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- 1 Kusama is the canary network for Polkatadot, which serves as a testbed for Polkadot projects.
- 2 The native cryptocurrency of the Kusama network is KSM.
Kusama is designed to provide a massively interoperable and scalable framework for developers. It has the same code base as Polkadot. It was created by the same team of Polkadot and the same company known as Parity Technologies. It was founded by Dr. Gavin Wood, the co-founder of Ethereum.
The network has an extensive team of successful blockchain engineers and has over 100 employees. The Web3 Foundation supports Kusama with research and community development.
In simple words, it is a platform where developers can test and experiment with new blockchains or applications that are meant for the Polkadot network. Developers can test their products on Kusama with real cryptocurrency traded on the open market. Official Polkadot upgrades are also tested on Kusama before their release.
Benefits of Using Kusama Blockchain
It has a primary use case to facilitate testing. So it gives developers more flexibility while they finalize the design of their PolkaDot projects. Notably, the platform’s rules are not as strict as Polkadot.
The design features of Kusama resemble Polkadot. It uses 2 types of blockchains: a main network called a relay chain where the transactions are permanent and a user-generated network called as parachains. A parachain can be customized for any use while the relay chain enhances security.
The main benefit that Kusama offers is to increase the user base and gain traction in the project before launching it officially on Polkadot.
Working of Kusama
It is built mainly for developers who want to launch bold, ambitious projects with a fast paced development. It is built on a multichain heterogeneous sharded design that uses a nominated proof-of-stake (NPoS) consensus system. It is an alternative consensus mechanism to proof-of-work (PoW) which is energy intensive.
This system enhances security from fraud and facilitates rapid on-chain upgrades. It also supports cross-chain messaging between parachains on the Kusama network.
Kusama also has chain governance like Polkadot. This means that anybody having a Kusama token can take part in voting and making governance proposals. This may include upgrades, changes to the protocol, and feature requests.
The governance system on Kusama is four times faster than Polkadot with a combined voting and enactment period of just 15 days.
The Kusama network allows the creation of two types of blockchains: the Relay chain and the Parachain. Transactions are finalized on the relay chain, which is the main blockchain.
To increase the speed, the relay chain separates the addition of new transactions from the act of validating those transactions. Parachain uses the computing resources of the relay chain to confirm that the transactions are accurate.
The relay chain uses a variation of proof-of-stake, the NPoS. This system allows anyone who stakes KSM by locking the cryptocurrency in a special contract to perform one or more roles necessary for the operation. The Validator and the Nominator.
How is Kusama Network Secured?
The Kusama Network is secured using NPoS mechanism. This network of nominators elect nodes to participate in the transaction validation process. If the numerator is selected for the next generation then the nominator receives a fraction of inflation reward.
The stake of the validators is slashed if they do not meet performance requirements. Additionally, Kusama uses a simple queuing mechanism based on Merkle trees to solve cross-chain transactions. The Relay validators are responsible for moving the transactions from the output queue of one parachain to the input queue of the target chain.
The validators validate the data in the parachain blocks. They also take part in the voting and proposals for changes on the network. Nominators secure the Relay chain by selecting the validators. They delegate their staked tokens to the validators and thus allocate their vote for them.
Kusama Governance
There are 3 types of governance in Kusama
The Referendum Chamber: Any KSM holder can be part of this governance. Anyone who purchases KSM can propose changes to the network and they also have the right to reject the changes offered by others.
The Council: Members of the Council are elected by KSM holders. They have a right to determine which changes proposed by KSM holders are made to the software. There are 7 seats on the council, and this number is expected to grow with the size of the community.
The Technical Committee: Members of the council vote for the member of the technical committee. It is composed of teams actively building Kusama. The team can make special proposals in any event of emergency.
Difference Between Kusama and Polkadot
Kusama is known as the “canary network” for Polkadot because it is used as the blockchain for experimenting with projects before launching them on Polkadot. The major difference between the two networks is the speed of the governance token.
In Kusama, it takes seven days to vote and eight days to implement, which is a lot less when compared to Polkadot, where the process takes one month.
Becoming a validator on Kusama is much easier because of fewer requirements when compared to Polkadot. Kusama is used to test new projects with the objective of enhancing speed, in the process, it may sacrifice in terms of stability and security aspects, when compared to Polkadot.
KSM has a market cap of $207,629,125. The current market supply of the token is 8,470,098 KSM. The total supply of the token is 9,65,217 KSM.
With a background in journalism, Ritika Sharma has worked with many reputed media firms focusing on general news such as politics and crime. She joined The Coin Republic as a reporter for crypto, and found a great passion for cryptocurrency, Web3, NFTs and other digital assets. She spends a lot of time researching and delving deeper into these concepts around the clock, and is a strong advocate for women in STEM.
