6 takeaways from Gavin Wood’s Web3 Summit 2025 keynote

What you can expect

• JAM is almost here, with shared governance ahead
• ZK tech isn’t JAM-ready—yet
• Polkadot is tightening its fiscal strategy
• Privacy and individuality are key Web3 themes
• Web3 outposts are bridging digital and physical
• A DOT-backed stablecoin is on the table

Gavin Wood covered a lot in Berlin last month. From tokenomics to governance to proof of personhood, his 2025 Web3 Summit keynote laid out a clear path for Polkadot.

Organized by the Web3 Foundation, Web3 Summit is where researchers, developers, and protocol teams come together to explore the foundations of a more open and decentralized internet. It’s less about product launches and more about collaboration, long-term thinking, and shared values—especially around infrastructure, governance, and interoperability.

Polkadot’s earliest ideas were shaped at Web3 Summit, and many of its core contributors still treat the event as a touchpoint for open dialogue and experimentation. This year, he used the stage to reflect on where Polkadot stands and where it needs to go next.

Here are five of the most important takeaways from the talk.

1. JAM is nearing launch and headed toward shared governance

Gavin opened his keynote with an update on JAM, Polkadot’s next evolution: a decentralized modular supercomputer designed to run smart contracts, rollups, and services in one unified execution environment. As he explained, the protocol has matured significantly since the initial 0.1 release and is on track for audit later this year.

“It's getting to 1.0,” he said. “At which point, at least as far as the JAM protocol is concerned, Polkadot will be ready… to upgrade to.”

Development is progressing across multiple fronts, including gas modeling, inter-service messaging standards, and an SDK. But beyond the technical roadmap, Gavin also addressed the governance of JAM itself. Until now, he has been the sole editor of the gray paper—the official specification of the protocol. He wants to change that.

“At the moment, basically, the gray paper or JAM’s protocol evolution has a bus factor of me, and it would be nice if it didn’t, both for JAM and me. I will inaugurate a board of editors… I will remain editor-in-chief… giv[ing] others the rights to basically help propose, review, and merge changes into the gray paper repository.”

This editorial board will eventually guide the protocol’s strategic direction. And while JAM and Polkadot remain closely aligned for now, Gavin emphasized that each is sovereign. JAM is an open protocol, and Polkadot can choose how and when to adopt it.

2. ZK isn’t ready for JAM—yet

Zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs may be top of mind across Web3, especially in Ethereum’s roadmap, but Gavin made it clear that JAM is not going all in just yet. While ZK has come a long way, it’s still too slow and expensive to meet JAM’s performance goals.

Polkadot’s approach uses ELVs: a crypto-economic system where correctness is enforced through randomly selected validators who re-execute work. It’s not cryptographic proof, but it’s fast, scalable, and secure enough for consensus—at a fraction of the cost.

“It’s basically 4,000 times more costly to prove things are correct using ZK than using Elves.”

ZK proof generation is improving, especially with tools like SP1, but even in the best-case scenario, it takes hours of GPU time and millions of dollars annually per JAM core. ELVs, by contrast, rely on staking and risk capital—a model that’s already proven in Polkadot.

That doesn’t mean ZK has no future here. Gavin sees promise in applying ZK selectively, especially for storage proofs or verifying execution within JAM cores. The long-term vision includes collaborating with teams building more efficient, distributed ZK tooling—and potentially even a hybrid model where JAM supports both bounded (ELV) and unbounded (ZK) security.

“[ZK] proof costs needs to reduce in price by one or two more orders of magnitude... This could take anywhere between 18 months and five years.”

Until then, JAM will stick with the faster, more practical model. ZK is on the horizon, but not yet on the critical path.

3. Polkadot needs to adapt fiscally

Half a billion dollars. That is Gavin’s estimate for Polkadot’s current annual spend on security, primarily through staking. Right now, that cost is not matched by revenue.

“Polkadot is basically paying this out to secure itself.

The concern is not just the amount being spent. It is where those staking rewards end up. Many stakers are in high-tax jurisdictions, which means a large portion of rewards are being liquidated to cover taxes. Most participants are not moving to avoid taxation, which makes staking a consistent drain on the system.

To address this structural deficit, Gavin proposed a two-part approach: increase revenue and reduce costs. On the revenue side, the goal is to make Polkadot’s core product—secure execution time—more valuable. JAM, elastic scaling, better SDKs, Ethereum compatibility, and improved documentation are all contributing to this effort.

On the cost side, Gavin outlined a proposal to bring annual spending down from 500 million to under 100 million. His suggestions included:

• Removing nominator slashing to reduce staking risk
• Paying validators in fiat, since they are likely converting rewards anyway
• Setting fixed staking returns based on opportunity cost
• Committing to a long-term issuance cap, such as pi billion DOT
• Decoupling issuance from staking rewards so they can be adjusted independently

“Having a curve is sensible because that's a commitment. But decoupling [issuance from interest] can also be a very useful thing to do.”

