Where Will Polkadot Be in 1 Year?

I was bullish on Polkadot (CRYPTO: DOT) in 2025. In March, I highlighted the powerful JAM architecture and pending exchange-traded fund (ETF) launches as important catalysts for rising Polkadot prices.

Ten months later, my thesis hasn't played out yet. The technical improvements and community activity are on track, but coin prices keep falling anyway. And the ETFs are still stuck in an administrative morass. As of this writing on Jan. 18, 2026, Polkadot is down 68% over the last year.

So let's take a fresh look at Polkadot's prospects in 2026 and beyond. Can the official cryptocurrency of the web3 Foundation still stage a comeback?

Polkadot isn't broken

Let's be clear: Polkadot isn't in a jam because the technology stopped working. Quite the opposite.

The network shipped major upgrades in 2025 that help it handle more traffic and run faster. Smart contracts will launch on the main Polkadot network on Jan. 27, 2026. This milestone makes it easier for developers to build apps directly on the core chain, without needing to set up a separate parachain or use external tools. Think decentralized finance tools, games, and whatever else app builders might dream up.

The activity is real. According to community tracker @its_ravii on X, December saw roughly 8,900 active developers and 678,000 code updates. The project's treasury now manages over $70 million. And 52% of all DOT tokens are currently staked, meaning holders are locking them up to support the network rather than selling. Moreover, Polkadot is ripping a page from the Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) playbook, setting up a hard cap on its coin supply along with slower coin generation over time.

What's wrong with the price chart?

So why is Polkadot down 68% in a year despite these promising moves and metrics?

Because crypto prices and blockchain fundamentals live in different universes. Polkadot takes a tech-first, hype-second approach, and the market rewards hype. Bitcoin and Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) still dominate the institutional spotlight, with their ETFs fully approved and trading. Polkadot's ETF filings from Grayscale and 21Shares? Still gathering dust at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). And when the broader crypto market turns bearish, even the busiest blockchains get dragged down.

In short: The dots aren't connecting between Polkadot's progress and its price. Not yet, anyway.

Image source: Getty Images.

Buying Polkadot at a discount

Here's the thing: you can't buy a blockchain's future after the market prices it in. If you believe web3 is coming, Polkadot is quietly building the infrastructure for it. The developers are active. The treasury is flush. The token supply is tightening. And you can buy today at $2.20 instead of the $7.00 it cost a year ago.

What's web3? It's the next evolution of the internet where users own their data and digital assets instead of handing everything to big tech. Blockchain networks handle the transactions and record-keeping, cutting out the go-betweens. The web3 vision combines the backbone of crypto with decentralized finance apps, digital identity systems, and more. Whether it arrives in two years or ten, the trend toward decentralization isn't going away.

Polkadot is designed to be the connective tissue of web3, linking different blockchains so they can talk to each other. More web3 adoption means more traffic flowing through networks like Polkadot. And DOT is the token that powers the whole system (soon with directly integrated smart contracts and limited coin inflation).

Could Polkadot drop further? Absolutely. The crypto market is unpredictable, and Polkadot could keep shipping while the price keeps sliding. But for long-term believers, that's not a warning; it's a buying opportunity.

Where will Polkadot be in one year, then?

Honestly? Anyone who says they know for sure is lying through their teeth and probably trying to sell you a nice bridge and nutritional supplements. So I don't know. Nobody does. But I can tell you what I'm watching.

If smart contracts gain traction after the Jan. 27 launch, that's a sign developers are showing up to the Polkadot party. If an ETF finally gets approved, that's institutional money unlocked. If the JAM upgrade ships (it's still in the research and testing phase), that would be a major technical leap. Any one of these could shift the narrative.

Or none of them move the needle and DOT stays stuck in the mud. That's life in the crypto lane, sometimes.

But at $2.20, I'm not betting on Polkadot to moon next month. I'm betting that web3 infrastructure will matter eventually, and that patient investors will be rewarded for buying when nobody else wanted to. The price is disconnected from the progress.

I'm treating that as an opportunity, and the lower price only makes Polkadot more tempting.

Anders Bylund has positions in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Polkadot. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin and Ethereum. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.