Original article: Permanence DAO , PolkaWorld
Polkadot aims to be a true Web3 cloud (Polkadot Cloud) , providing infrastructure for building highly scalable and extremely reliable Web3 applications and services. Although different, this is similar to what AWS does for Web2 applications and services.
Want to learn how JAM and JAM Grid are driving Polkadot to become the true Web3 cloud ? Check out this article to learn what JAM and JAM Grid are!
JAM: Unprecedented Scale and Computing Power
JAM Grid: Unlocking 1 Billion TPS
Comparison chart with other blockchains
What applications can JAM enable?
What applications can JAM Grid enable?
How JAM Grid empowers developers
How DOT promotes JAM Grid
Conclusion
In addition, Dr. Gavin Wood will hold a JAM Tour in 6 cities in China from the end of February to the beginning of March, sharing with everyone at local university centers what JAM is, what problems JAM solves, and what developers can do based on JAM! You will have the opportunity to meet Gavin Wood in person and discuss the most cutting-edge technologies and concepts of Web3! Hurry up and sign up here! "Registration for JAM Tour China is open! Meet Dr. Gavin Wood in 2025!"
Before we get started, let’s take a look at a brief timeline of Polkadot Cloud:
Polkadot Cloud — Genesis: May 2020
Polkadot went online at this time and produced the first block, marking the official "launch" of the Polkadot Cloud.
Polkadot Cloud — First Milestone (Parachain), November 2021
This is the first cloud service of Polkadot Cloud. This service allows developers to build custom blockchains and connect them to Polkadot Cloud for shared security.
First cloud service deployment - Milestone 2, December 2021
The first cloud service (parachain) went online, and different teams began to use it to deploy their parachains.
Polkadot Cloud — Milestone 3 (JAM), TBD, perhaps before the end of 2025
JAM (Join-Accumulate Machine) is a trustless supercomputer that forms the foundation of the Web3 cloud.
Polkadot Cloud — Potential 4th Milestone (JAM Grid), TBD
The JAM Grid would be a hypothetical cluster of interconnected supercomputers, each running the JAM protocol.
Today’s blockchains, even so-called “high-performance” blockchains, struggle to cope with real-time, data-intensive workloads. In contrast, JAM Grid can theoretically reach billions of transactions per second (TPS), exabyte-scale storage, and hundreds of GB/s of bandwidth , which has the potential to provide Web3 services with capabilities comparable to modern cloud data centers.
Introduction to JAM and JAM Grid
JAM is a single supercomputer that enables people to build scalable and reliable Web3 applications and services. The main goal of JAM is to provide a flexible and efficient framework for managing data and computation in the network. It aims to simplify data integration and maintenance while ensuring the integrity and security of the network. You can learn more about JAM through Gavin Wood's gray paper (https://graypaper.com/) or PolkaWorld's article.
Gavin Wood: JAM is a trustless supercomputer that forms the foundation of the Web3 cloud!
Big news! Gavin announced the JAM service roadmap! JAM Asia tour will start next year!
Registration for JAM Tour China is now open! Meet Dr. Gavin Wood in 2025!
A new concept, JAM Grid , proposes the next leap: a network of multiple supercomputers that can theoretically reach billions of transactions per second (TPS), exabyte-level data availability, and high-performance computing (HPC)-level bandwidth.
Regarding the TPS metric, it is worth noting that in Gavin Wood's year-end summary article , he mentioned that computing power could reach one quadrillion EVM-equivalent gas per second. Because the amount of gas consumed by different transactions varies greatly, there is no universally applicable "transactions per second" (TPS) metric. For example, on Ethereum, a simple ETH transfer may require 21,000 gas, while more complex smart contract interactions may require hundreds of thousands or even millions of gas. The following is a comparison table (it should be noted that these data are approximate values).
The above chart shows that for transactions that consume a lot of gas, JAM has an upper limit of about 1 million TPS and JAM Grid has an upper limit of about 1 billion TPS . However, it is worth noting that these data are approximate.
JAM: Unprecedented Scale and Computing Power
What is JAM?
JAM (Join-Accumulate Machine) is a trustless supercomputer that forms the foundation of the Web3 cloud. It is a new computing model and protocol designed to enhance the capabilities of Polkadot and address scalability challenges in blockchain technology. JAM will support 1 million transactions per second (TPS), 2 PB of data availability, and 857 MB/s of bandwidth.
Why is it important?
JAM is the next upgrade that will bring Polkadot closer to its original vision — to become a permissionless global supercomputer .
How do other blockchains compare?
JAM’s scalability is designed to support large-scale real-time applications that traditional blockchains cannot handle.
JAM Grid: Unlocking 1 Billion TPS
What is JAM Grid?
The JAM Grid is a hypothetical cluster of interconnected supercomputers , each running the JAM protocol, promising 1 billion transactions per second (TPS), 1 exabyte of data storage, and 600 GB/s of bandwidth.
Why is it important?
These numbers are far beyond today’s blockchain standards and portend a high-performance computing (HPC)-like scale that, if realized, would be able to handle global-scale applications while maintaining decentralized security.
