You can quickly and easily make your first purchase of Polkadot on a digital currency exchange like [Cointree](https://www.cointree.com/). All you need to do is sign up, verify your identity, deposit funds, and you're ready to buy Polkadot. You can buy Polkadot (DOT) by clicking on the ‘buy’ button above. All prices are quoted in AUD.

Tens of thousands of Australians buy cryptocurrency on Cointree's exchange because it's easy-to-use, safe and secure, and is designed to help you make smarter trading decisions. In fact, it's so easy that a complete beginner can buy Polkadot in minutes. When you trade on our exchange, you're getting access to [hundreds of cryptocurrencies](https://www.cointree.com/trade/cryptocurrencies/), low fees and a free multi-coin wallet to keep your crypto safe. Whether you want to buy Polkadot and hold it as a long term investment, or trade Polkadot as the market moves, you'll find all of the trading tools and resources you need on our exchange. You'll also receive access to a number of resources to help you develop your trading ability and trade smarter. You can learn about the exciting world of DeFi and web3, and see how Polkadot sits at the nexus of these emerging technologies.

It's easy to buy Polkadot on Cointree. You can make a bank transfer with PayID, mobile or online banking, or even make a cash deposit. With PayID your payment is processed instantly. You can deposit AUD and start trading in minutes.

DOT is the native token on the Polkadot network. It lets token holders vote on code changes and grow their wealth if the token’s price increases over time. It's also used as a digital currency within the Polkadot network, letting users pay for transactions as they use different blockchains in the network, such as when they make a trade on a decentralised exchange. Furthermore, it's used for staking, the process by which the proof of stake network is secured.

The price of DOT is determined by the market. As the demand to buy Polkadot increases compared to the volume being sold, the price will increase. If demand falls compared to supply, the price will fall. Many traders pay close attention to the market, trading the price movements when they spot a trading opportunity. In contrast, trading isn't for everyone. Some investors don't watch the market closely or trade on the platform every day. Instead, they make a Polkadot purchase to hold as a long term investment. Overall, the price of Polkadot is determined by the supply and demand dynamics of all traders and investors. The price you see on our exchange is constantly updated and our low fees mean that you can get the most Polkadot tokens possible for your purchase.

After you make your Polkadot purchase, you can store your tokens in your free multi-coin wallet, which you get when you create an account with Cointree. You can see the coins in your dashboard right alongside the Australian dollars you have deposited. We have a number of Fund Protection Features to ensure that your coins are protected at all times. We also recommend that you enable two factor authentication on your account to make sure your funds say safe. You can also store your DOT tokens in an external crypto wallet, such as a Ledger. This is a popular choice for serious investors who want to custody their own coins. All you need to do is send the tokens from your account to your wallet. As always, make sure you follow the best security practices to keep your funds safe and secure.

Polkadot is aiming to be the base layer blockchain that all other blockchains build on. They want to focus on the core blockchain technology and let other companies create innovative applications on Polkadot. If a productive ecosystem is built on top of Polkadot, some investors believe it will become an incredibly valuable protocol.

At the moment, blockchains operate separately in silos. Polkadot aims to build a network of interoperable blockchains that create a decentralised internet, also known as [web3](https://www.cointree.com/learn/what-is-web3/). This is why it’s called a ‘multi-chain’ network; it joins networks together, much like the current internet connects sites, browsers and servers. Critically, they can transfer data and not just tokens over the blockchain. In this way, we can see they’re building a new infrastructure for the internet. Simply put, the key two advantages of Polkadot compared to competing layer 1 blockchains is that it is both highly scalable and interoperable.

Polkadot was created by the Web3 Foundation, which is an open-source project. Its founders are Gavin Wood, Robert Habermeier and Peter Czaban. Notably, Gavin Wood is also one of the co-founders of Ethereum and created the smart contract coding language used on the Ethereum platform — Solidity. The team started Polkadot as a competing layer 1 blockchain to overcome some of Ethereum’s limitations, specifically scalability and interoperability.

There are already many innovative crypto projects being built on Polkadot. You might have heard of Kusama, the first Polkadot test network. As we’ve discussed, they will all be highly scalable and interoperable. This network growth is a key reason people are buying Polkadot. Here are a few examples of current projects: * Smart contract chains such as Edgware * Data curation networks like the Ocean Protocol * Oracle chains like Chainlink * Identify chains, including Speckle OS * Financial chains like Katallassos * Internet of Things chains like MXC Protocol * Zero knowledge privacy chains like Zerochain * File storage chains * Bridge to Ethereum

Polkadot uses a common set of validators to secure multiple blockchains, allowing data to be shared securely across many parachains. It means people can buy DOT and then seamlessly send Polkadot across the entire network (imagine a [bank transfer](https://www.cointree.com/learn/bank-transfer-times/) but 10 times easier and faster). The network uses a nominated proof-of-stake (NPoS) consensus mechanism to select validators and nominators to secure the chain. This enables different chains to remain independently governed, while still interacting securely under the same rules. Therefore, it’s both a secure and interoperable platform.