All You Need to Know About Canary Networks & What Duckies, Yellow’s Canary Network, Do for Web3
Learn how canary networks change the way the crypto community approach innovation and explore the facets of Duckies, Yellow’s Canary Network.
Canary networks have become a hot topic in the Web3 space, with many blockchain projects using them as a playground for testing new features and upgrades before rolling them out on their main network. These networks, which are designed to be more experimental and fast-moving than their parent networks, have the potential to drive innovation and help blockchain projects stay ahead of the curve.
With the recent announcement from the Yellow Network team that Duckies are evolving to become Yellow’s Canary Network which will introduce the main technology and functionality behind Yellow Network, we’d like to dive deeper into the importance of such networks and the role they play in decentralize ecosystem.
This article will provide a comprehensive overview of canary networks and their role in the Web3 space, with a focus on Duckies Canary Network’s unique features and capabilities. Whether you are an experienced blockchain developer or just starting in the Web3 space, this article will provide valuable insights into the use of canary networks and how Duckies is contributing to the growth of the Web3 Internet of Finance.
What Is a Canary Network and How Does It Work?
Canary Networks are live test deployments used in Web3 software engineering to minimize failure risk while releasing new and experimental network versions. The developers can monitor and tweak the ecosystem stability and code performance before deploying it to a more extensive user base.
Canary birds were the trusty companions of coal miners from the dawn of age to help detect the presence of carbon monoxide leakage. If the canaries were distressed, it signaled the miners to leave immediately to escape deaths caused by toxic fumes. Similar to brave little birds, canary networks mitigate risks caused by vulnerabilities of the platform and help promptly test new features and fix issues before going to the mainnet.
Since the canary network is only accessible to a limited number of users, it also significantly reduces the risk of widespread poor performance or user experiences. A canary test is an excellent way to set up a beta program with target users to collect their valuable feedback before a significant code release on the main network.
Many blockchains, including Ethereum, feature their specific testnets, where developers can test their latest dApps, smart contracts, or anything else they are working on to update pre-existing systems or introduce new ones.
What differentiates a testnet from a canary network is the fact that the latter is more engaging and much closer to a real environment than the former, providing more valuable sampling data for the developers.
The History of the Canary Deployment Term
The term ‘canary deployment’ which is commonly used in software engineering has quite an interesting history, as it originates from the term ‘canary in a coal mine.’
A canary network in blockchain software development fulfills the same role as the bird in the mine, and technically, the canary network is a copy of the main blockchain network in most cases.
Developers can utilize the canary network as the testing ground in a real environment, where they can launch any new smart contracts, decentralized applications (dApps), or other features before launching them on the main blockchain.
Unlike the original story behind the term, no birds are harmed throughout a canary network deployment.
It works as a proving ground for developers to build, deploy, and try out governance, staking, nomination, or validation features before it goes live on the main network in a real environment without risking the stability of the main network.
The network is also intended to exist as long as the community needs it and maintains it, and it enables a sandbox for high-risk functionalities and projects to be brought to life and tried out.
The Importance of a Canary Network
- Developers can begin testing features, updates, upgrades, and different implementations of their existing dApps before they get pushed to market on top of the original blockchain, which has genuine consequences behind it.
- Developers can create new smart contracts, dApps, or other features they want with test crypto at next to no cost instead of risking valuable cryptocurrencies. This way, they do not risk losing real money if a bug, flaw, or other unforeseen development occurs on top of the network.
Moreover, users can participate in a wide range of activities within the canary network, which might not be available on the main underlying blockchain.
Kusama Case Study
Polkadot’s Canary Network named Kusama is one of the most famous canary networks in the crypto community. It was designed to be a high-risk, high-reward environment for testing new features and upgrades to the Polkadot network before deployment to the main network.
Kusama was engineered as a tool to solve coding vulnerabilities in the Polkadot system and experiment with the new functionality without drastically negatively affecting the platform. Being a part of Polkadot’s ecosystem, Kusama stands aside as an independent platform dedicated mainly to R&D activities, community hangouts, and wild experiments with parachains.
While Kusama is often referred to as a Polkadot testnet, it is, in fact, inaccurate.
