Kusama Ecosystem
Kusama is an experimental blockchain platform that provides a proving ground for Polkadot's technology and innovation. It is designed for bold, fast-moving projects and features a flexible governance system. Explore the table on this page that lists Kusama ecosystem projects complete with descriptions and their interest levels as determined by the CryptoTotem algorithm. Learn more ↓
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| Project name | Description | Interest lvl | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Kusama (KSM) | Description Kusama is an early, experimental version of Polkadot that exists as an independent network. | Interest lvl | Add to Watchlist |
 | Bifrost (BNC) | Description Bifrost is the DeFi project for PoS tokens, that include staking and liquidity both. It allows to get vToken for operations and delivering liquidity, plus you g ... | Interest lvl | Add to Watchlist |
 | Raze Network | Description Raze Network is a Substrate-based, cross-chain privacy protocol for the Polkadot ecosystem. | Interest lvl | Add to Watchlist |
 | Unique Network (UNQ) | Description Unique Network is a scalable blockchain for composable NFTs with advanced economies - the NFT chain built for Polkadot and Kusama. | Interest lvl | Add to Watchlist |
What is Kusama network
Kusama is a unique open source blockchain platform owned by the Polkadot ecosystem. Kusama enables testing and creation of DApps before launching them on the main network. In addition, one of the main differences from test networks, Kusama operates with real assets that already have value.
Kusama co-founder Gavin Wood characterizes it as a network that gives up sustainability and reliability in exchange for fast movement and the latest technology.
The Kusama development team includes the same entities that administer Polkadot:
- Web3 Foundation – a non-profit organization that funds the development of projects in the areas of blockchain and Web 3.0.
- An organization focused on blockchain development called Parity Technologies. They also developed Polkadot and Kusama on behalf of the Web3 Foundation.
Kusama allows developers and project teams to create and run their own blockchains, interact with other blockchains in the Polkadot ecosystem and access Polkadot resources and infrastructure such as security proofs, consensus engine and development tools.
Key benefits of Kusama system
- Speed. Kusama network is faster than Polkadot, making it more agile. We talk more about this in a later subheading.
- Lack of audits. Kusama does not undergo technical audits. So the network grows faster, but becomes more vulnerable to bugs in the code. According to the security director of Parity Technologies, this is done on purpose to detect bugs in this network and not in Polkadot.
It is worth noting that Kusama was funded by the Web3 Foundation, a non-profit organization, from the money it raised during the Polkadot ICO in 2017. The organization allocated 1% of all DOT tokens to create value for KSM tokens.
Partners & investors
- Polka DAO
- AU21 Capital
- Fabric Ventures
- Pantera Capital
- HashKey Capital
- CMS Holding and many others.
In addition, the Kusama ecosystem (including Polkadot), as project partners, includes:
- Apron Network
- Acala
- Compound
- Celer
- Kylin Network
- ETHA Lend
- Manta Network
- Astar Network and many others.
Key mechanics of Kusama blockchain
Kusama architecture is similar to Polkadot and consists of 3 elements:
- Parachains are third-party blockchains that interact with the Kusama system. They are created by non-Polkadot developers and used to run their applications.
- Relay Chain – A chain that connects parachains to each other. It allows parachains to synchronize and communicate with each other.
- Bridges – A technology that connects a parachain to other blockchains, such as Ethereum or Bitcoin.
Kusama aims to test technologies, so the blockchain is on average 4 times faster than Polkadot:
- It takes about 7 days to decide on a vote and unlock KSM tokens, while on Polkadot with DOT tokens the process takes 28 days
- The time to rent parachain slots is 6 weeks, Polkadot requires 6 months to rent them.
- The Kusama council changes once a week, the Polkadot council changes once a month.
- Substrate mechanisms are used to create blockchains on Kusama and Polkadot. It is a platform through which you can create your own parachain. In June 2021, more than 130 teams are using it. Substrate supports different programming languages including C/C++, C#, Typescript and Rust. It also gives blockchain project developers the ability to create a parachain on Kusama, test hypotheses on it and then port it to Polkadot.
Substrate simplifies blockchain creation by having many of the mechanisms already in place. For example, developers do not have to write the code for the consensus algorithm from scratch, but use the ready-made one. At the same time, blockchains created on the substrate can change the consensus algorithm after the main network is launched.
Token KSM
KSM is a native crypto token of Kusama Ecosystem.
Areas of use of the KSM:
- Staking
- Renting parachains
- Voting of governance arrangements
- Pay to fees
- Investment asset
- According to the security director of Parity Technologies, the creators of Polkadot specifically do nothing to promote KSM on exchanges.
The Kusama blockchain has a so-called Treasury. This is a fund that rewards users for finding bugs in the code, promoting the blockchain and other activities to develop the protocol. And users make decisions about payments in a decentralized way, by voting. This fund is provided by the Kusama network itself because part of the commissions from some transactions goes to replenish it.
Conclusion
Kusama is a blockchain network that Parity Technologies and Web3 Foundation created to actually practice Polkadot technology. Its idea is that all technologies can only be tested on a blockchain with coins that have value. Therefore, the KSM token has value and is traded on exchanges, although the authors of the project do not purposefully promote it.
Technologically, Kusama is an analog of Polkadot, only working 4 times faster and without technical audits. Thus, the project becomes more flexible, adapts to changes better and becomes more scalable. And the project team is more relaxed about possible vulnerabilities and problems, because Kusama is designed to detect them.