He also proposed launching a native Polkadot stablecoin to handle outgoing payments more efficiently. This would reduce volatility and better match real-world expenses like food, hardware, and housing. Another idea under consideration is replacing nominators with voters, backed by proof of personhood. This could help democratize participation while reducing overall security costs.

The long-term goal is clear. Polkadot needs an economic model where security costs are aligned with actual usage, and where incentives can be adjusted with precision rather than relying on inflation.

The community is weighing in on DOT tokenomics too

Alongside Gavin’s proposals, the Polkadot community is also exploring ways to improve DOT tokenomics. A crowdsourced research effort, funded by DOT RFP #1, focuses on a concept called Capped and Stepped Inflation. Inspired by Gavin’s earlier interviews, this model aims to reduce inflation gradually while setting a clear supply cap to encourage long-term holding.

The research outlines three possible models:

• Hard pressure: 50 percent inflation reduction every 2 years, capped at 2.1 billion DOT
• Medium pressure: 33.3 percent reduction every 2 years, capped at 2.5 billion DOT
• Soft pressure: 13.14 percent reduction every 2 years, capped at 3.14 billion DOT

Each approach balances cost savings with psychological incentives. The goal is to shift from inflation-funded security toward real network revenue.

DOT holders have already voted to reduce annual inflation to a fixed 120 million. The next step is to build a token model that supports sustainable demand, reduces sell pressure, and makes DOT a "worth holding" asset instead of one printed just to stay afloat.

4. Privacy and individuality are core to the future of Web3

To start the second half of his talk, Gavin outlined two critical areas of focus: financial privacy and proof of personhood.

On privacy, he argued that users should have access to tools that help them exercise their rights within accepted legal bounds. Referencing FATF guidelines, he suggested creating privacy primitives that allow anonymous transactions below thresholds like 1,000 dollars per transfer or 10,000 dollars per day.

“Technologists are only here to enable individuals to use their rights.”

Next came individuality. Gavin has long championed the need for decentralized identity that does not rely on institutions, gatekeepers, or government IDs. Instead, he is building a privacy-preserving system rooted in math, not trust.

“If it is successful, if it is ubiquitous, it can be a silver bullet.”

Two proof-of-personhood systems are coming soon. Proof of Ink uses a unique tattoo to verify identity without revealing it. Proof of Video Interaction is a lower-friction alternative. Both are designed to resist Sybil attacks while protecting user privacy.

A decentralized oracle is also in development to support these mechanisms and potentially replace centralized registrars in the future.

5. Web3 outposts are bringing decentralization into the physical world

Next, Gavin gave a look at something more experimental: Web3 outposts. These are physical spaces powered by blockchain tech, designed to bring Web3 principles into real-world environments.

The idea is to create high-tech, rules-based community spaces that function autonomously. These outposts will integrate onchain identity, collectives, and access systems, allowing members to book rooms, enter secure spaces, and participate in group activities without revealing personal information.

“Imagine a bar where you don’t need to trust that the bar steward is actually doing much other thank serving their drinks.”

Unlike crypto-themed co-working spaces, these outposts are built on real infrastructure. They use blockchain to manage space access, governance, and group coordination with minimal overhead or admin.

Web3 outposts are intended to support outreach, experimentation, enterprise, culture, and adjacent tech. Projects in development include the Emergent College, Club Kusama in Berlin, and a new location in Malta.

Individuality will play a key role in managing access and behavior, allowing the system to function with trust-minimized social coordination. Effective UI will be essential to tie it all together.

6. A real Web3 stablecoin is on the horizon

Gavin wrapped up with a quick teaser: a new stablecoin project is in the works. His goal is to build a truly Web3-native stable asset, unlike the centralized solutions dominating the market today.

“The ones that are under major use are not Web3. Just sort of Web3 shims for Web2 stuff.”

This stablecoin will be decentralized, economically sound, capital efficient, inclusive, scalable, and universal. DOT will be used as part of the collateral base, and a treasury proposal is planned to help fund early development.

More details will come later this year.

What comes next

From JAM to proof of personhood to blockchain-powered community spaces, Gavin Wood’s keynote outlined a clear and forward-looking vision for Polkadot. Some ideas are already in motion. Others are just getting started. But all reflect a common goal: Web3 should serve people, not platforms.

He closed with a live demo that showed how these ideas work together in practice. From identity to access control to room bookings, the system brought the Web3 outpost concept to life. No admin. No gatekeepers. Just code.

Polkadot is not just adapting to change. It is building the future it wants to see.