What sets it aside from other testnet projects is that testing is not done using demo functions or token balances but with live environments and real tokens that have actual value.
Kusama is built with the same lines of code as Polkadot and has its token, KSM, that is issued to execute the network’s governance. Every aspect of the network and the token is almost exactly identical to the mainnet, which makes Kusama an invaluable instrument for ensuring Polkadot’s success.
Kusama is often described as a “wild cousin” of Polkadot but this, however, is exactly what has cemented its popularity and allowed for building a strong community of developers, entrepreneurs, and supporters. The network has a vibrant ecosystem of projects, including DeFi applications, NFT platforms, gaming apps, and more.
The community has helped drive innovation to Kusama also because of its unique governance model that lets token holders to vote on proposals for network upgrades and changes. This process gives the community a say in the future direction of the network, which facilitated trust and engagement among Kusama’s users.
The network is designed to be highly scalable and secure, with fast transaction speeds and low fees which is another key factor to its success. Moreover, Kusama supports interoperability with other blockchain networks, which has made it an attractive option for developers looking to build cross-chain applications.
Similar to Kusama, Duckies has a strong community that will be backed by an innovative governance model and advanced technical features.
Why Yellow Launches a Canary Network?
Yellow Network is a Layer-3 cross-chain platform featuring complex revolutionary Web3 technologies, in particular state channels.
It sounds complex because it is, and with the introduction of the canary network, we can closely examine the planned functionality, test the user flow, and identify any potential issues that might affect the structure and stability of the main network.
If you are wondering if Yellow Network will ever merge with Duckies, the answer is no — Duckies, as was always intended, will stay as the standalone proving ground network. It will evolve with experimental dApps and concepts before those are deployed on Yellow Network.
Duckies are an initial, highly experimental version of Yellow Network that operates under real economic conditions of the main network.
It has quite an ambitious plan as well, as Duckies strive to become the most popular network for testing smart contracts and dApp functionality for developers, bringing more and more adopters to Web3.
Duckies As a Canary Network
The Yellow team launched the Duckies social reward platform in 2022 to accelerate the growth of the Yellow Network community and incentivize all participants within the ecosystem.
The Yellow Network community, also known as Yellowians, is rewarded for their dedication and support of the project in $DUCKIES tokens for social interactions within the community that are swappable for unique Ducklings NFTs (non-fungible tokens), $YELLOW tokens, and other digital assets. $DUCKIES token also enables holders to participate in network governance and access specific events.
Duckies, now relaunched as Yellow’s Canary Network, test the innovations of Yellow Network in a real-world environment, including the latest versions of smart contracts and software components.
You can use the Duckies Canary Network to trade tangible assets similar to the live Yellow Network but with smaller transaction values. It minimizes the risk of releasing vulnerabilities while risking small amounts of money. The $DUCKIES token is used on a canary network to connect to it and pay the fees, acting similarly to the $YELLOW token for Yellow Network.
We cannot deny the significant impact of social tokens like $DUCKIES on the Web3 space, pushing the decentralized global vision and the creator economy of Web3 forward.
Social tokens are an excellent way to implement marketing solutions and create a dedicated community for businesses and individuals, contributing towards establishing a new revenue stream.
What are Social Tokens?
Social tokens are cryptocurrencies representing the publicity value of the Web3 project, brand, community, or content creator.
Social tokens and canary networks are recent phenomena within the blockchain space. They now play a fundamental role in developing Web3 infrastructure, Decentralized Applications (dApps), and other use cases.
They are utilized within a specific environment to establish a micro-economy to exchange services or experiences from a specific provider.
Social tokens are utilized in numerous ways. However, ultimately, they are seen by companies and developers as marketing tools that enable them to bootstrap a project, which can engage more users and coordinate them for the project’s mission, as well as to strengthen community loyalty and dedication.
Additionally, they can lead to a higher appeal, attract investment and a workforce, and increase the brand’s value and visibility.
Anyone who aims to leverage the power of social tokens needs a network they can create and eventually utilize for various use cases and utilities.
Doing so on a main network can be difficult, especially for developers without prior experience. They cannot resolve bugs or issues as they would be able to before pushing the service or product live on the network. That’s where canary networks enter the big picture. It is important to note that a canary network is similar to a testnet but differs in numerous ways, such as having its native cryptocurrency.
