Kusama — The Polkadot’s Public Testnet

tokenstalker
4 min readAug 4, 2023

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https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/kusama/

What is Kusama?

Kusama is often described as the “canary network” or the experimental “wild cousin” of Polkadot.

It offers a sandboxed environment where developers can test new features, updates, and projects before deploying them to the Polkadot network. Understanding Kusama requires us to look at its unique features, design philosophy, and its relationship with Polkadot.

Kusama: From Vision to Implementation

Picture a child building a sandcastle on the beach. The child wants to build a grand, intricate castle that will stand against the tides, but they first create a miniaturized version to see how it works. The mini-castle is Kusama, and the grand castle the child dreams of is Polkadot.

Created by Dr. Gavin Wood, the co-founder of Ethereum and the founder of Polkadot, Kusama’s main goal is to provide a platform for developers to build and experiment with new applications in a real, risk-bearing environment without jeopardizing the main network. Kusama and Polkadot share almost identical codebases, with Kusama acting as the precursor network where all future upgrades and features are tested first.

The Unique Ecosystem of Kusama

Now let’s visualize Kusama as a city — a vibrant, chaotic city where innovation is constant, and change is the only constant.

In this city, there are three main stakeholders who determine how things run:

  • Validators: Like the city’s management team, they secure the network and validate transactions. They ensure the city’s operations run smoothly and effectively.
  • Nominators: These are the city’s investors, nominating validators and backing them with their own Kusama tokens (KSM). Nominators share in the rewards (and penalties) of the validators they back.
  • Council members: Think of them as the city’s board of directors. They propose and vote on referenda (changes) to the network.

Together, these stakeholders govern Kusama and keep the city running smoothly.

Technology Stack

If our city (Kusama) were a multi-storey building, the technology stack would be its architectural blueprint. At the base, we have Substrate, a blockchain development framework. It’s the foundation of the building, robust and adaptable, allowing for any additions or modifications to the structure above it.

Built on this Substrate foundation are the parachains. Parachains are like the various floors in the building, each hosting different functionalities and purposes. They’re interconnected yet independent blockchains that run parallel to one another, hence the name “parachain.”

Bridges in Kusama act as the elevators in our building, connecting the different floors (parachains) and allowing for seamless interaction and communication between them.

Finally, at the very top, is the Relay Chain. This is the rooftop of our building, where all the information from various floors (parachains) is collected, validated, and secured.

Proof of Stake (PoS)

The “Proof of Stake” mechanism is like a democratic process in our city where the power and influence someone has depends on their stake or investment.

In Kusama, validators are chosen based on the amount of KSM they, and their nominators, are willing to ‘stake’ as collateral. The more they stake, the more likely they are to be chosen to validate transactions and earn rewards.

Why Kusama?

Imagine you’re a software developer with a new update for a popular app. Would you immediately implement the update on the live app or test it first? Kusama is that testing ground, albeit a live one, where the stakes are real, and the consequences matter.

Kusama is crucial because it acts as a protective barrier for Polkadot, ensuring the latter’s stability and security by testing all upgrades and features first. This way, Kusama helps solve the problem of untested upgrades disrupting the operation of mainnets, providing peace of mind for both developers and users.

The Kusama-Polkadot Relationship

Coming back to our child and the sandcastles, the mini-castle (Kusama) allows the child to learn from their mistakes and refine their techniques before building the grand castle (Polkadot). They share the same blueprint but serve different purposes — Kusama is for experiments and rapid iterations, and Polkadot is for more critical, finalized deployments.

In conclusion, Kusama is an innovative sandbox that enables risk-taking and rapid development while safeguarding the stability of its more conservative counterpart, Polkadot. Its unique approach to blockchain development and governance makes it a vital component of the crypto-ecosystem, a city that never sleeps, always bustling with creativity and change.

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