Polkadot is an open-source sharded multichain protocol that connects and secures a network of specialized blockchains, facilitating the cross-chain transfer of any data or asset types, not just tokens, thereby allowing blockchains to be interoperable with each other. Polkadot was designed to provide a foundation for a decentralized internet of blockchains, also known as Web3. Polkadot is known as a layer-0 metaprotocol because it underlies and describes a format for a network of layer 1 blockchains known as parachains (parallel chains). As a meta protocol, Polkadot is also capable of autonomously and formlessly updating its own codebase via on-chain governance according to the will of its token holder community.