$DOT
Payment of transaction fees: DOT can be used to pay for transaction fees.
Participation in governance: DOT holders can vote on proposed upgrades.
Securing the network: DOT holders can stake their tokens to earn rewards and secure the network.
Participating in auctions: DOT holders can participate in parachain slot auctions used for decentralized app deployment.

Staking yield:
Crypto investors seeking passive income through staking DOT for network security.

Parachain slot auctions:
Crypto investors and projects looking to secure a parachain slot for interoperability and scalability.

Transaction fees:
Users and businesses who want to use the Polkadot network for fast and cheap transactions.

On-chain governance:
DOT holders who want to participate in decision-making for the network's development and evolution.

-Polkadot is a payment network and foundation to run parachains which are sovereign blockchains.
-The more users stake their $DOT, the more secure the network is.
-Allows blockchains to connect in a permissionless and secure way, without bridging risk.
-The ecosystem gains more value with each new parachain and user.

Value accrual to token:
As more people use Polkadot, demand for DOT increases, leading to potential price appreciation. Additionally, staking DOT is required for network participation, incentivizing users to hold and stake DOT, increasing scarcity and potentially driving up the price.

Value accrual to protocol:
Polkadot captures value through transaction fees and locking up DOT in parachain auctions, increasing scarcity and potentially driving up the price. Additionally, the protocol treasury can use these funds for development and ecosystem growth.

The business model for Polkadot protocol:

Revenue comes from:
Transaction fees paid by users of the network.

Revenue is denominated in:
DOT

Revenue goes to:
20% goes to validators, while 80% goes to the Polkadot treasury to fund future development, community projects, and grants.