Kusama

What is Kusama (KSM)?

Kusama is a blockchain network often referred to as the “canary network” or “wild cousin” of Polkadot.

The allusion to a canary network comes from the coal mining practice of carrying a canary into a mine. The canary would warn miners of dangerous concentrations of toxic or explosive gases.

Kusama does a similar job, serving as a development environment or sandbox for projects with the aim of one-day deploying on Polkadot. As such, Kusama is a vital part of the Polkadot ecosystem, and the pair share a symbiotic relationship.

While it serves as a testing environment, Kusama raises the stakes by operating under real economic conditions. Its native KSM token has significant value and is traded on many major cryptocurrency exchanges.

Described by its creator as a “public pre-production environment,” Kusama facilitates the testing of cutting-edge technologies by relaxing a lot of rules. This gives developers the flexibility they need to finalize their projects.

However, the fact that these projects are also being battle-tested with real funds at stake can allow them to build a reputation. This sort of early community-building is key to securing a spot in Polkadot’s parachain auctions.

When Was Kusama Launched?

Kusama was launched in May 2019, four years after the formation of Parity Technologies. Kusama developers use a software development framework called Substrate, which is maintained by Parity.

Despite being Polkadot’s canary network, Kusama’s launch preceded that of Polkadot by a year.

Who are the Founders of Kusama?

Kusama was founded by Parity Technologies, which in turn was founded by Dr. Gavin Wood.

Dr. Wood and his team at Parity also created blockchain blue-chip Polkadot, which Kusama serves as a development environment. Its whitepaper was released as early as 2016, however.

Dr. Wood is one of the blockchain industry’s pioneers, and he was also a part of the core team that founded Ethereum alongside Vitalik Buterin.

Dr. Wood also coined the term “Web3” and founded the Web3 Foundation, which carries out research and development of decentralized web technology. This mandate extends to Polkadot and Kusama as well.

In fact, the Web3 Foundation furnishes Kusama with grants, as well as research and community development from its growth team.

Alongside Dr. Wood, cryptography researcher Robert Habermeier and fintech expert Peter Czaban are also credited with founding Kusama.

How Does Kusama Work?

Kusama works quite similarly to Polkadot, using the Substrate interoperable blockchain framework and deploying a dual blockchain structure.

Central to Kusama is its relay chain. It can be considered the “main” Kusama blockchain, connecting all other blockchains in the ecosystem together.

These other blockchains are called parachains. Parachains are networks that are independent of each other, functioning atop the Kusama relay chain. Each parachain can have its own design, purpose, function, governance, and economy.

However, parachains rely on Kusama’s relay chain for consensus and security. Parachains benefit from the free exchange of information among each other. Since they process transactions in parallel, they can beef up Kusama’s transaction throughput.

Kusama’s parachains are maintained by nodes called collators. These are full nodes of the parachain responsible for everything on the parachain save for block validation.

Collators produce block candidates to pass to relay chain validators for verification and inclusion in the entire network’s shared state.

What are Parachain Auctions?

Parachain auctions are the means by which projects avail themselves of a parachain slot on Kusama. Candidate projects bid for the right to lease parachain slots for one year at a time, with the option to renew.

Once a project has won a parachain slot in the auction, they are guaranteed continuous connection to the relay chain for the duration of their lease. Parachains have full access to the Kusama network’s processing power, and they don’t pay fees.

Bids for parachain slots on Kusama are made in KSM, and winning bids are locked for the duration of the lease. Importantly, these deposits of KSM are locked away and can’t be used for anything, including staking.

Polkadot conducts similar parachain auctions using its native DOT token. Many of Kusama’s parachains are developed to become one of Polkadot’s parachains.

What Makes Kusama Unique?

One of Kusama’s significant advantages as a development environment is its speed of governance. Things move fast on Kusama, with only seven days to vote on a referendum and eight days to implement changes. Polkadot needs a month each.

This reactive, agile governance system is crucial for developers on Kusama. While the codebases of the two projects are the same, Kusama also relaxes some of the restrictions on behavior in favor of this speed.

This fast-moving, wild environment with real economics at play provides a fantastic cauldron for projects to be tested and developed.

Kusama also features an option called parathreads for projects that don’t want or need a parachain slot. Parathreads can temporarily participate in Kusama security on a block-by-block basis. The fee for using Kusama in this manner is paid per executed block.

How is the Kusama Network Secured?

Kusama’s relay chain is critical to the entire network structure since all parachains depend on it for consensus. For this purpose, it uses a variation of proof-of-stake called nominated proof-of-stake (NPoS).

Nominated proof-of-stake allows any stakers of KSM to take up the roles of validators or nominators on the network.

As their name implies, validators are responsible for data validation on parachain blocks. They also participate in consensus and vote on proposed changes to the Kusama network.

When it comes to cross-chain transactions, validators move transactions from the output queue of one parachain to the input queue of a target parachain. This is a secure and trustless process based on Merkle trees.

Meanwhile, nominators play a vital role in securing the relay chain by selecting trustworthy validators. Nominators delegate their staked KSM tokens to specific validators, essentially granting these validators additional voting power.

What is the Use of KSM?

KSM is the native token on the Kusama network and has multiple use cases. One of the most basic ones is being a medium of exchange across the network, similarly to DOT on the Polkadot network.

KSM is also crucial to network security since Kusama is a proof-of-stake blockchain. Validators and nominators stake their KSM to the network to play their respective roles and secure the network.

