Summary of the First 2026 Polkadot Core Developer Call is here! 1️⃣ Polkadot Hub is Reaching a Critical Milestone - Smart Contracts + Elastic Scaling for the Polkadot Hub are now in the voting process - Target launch date: January 27 - This is not just "the ability to write contracts," but the Polkadot Hub officially entering the application and product stage 2️⃣ The core development focus is shifting toward "availability" The topic that developers repeatedly discussed during the live stream was: - Faster feedback - Lower latency - More stable block confidence - A more reasonable Gas / memory model (PVM): the new Gas cost model has entered the Gray Paper review, and a new paging memory mechanism is in the design phase 3️⃣ The Hub's goal is to support real users and businesses Multiple developers updated the following during the live stream: - PoP (Proof of Personhood) and identity components: DIMs are completed and in testing, and the pallets related to personhood/identity are being abstracted and modularized - Social Recovery (Pallet is completed, the frontend is ready, and it will be released soon), Alias, and privacy-friendly authentication mechanisms 4️⃣ Cross-chain and L2 integrations are accelerating - Snowbridge UI is continuously being optimized - Base ↔ Polkadot asset transfers have completed core development and are close to launch 5️⃣ Fuzzer tool training has been completed/handed over, and fuzzing of multiple implementations for Gray Paper v0.7.2 is currently in progress. There are currently more than 20 implementations being fuzzed continuously. 6️⃣ OpenDev Call format adjustments for the future - One "core theme" per month + member updates - Or, shift more monthly updates to written reports and use phone calls for discussions with clear agendas See more 👇