Plain and simple: why DOT?

[Truth_Bearer]

I was reading the following thread in detail today: ⚠️ Validators Up 85%, Nominators Down 70% staking rewards

And a brutal realisation came to my mind: is there any reason at this very moment to keep a balance of the utility token of the Polkadot network, DOT? Of course, beyond getting the minimum amount to became an active validator, which can be thought as a meta-reason, a use case for the chain within. I ask this at this very moment when I see Parity building interesting and potentially useful product which DO NOT require the ownership and/or transfer of the DOT token.

I would like to hear the community thoughts on this.

[cpiccard]

I think you got the point. Each iteration gets a little closer to the truth:

“There will be no new JAM token.”

“There will be a JAM token, but only for very specific things.” (<- we are here)

“DOT will still be used for OpenGov.”

“Actually, we don’t need DOT, we have JAM token(s). But we told you that a long time ago.”

I posted their plan a while back:

Introducing a new JAM Token?

How about we launch a JAM token, airdropped only to those brave souls actually implementing JAM - generously funded by the Polkadot treasury, of course. Boom. Slogan crisis: obliterated. Polkadot gets to fully embrace the catchphrase: “DOT is dead.” And JAM? “Unburdened by what has been.” [2025_05_26_0do_Kleki]