How do other blockchains compare?
Projects like Solana, Aptos, Sui, and Avalanche push for higher throughput than traditional blockchains, but still fall short of exabyte-scale storage or high-performance computing (HPC)-level bandwidth.
Comparison chart with other blockchains
TPS (Transactions per Second) : A measure of raw throughput — how many transactions a blockchain can process per second. Higher TPS generally means more scalable decentralized applications (dApps) and better user experience.
Data availability : The ability of a blockchain network to store and manage data on-chain. It includes the total amount of data and its accessibility across all network nodes. Strong data availability ensures consistent access and verification of transaction records, application status, and user data while maintaining the integrity, security, and decentralization of the blockchain.
Bandwidth : reflects the capacity of the network — how fast data can be transferred through the system. For blockchains designed to handle large volumes of transactions (and associated data), high bandwidth is key to preventing bottlenecks.
Architecture : Highlights the design approach — for example, the difference between a single chain and a sharded or subnet architecture. Architecture affects TPS and how easy it is for a blockchain to scale and evolve.
Now that we understand why these metrics are important, let’s see how JAM Grid’s vision compares to other leading projects.
It is important to note that many of the TPS numbers are testnet or theoretical maximums - actual performance may vary. Metrics for data availability and bandwidth are also ranges/approximations as there are no exact numbers. We do our best to present a fair and accurate comparison, but if you find inconsistencies, please contact us for corrections.
You can find the Google Doc with the chart and footnotes here .
Again, the metrics in the chart above are ranges/approximations. If you have more accurate numbers, please feel free to contact us.
Key Takeaways
Exabyte Storage and HPC Bandwidth : JAM Grid envisions providing 1 exabyte of data storage and 600 GB/s of throughput — comparable to large data centers, not a typical blockchain.
Comparison to the Current Web : While blockchains like Solana, Avalanche, and Aptos surpass older platforms in TPS, they cannot approach HPC-level data availability or sustained bandwidth.
Multiple "supercomputer" model : There will be multiple supercomputers, each running the JAM protocol. This will create a network where all supercomputers can communicate with each other and potentially share resources. How these supercomputers communicate with each other will be a key challenge.
What applications can JAM enable?
With approximately 1 million TPS, 2 PB of data availability, and 857 MB/s of bandwidth, the JAM supercomputer represents a quantum leap beyond most existing blockchains. Here are some examples of applications that JAM can unlock:
Real-time games and virtual worlds (city or country level)
Why not now ? Current blockchains cannot handle frequent game state changes for thousands, let alone millions, of players.
How does JAM help? 1 million TPS means that fast interactions in virtual worlds at the city or country level can be kept on-chain, reducing reliance on centralized servers.
Real-time IoT and automation (enterprise or city level)
Why not now? IoT devices generate millions of events per second in a city or industrial deployment. Most blockchains cannot handle so many on-chain events and easily cause serious congestion.
How does JAM help? A throughput of about 1 million TPS plus PB-level data availability means that each device can reliably publish millions of events per second on the chain, which is ideal for large enterprises or smart cities. Hundreds of MB/s of bandwidth ensures fast synchronization of sensor data between nodes around the world - enough to meet city or enterprise-level needs, but not enough to cover IoT devices across the entire planet.
High-volume stablecoins or payment systems (national level)
Why not now? Traditional blockchains face network congestion and high fees under heavy load, limiting the mainstream adoption of on-chain micropayments.
What can JAM offer? About 1 million TPS capacity (assuming simple transactions) enables a stablecoin or payment network to serve a national or regional economy. Fast throughput keeps fees low and transactions confirmed quickly. While it won’t enable billions of micropayments per day worldwide, it’s enough to exceed the limitations of most existing L1s.
After implementing JAM, Polkadot Cloud will significantly exceed many existing L1s in terms of throughput, storage, and bandwidth, and will be able to support real-time, data-intensive dApps that are not possible on current blockchains.
What applications can JAM Grid enable?
Today’s blockchains — even “fast” ones — struggle to handle real-time, data-heavy workloads. In contrast, JAM Grid, supporting billions of TPS, exabytes of storage, and hundreds of GB/s of bandwidth, can deliver modern cloud datacenter-level performance for Web3 services. Here are some examples of applications that may eventually become a reality under these conditions:
Massively multiplayer virtual worlds and games
Why not now? Current blockchains cannot handle real-time updates from millions of concurrent players, let alone storing large amounts of game assets, states, and logs on-chain.
How does JAM Grid help? With billions of TPS and huge bandwidth, JAM Grid can handle frequent state updates (such as player actions, world changes), and all data is kept on-chain, eliminating the reliance on centralized game servers. Exabyte-level storage allows large 3D asset libraries, character backpacks, and item histories to remain verifiable and persistent.
Real-time IoT and Automation
Why not now? IoT devices continuously generate streams of data — such as temperature, vehicle telemetry, sensor updates — that can generate millions of events per second. No major blockchain can process and verify this volume of data in near real time.
