Parity is an Ethereum client written in Rust that acts as a full node on the Ethereum network. It keeps the blockchain synchronized, manages secret keys and signing, and has features like state trie pruning, auto-upgrading, light clients, multi-chain support, and pluggable consensus algorithms. Parity also includes tools like a wallet, contract deployment, transaction tracing, and node management. It aims to provide a secure, high-performance Ethereum client.
Polkadot is a protocol that allows independent blockchains to interoperate by connecting them through a central relay chain. It provides pooled security, trust-free transactions between connected chains, and is entirely general to support free-form messages with the