Kintsugi Launch Roadmap: The Path to Bitcoin on Kusama
After over a month of fierce competition, surprises and success stories, the second batch of the Kusama parachain auctions is coming to an end. For Kintsugi, these auctions turned into an emotional rollercoaster… with slot 11 victory within reach.
While it’s only over when it’s over and we don’t want to pop champagne with our community too soon — it’s the perfect time to lay out the plan for what happens next!
Don’t forget to follow our Twitter, Telegram, and Discord to keep up to date with daily updates from the Interlay team!
From Auction Winner to Bitcoin DeFi
Once Kintsugi wins a parachain slot, it will automatically be onboarded as a parachain on Kusama. For those not familiar with the concept of parachains and auctions — read on here: https://wiki.polkadot.network/docs/learn-parachains
From there on, a few steps need to be taken before Kintsugi becomes fully operational.
To make this process as transparent as possible, we have created a detailed Live Kintsugi Launch Roadmap.
On a high level, there are four main launch phases:
- Crowdloan and auctions
- Bootstrapping via Sudo
- Govern via Community
- Community Expansion
Each of these phases consist of key milestones that need to be achieved before moving to the next phase. The order of milestones within each of the 4 phases is flexible.
Phase 1: Crowdloan and Auction
We are already half-way through this phase: the crowdloan reached the max. cap 200,000 KSM locked (~$68 million TVL at the time of writing), the referral program was a success — and we’re so close to winning the auction for slot 11. In the meantime, we’re collecting the on-chain crowdloan data to determine the final KINT airdrop distribution.
Finally, the most important step is onboarding Kintsugi as a parachain after winning a slot auction, and ensuring everything runs smoothly and we’re producing blocks.
Phase 2: Bootstrapping via Sudo
Once Kintsugi is live as a parachain, there are a few system level upgrades that need to be performed. Imagine this as starting an airplane — there is a routine checklist that pilots go through before taking off. Same holds for Kintsugi: in Phase 2 we will be going through a checklist of security tests, making sure the parachain onboarding was successful. Kintsugi has been running as a testnet since March 2021 — so this is routine work.
In addition, there are a few functions that need to be enabled:
- Transferring KSM to the Kintsugi parachain from the Relay Chain
- Starting the price and fee oracles
Next, Interlay will register the first Vault on the bridge, going through a checklist again to make sure Vaults work properly.
Once Vaults are ready, we will activate the BTC-Relay component: from this moment on, Kintsugi will start tracking the Bitcoin main chain.
Finally, once all systems are set to “GO”, we will mint the first ever kBTC on Kusama.
Phase 3: Govern via Community
In parallel to phase 2, the KINT parachain airdrop will be prepared. Once first kBTC have been minted and the system is operational, we will proceed to start the community governance process: KINT airdrop, council election and first referendums.
At the end of phase 3, Kintsugi will be fully governed by the community and there will be no sudo / admin access by anyone. In addition, first community owned Vaults will be able to register and users will be able to mint kBTC — albeit only small amounts at first as a safety measure.
Phase 4: Community Expansion
The community will then decide when to fully open the doors for new Vaults and community minting kBTC: Council will vote to increase the collateral ceilings, allowing more kBTC to be minted.
From then on, we enter the phase of expansion: XCM channels to other parachains, onboarding of new oracle providers, adding new collateral assets, …
Once kBTC is well connected and integrated with Kusama parachains, the next step will be to expand to other networks, such as Ethereum and Cosmos.
Finally, we have been working on two features that will make Kintsugi even more useful to Kusama:
- The first true Bitcoin decentralized exchange, allowing anyone to swap BTC against KSM, kBTC, kUSD and any other asset on Kusama. This DEX will also support Bitcoin’s OG NFTs, such as PepeCash (Counterparty coloured coins).
- EVM-Support which will allow anyone to write smart contracts on top of Kintsugi, while getting access to Bitcoin-specific functions (pre-compiled contracts).
Timelines and Non-Technical Roadmap
The roadmap above does not specify any particular timeframe for completing each phase — yet as orientation we expect to follow a similar timeline as the first batch of parachain auction winners.
We will be updating the roadmap as we go — and this will be the best way of estimating when all features will be fully enabled. We will be doing our best to bring Bitcoin to Kusama as soon as possible — in a secure and truly decentralized manner. We’re so close — it’s only a matter of weeks until you can finally use BTC with Kusama’s DeFi ecosystem.
Can’t wait? Check out our “Featured Use Case Series” on Medium, exploring what you will be able to do with kBTC on Kusama and providing sneak peeks on interesting strategies.
To summarise, the path to Bitcoin on Kusama has been launched and it’s only just the beginning. We’ve taken you through phase one to four showing you what’s in store to come. With the auction eagerly approaching the end, we hope to pop that champagne and celebrate with you all soon enough.
#Kintsugi2Kusama
Thank you for taking the time to read our Official Kintsugi Roadmap!
About Interlay
We envision a future where blockchains seamlessly connect and interact: anyone can use any digital asset on any blockchain, trustless and without limitations. We work with Bitcoin, Ethereum, Polkadot, Cosmos and others to expand interoperability, capital efficiency and openness.
Our flagship product is interBTC — Bitcoin on any blockchain. A 1:1 Bitcoin-backed asset, fully collateralized, interoperable, and censorship-resistant, realizing the true free nature of BTC and decentralized finance.
Follow our Twitter, Telegram and Discord to keep up to date with daily updates from the team.