How does JAM Grid help? High throughput and scalable data availability allow each device to record updates directly on-chain without overwhelming the network. High bandwidth ensures that data can be quickly propagated across globally distributed nodes.
A global social network
Why not now? Social platforms generate billions of interactions (likes, posts, comments, messages) every day, which requires huge throughput and storage. Existing blockchains cannot handle such a large amount of on-chain activities.
How does JAM Grid help? Billions of TPS can support nearly instant publishing, while exabyte-scale storage can preserve rich media and user history without relying on off-chain solutions. Built-in decentralization ensures that no single company controls user data or content moderation.
Decentralized AI and large-scale machine learning
Why not now? Training and inference of large AI models requires massive computing power and huge datasets, which are typically handled by centralized high-performance computing (HPC) clusters.
How does JAM Grid help? JAM Grid’s HPC-like throughput and bandwidth can host distributed AI workloads on-chain, ensuring auditability of data, verifiability of training results, and providing equal access to HPC resources for everyone.
Global Stablecoin Payment System
Why not now? Traditional stablecoins already face congestion and high fees under high load on L1 blockchains. Billions of daily micropayments (such as IoT microtransactions and daily purchases) become infeasible.
How does JAM Grid help? High throughput + fast confirmations allow stablecoins to scale to global scale without encountering astronomical fees or bottlenecks. This lays the foundation for a universal and low-cost payment system that is more open than any enterprise provider.
In short, JAM’s extreme throughput and storage capabilities unlock new Web3 services that rival traditional cloud solutions in performance while maintaining decentralized ownership.
How does JAM Grid empower developers?
In the previous section, we showed examples of global-scale applications that JAM Grid can support, and developers might be wondering: How does this open new doors for me? Here are some of the ways JAM Grid changes the developer experience, beyond just unlocking theoretical workloads:
Large-scale on-chain data processing
Bottlenecks today: Even “fast” L1s and many L2s impose strict restrictions on data or state, forcing developers to rely heavily on off-chain servers, IPFS, or private storage. This complicates the architecture, increases trust assumptions, and limits transparency.
JAM Grid’s breakthrough: With exabyte-level data availability, developers can design truly data-intensive decentralized applications (dApps) where both logic and large data sets are stored on-chain. This ensures auditability and composability without relying on off-chain databases.
Easier to implement global applications
Bottlenecks Today : Even successful Web3 projects often hit performance bottlenecks, alienating mainstream users when fees spike or throughput drops.
JAM Grid’s breakthrough: With support for billions of TPS, developers can target mass-market adoption — like truly mainstream social apps or multinational supply chain solutions — without crashing the system due to excessive load.
JAM Grid does more than just power large, compelling use cases; it significantly reduces the friction between innovative ideas and efficient, trustless solutions . Let’s say you’ve spent years hitting a wall on scaling issues, or cobbling together partial solutions. In this case, JAM Grid’s HPC-grade design opens up a future for developers where they can rely entirely on-chain and scale horizontally while still relying on a shared security layer.
Think of it as the “cloud moment” for Web3 development : you write your code, you deploy your app, and the network (via Polkadot’s DOT-powered security layer HPC) ensures performance and security — while maintaining the decentralized ethos at the core of blockchain.
How does DOT promote JAM Grid?
DOT is key to securing the entire Polkadot ecosystem — from the Polkadot Cloud to every JAM supercomputer in the JAM Grid.
Security through staking
To secure the Polkadot network — and therefore the JAM Grid — validators need to stake DOT. As the JAM Grid scales, the required stake will also increase, which may increase the role of DOT in securing these supercomputers.
Visit and participate
To build or deploy services on a JAM-based supercomputer, users and developers will interact with Polkadot's infrastructure, paying fees or staking DOT. In essence, DOT becomes a passport to access the world's most powerful supercomputer (or supercomputer grid) for Web3 development.
Economic Alignment
If JAM Grid successfully develops, it will enhance the utility of Polkadot, further driving demand for DOT — creating a positive feedback loop between supercomputer growth and the fundamental value of DOT.
By making DOT the asset used to secure, access, and power the JAM Grid, DOT becomes the core economic driver of a global-scale Web3 cloud. This synergy makes DOT more than just “another token” — it becomes the foundation for hosting and running the next generation of decentralized, high-performance applications.
Conclusion
If JAM Grid can truly achieve 1 billion TPS and exabytes of storage, it will prove that there is indeed a way to build decentralized infrastructure that can handle global scale needs . Rather than promoting zero-sum competition, this vision emphasizes a common drive to build a permissionless, globally accessible "supercomputer" governed by the community rather than tech giants .
These ambitious specifications are a guide to a truly Web3-native “cloud” : globally accessible, economically incentive-driven, and free from centralized control . If JAM Grid succeeds, it will not only raise the bar for Polkadot — it will also inspire the broader ecosystem to envision new possibilities for high-throughput, trustless computation. The ultimate goal is to enable billions of people to benefit from transparent, censorship-resistant services.