With that in mind, we will now look at the Duckies Network’s role and how it differentiates itself from the main Yellow Network.
The Value Behind Duckies Canary Network
Yellow Network is a fintech network that deals with financial transactions and is part of a high-risk environment. On the other hand, Duckies is a sandbox operating on a smaller scale, where $1=1¢ or 100:1 scale down.
Furthermore, the network will enable an experimental environment where developers can create their TradeFi applications without much risk. Any crypto developer or security auditor can gain access to Duckies Canary Network metrics, analytics, and business intelligence.
Developers can conduct tests, try out business cases, fine-tune the economics and fee models, and validate other things on the canary network without much risk. The Yellow Canary Network will also reward early supporters and adopters.
Duckies Canary Network is an educational environment project. The key role of the network is to accelerate testing phases and result in quicker releases on the main network down the line.
Providing an Iterative Development Procedure
Duckies Network is part of the interactive deployment procedure, enabling developers to identify and address issues quickly and efficiently. There is an agile process to enable continuous development and ensure that the network is consistently improving and evolving.
Driving Community Engagement
The environment is also built as an engaging and reward-based community for the users, developers, and validators who participate in the testing procedure and can provide valuable feedback to the development team.
Identifying and Addressing issues
With the integration of the Duckies Canary Network, the development team of Yellow Network can identify and address any issues in a testing environment before deploying the new features and upgrades to the main network.
How to Join Duckies Network
Anyone can participate and try Duckies Network in just a few steps:
- Sign-Up and create a profile on the Duckies platform.
- Get $DUCKIES for a community event reward, or swap other tokens for $DUCKIES on QuickSwap.
- Join the Ambassador Program:
- Become an Evangelist if you want to be the community force that spreading the word about Yellow & Duckies
- Become a Broker if you want to help test and grow Yellow Network and the technology behind it.
4. Watch your email for a letter from our team within 2–3 weeks detailing the next steps.
Or explore other opportunities to contribute:
- Join the hunt for Ducklings NFTs and start minting your Duckies collection to get more $DUCKIES to be used on the canary network.
- Join the Duckies community on Discord to find more opportunities to contribute and keep up with the news.
Who Are to Use Duckies Network
Despite the common belief that Yellow Network is intended only for brokers and institutional traders, a more generalized community also plays a big role in its development. With Duckies, there are plenty of roles for everyone to contribute to the advancement of technology and get a taste of Yellow’s governance.
While initially, Duckies Network is mostly useful for brokers and exchanges, we expect that at later stages, the majority of the community would be able to create a trading bot for market making and arbitrage or even open their exchange using our SDK.
Duckies Canary Network is the best place for startups and developers to start experimenting with Yellow Protocol.
Key Features of Duckies Canary Network
Creating an environment where the incentive for security simulates risk plays a major role in building best-in-class architecture. That’s exactly why the Duckies platform is utilized as the Yellow Canary Network to simulate the ecosystem.
The canary network is the pre-testing environment in which features and functions are tested to be implemented safely. A canary network is a sandbox emulating the core features of the main network with the addition of experimental features about to go live.
It has an identical architecture to the main network. Canary networks typically differ from testnet chains utilized in pre-testing the mainnet blockchain.
Testnets always have the same native cryptocurrency as their mainnet. However, Canary Networks features a different cryptocurrency. You can spend and refill testnet cryptocurrencies freely without much risk, and they have no monetary value.
On the other hand, canary networks feature tokens that have tangible value and cannot be freely replenished anytime you want.
A canary network is an advanced network type rather than a direct testnet. In specific cases, Canary networks can continue their operations for years alongside the main chain, featuring their ecosystem and user base.
Duckies Network and Web3 Evolution
Duckies Canary Network offers brokers a safe and reliable environment to experiment with new trading functionality and technologies. As the Web3 ecosystem continues to evolve, Duckies is poised to play an important role in the development of the decentralized web and the growth of the blockchain industry.
Get started today, join Duckies Canary Network, and discover the most promising cross-chain liquidity and settlement network as the early Web3 fintech adopter.