The KSM token is also involved in network governance.

Who Controls Kusama?

Kusama is a self-governing network, with governance processes revolving around its native KSM token. The network is governed using three pillars, all powered by KSM token holders.

• Referendum Chamber. Any KSM token holder can propose changes to the network and vote on changes proposed by other KSM holders.
• Council. KSM holders are the ones who elect its members. These members determine which changes proposed by KSM holders should be written into the software.
• Technical Committee. Members of this group are elected by Council members. They can make special proposals in the event of an emergency.

The Web3 Foundation and Parity Technologies do not control Kusama, but the Web3 Foundation does support it with grants and research.

Notably, when the Kusama protocol changes, it does so in a forkless manner. Forks are often contentious within the blockchain industry, and Kusama’s ability to be upgraded without forking ensures community cohesion.

How Much KSM Is In Circulation?

Kusama has a circulating supply of around 8.4 million KSM, with a total supply that is not fixed. Rather, KSM features annual inflation of 10%.

The distribution of these inflation-created KSM tokens is defined by the proportion of KSM tokens staked in the protocol. At a ratio of 50% KSM staked, validators receive all of the newly minted KSM tokens. If the ratio of KSM staked deviates above or below 50%, the Kusama treasury receives some of the inflation rewards.

Kusama was initially distributed via airdrop to participants in the DOT token sale at a 1:1 ratio. KSM had also been obtainable via a frictional faucet, which has since been decommissioned.

Polkadot’s native token, DOT, has a similar economic model, including inflation and an ideal staking ratio of 50%. However, DOT’s supply was redenominated after the KSM airdrop by a factor of 100.

How Do You Buy KSM?

KSM is an established cryptocurrency and a part of the Polkadot ecosystem. In fact, the KSM token had a “market capitalization” of well over $6 billion at its all-time highs of over $600 per KSM token.

As a result, KSM is a sought-after token available on almost all of the top-tier cryptocurrency exchanges out there. You can buy KSM using stablecoins like USDT and BUSD, fiat currencies like USD, EUR, and KRW, as well as other cryptocurrencies like BTC and ETH.

KSM can also be traded on decentralized exchanges deployed on Kusama or its parachains, such as Karura Swap.

Is It Possible to Buy Kusama Instantly?

You can buy KSM instantly when you use any centralized exchange, although that may not be the case if you’re looking for “physical” settlement.

Cryptocurrencies like KSM settle on the blockchain, and you can move them from one wallet to another. The thing is, that’s not how cryptocurrency exchanges tend to work. Most exchanges have their own secure wallets, and your account at an exchange is just an entitlement to some of the many tokens they hold in their custody.

This is the same system used when you use a stockbroker to buy traditional shares of a company. The broker, or rather a custodian operating on behalf of the broker, owns and holds your actual shares. You only have an entitlement to the share, which comes with a long list of caveats.

If you want to take ownership of your shares, you’ll have to request that your stockbroker initiate a system called Direct Registration or DRS. This will finally allow you to secure your shares and obtain full shareholder rights.

In much the same manner, if you want to take control of your own KSM or other crypto assets, you’ll have to withdraw them into your own wallet. That’s when they actually get sent to you via the blockchain.

How Do You Store KSM?

As mentioned, you could simply let your crypto exchange keep custody of your KSM. Most good exchanges also offer staking services, where you can earn passive income from your tokens.

However, this does not make you a Nominator, and you can’t actually take part in Kusama’s governance. If you want to be a Nominator or Validator or simply take part in governance and help the network stay decentralized, you can withdraw your KSM into your own wallet.

Several types of wallets support KSM, including popular ones such as Guarda and Ledger. If you’re using a Ledger, take a look at Kusama’s official guide to setting up your device.

Kusama Energy Consumption

Kusama uses a form of proof of stake consensus, which makes it extremely energy-efficient. Most of the criticism about cryptocurrencies consuming inordinate amounts of electricity is directed toward proof-of-work networks such as Bitcoin.

PoW networks rely on sheer computing power, benefiting from many powerful machines that are contributing their resources to the network. This, naturally, creates a sizeable demand for electricity since all these machines need to be powered.

PoS, however, is economical in nature. Stakers are disincentivized from misbehaving with the threat of slashing (or confiscating) the funds they have locked in the protocol. They are also incentivized for behaving according to the protocol with a share of KSM inflation rewards.

Furthermore, Kusama’s nominated proof-of-stake reduces the need for every KSM holder to run an electricity-powered node. By nominating their tokens to validators, nominators can contribute to network security without creating more demand for energy.

Is KSM a Good Investment?

Kusama is a blockchain made for experimentation and is up-front about the fact that it makes compromises on stability and security to boost speed. This makes it a risky prospect since failure is, if not expected, more likely than on other networks.

However, Kusama does feature real economic incentives, and its position as a development environment for Polkadot makes it hugely valuable. Projects developing on Kusama often target eventual deployment on Polkadot, and Kusama represents an opportunity for them to grow in both technology and community backing.

Many Kusama parachains even choose to stay on Kusama rather than move to Polkadot, showing just how valuable an environment Kusama provides.

The KSM token is, therefore, a valuable one with a history of often extraordinary performance. The utility it has across the Kusama network, especially in staking and governance, gives it value.

If Polkadot continues to grow and more projects flock to Kusama with the goal of eventual parachain status, the KSM token has the prospect of ample demand.