Lower spending and more conservative treasury management helped Polkadot record a profit in Q4, according to a new report.
Polkadot’s treasury became more active and more conservative in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2025, according to a new treasury report.
The Polkadot treasury spent $7.4 million in Q4, the lowest level since OpenGov was introduced. Polkadot’s governance transitioned to the OpenGov model in June 2023.
After accounting for inflation and token burn, the treasury posted a net profit of 1.6 million DOT, its first positive result under the current system. At the end of the quarter, the treasury held about 32 million DOT, worth roughly $58 million.
The report outlined that most spending went to core areas: Development received $2.5 million, followed by outreach at $1.7 million and operations at $1.3 million. Meanwhile, a record 68% of spending was handled through departments and bounties. Another 30% of spending was done in stablecoins.
The treasury also became more active across the Polkadot ecosystem, with around $3.8 million deployed into DeFi-related market operations. The report noted that funds were managed across multiple parachains, including Hydration and Bifrost. The treasury now holds a mix of DOT, USDT, USDC and HOLLAR.
Despite all of this, DOT’s price remains near all-time lows. Today, the token is trading at $1.69, down 72% over the past year, per CoinGecko.
The findings align with broader trends across interoperability solution blockchains. In a separate report released earlier today, Sygnum said interoperability activity continues to expand, while tokens tied to these networks struggle to record gains. It found that tokens linked to Polkadot, Cosmos, and other interoperability projects are trading near multi-cycle lows.
For example, Cosmos’ native token ATOM is trading around $2.10, down about 66% over the past year, according to CoinGecko data. LayerZero’s native token ZRO is also lower, trading near $2.01, down roughly 45% over the same period, despite new partnerships and growing cross-chain use cases.
Sygnum cites Chainlink as the exception among interoperability projects. This is mainly due to the Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) expanding across blockchains and service providers. For example, Coinbase recently selected CCIP as the bridging solution for its wrapped assets, which are valued at about $8 billion.