A so called “canary network”, Kusama is a close cousin of the Polkadot network, designed to aid development and testing by emulating the Polkadot blockchain. The chain is billed as a “scalable, multichain network for radical innovation”, and as such it the place where developers can play around and take risks in a way that they would be less inclined to on the Polkadot blockchain. The idea is for developers to be able to “push the limits of what is possible”, through “unprecedented interoperability and and scalability”. Make no mistake, both Kusama and Polkadot are built using forward thinking technology, and Kusama is a legitimate blockchain in it’s own right. See a rundown of Polkadot’s (and by extension Kusama’s) level of decentralisation in the following tweet, by assessment of the blockchain’s Nakamoto Coefficient.
6/16 Stake distribution: The top 27 Solana validators stake 33% of staked tokens, a better distribution than other networks like @cosmos or @NEARProtocol. (@Polkadot wins in this category) @balajis calls this number the “Nakamoto coefficient”, Solana calls it the “Superminority” pic.twitter.com/RRYb68p7ZX
— Ultimate (by Unstoppable Finance) (@UltimateMoney) July 25, 2022
While the level of decentralisation is not the be all and end all for a blockchain, it is an important factor, and even Ethereum has had it’s struggles keeping up this side of the blockchain trilemma.
Kusama is built using Substrate, with “nearly the same codebase and multichain infrastructure” as Polkadot. The idea in having this replica network alongside Polkadot is for it to be more nimble, and to allow faster progress and growth, and this is the reason why the chain is worth the investment in it’s own right. It is not just some poor relation of Polkadot, but is in fact more useful and attractive to developers in many ways, especially given how Polkadot is built and functions.
(Kusama) is a living platform built for change agents to take back control, spark innovation and disrupt the status quo.
Kusama Webpage
A few of Kusama’s core tenets are as follows, taken from their website;
Fast Iteration
Move fast and ship your product. Kusama’s risk-taking and nimble mentality allows developers to move swiftly through the governance and upgrade process, enabling rapid progress and growth.
Low Economic Barriers
Launch your custom blockchain (parachain) project with low barriers to entry. Ideal for lean startups looking to move fast and iterate.
Advanced Technology
Build on a next-generation, sharded, multichain network, while employing the newest features before they are deployed on Polkadot.
Open Governance
Kusama is owned and governed by a community of network participants who vote on and control the evolution of the network. Have a voice and make your mark in the evolution of the network.
Engaged Community
Leverage Polkadot’s global brand and developer community for your parachain, parathread or dApp.
Valuable Experience
For teams looking to move to Polkadot after fine-tuning on Kusama, begin building your community and brand on Kusama before deployment.
So it’s a cheaper, faster, leaner version of Polkadot, which is an already impressive chain, built by extremely credible developers (Gavin Wood is founder). The network is so user friendly that many developers use it with the intention of migrating to Polkadot, but end up staying with Kusama, as there is often no real need to switch chains.
Both Polkadot and Kusama facilitate the connection of other blockchains called parachains, which earn their spot on the blockchain through parachain auctions. Recently, the KILT protocol, a parachain auction winner on the Kusama network, successfully completed its migration from Kusama to the Polkadot network, a big step for both chains. The migration went extremely smoothly, and no interruptions or data losses were experienced by the KILT network, further proving the value both of Polkadot as a blockchain and of Kusama a sandbox developer tool.
