top right corner of your screen
  2. Type in Polkadot
  3. Tap Buy
  4. Enter the dollar value of cryptocurrency you'd like to buy and tap Continue
  5. Review the order details and tap Confirm order

You can choose between two different order types when buying Polkadot. A market order lets you buy or sell crypto immediately at the best available price at the time. A limit order lets you buy or sell crypto at a specific price or better.

You can withdraw funds from the cash balance in your Crypto account and move those funds to your bank account. Withdrawals typically take around 2 - 3 business days.

A crypto wallet — often called a “hot wallet” — is a location for holding crypto “on-chain” (i.e. linked to the blockchain versus off-chain cold storage.) Many users use wallet applications to help them manage their blockchain addresses, since each chain uses its own addresses.