What is Kusama (KSM)?

Kusama functions as a public pre-production environment for Polkadot, providing a platform for developers to experiment with and test new blockchains or applications before deploying them on the main Polkadot network.

In essence, Kusama serves as a testing ground or sandbox where developers can try out early versions of their Polkadot projects, complete with actual cryptocurrency trading on an open market. Additionally, Kusama plays a role in testing official upgrades for Polkadot before they are implemented.

Since its primary purpose is to facilitate testing, Kusama offers developers greater flexibility as they finalize the design of their Polkadot projects. This is reflected in looser rules and less strict governance parameters compared to Polkadot.

Kusama closely mirrors many key design elements of Polkadot. It employs two types of blockchains: a main network referred to as a relay chain, responsible for permanent transactions, and user-created networks known as parachains. These para chains can be tailored for various purposes and utilize the main relay chain for security.

An advantageous aspect of initiating a project on Kusama is the opportunity for Polkadot projects to establish a user base and create community interest before an official launch.

Who are the founders of Kusuma?

Kusama was established in 2016 by the individuals behind Polkadot: Gavin Wood, a co-founder of Ethereum, along with Peter Czaban and Robert Habermeier.

Gavin Wood's background is noteworthy, having created Solidity, the programming language essential for crafting decentralized applications (dapps) on the Ethereum platform. He also served as the inaugural Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of the Ethereum Foundation and previously held a research scientist position at Microsoft.

In 2015, Wood founded Parity Technologies, a company responsible for maintaining Substrate, a software development framework utilized by developers on Kusama who intend to construct parachains.

Furthermore, Wood assumes the role of president at the Web3 Foundation, a non-profit organization that orchestrated the token sales for Polkadot. These token sales generated around $200 million in funding from various investors.

What makes Kusuma unique?

Kusama stands out in the realm of blockchain platforms due to its distinct focus on developers aiming to initiate ambitious and innovative ventures, characterized by a dynamic and rapidly evolving development environment.

At its core, Kusama adopts a multichain structure with heterogeneous sharding, underpinned by a nominated proof-of-stake (NPoS) consensus mechanism. This sets it apart from energy-intensive proof-of-work (POW) systems employed by various other blockchains.

The NPoS consensus allows Kusama to swiftly implement on-chain upgrades without necessitating a fork. Moreover, it incorporates cross-chain message passing (XCMP) capabilities, enabling seamless communication between different parachains within the Kusama network.

Similar to its counterpart Polkadot, Kusama integrates on-chain governance functionalities. This decentralized and permissionless governance system empowers Kusama (KSM) token holders and parachain token holders to actively participate in voting on governance proposals. These proposals encompass potential upgrades, protocol modifications, and feature requests. Notably, Kusama's on-chain governance process operates approximately four times faster than Polkadot's, with a combined voting and implementation period of just 15 days. This accelerated governance cycle contributes to the rapid progression of projects established on the Kusama platform.

Kusama serves as an avenue for projects seeking a streamlined approach to implementing updates and enhancements without resorting to forks, thereby promoting a sense of unity within the community.

Explain the network security of Kusuma.

Kusama employs a nominated proof-of-stake (NPoS) consensus mechanism, wherein a network of nominators (individuals who stake KSM tokens) selects nodes to partake in the validation of transactions. Nominators stand to receive a portion of the inflation reward if their chosen nodes are elected in the subsequent rotation. Validators who engage in dishonest behavior or fail to meet performance criteria may face a reduction in their staked amount.

In addition, Kusama employs a straightforward queuing approach utilizing Merkle trees to address cross-chain transactions. Validators on the relay chain assume the responsibility of transferring transactions from one parachain's output queue to another parachain's input queue. This process is both secure and trustless, involving the same validators on each chain to facilitate the transmission of messages.

What are the recent developments of Kusuma?

Lido Finance, a prominent liquid-staking platform, is set to halt its staking services for both Polkadot (DOT) and Kusama (KSM) starting from August 1. The decision was communicated through a blog post by a pseudonymous project developer and a proposal from MixBytes, the team behind Lido. Several challenges, including market conditions, protocol growth, limited capacity, priority alignment, and unmet financial expectations, were cited as reasons for this move.

Lido stopped accepting deposits for KSM and DOT on March 15, followed by the cessation of reward issuance on June 15, and the enforcement of automatic unstaking and unbonding on June 22.

This withdrawal does not directly impact the underlying ecosystems of Polkadot and Kusama since they remain independent. However, the decision may reflect some scepticism about these networks' future success and growth prospects.

Lido Finance, established in late 2020, pioneered the liquid staking landscape, allowing users to stake assets like ETH and receive st-tokens in exchange. These st-tokens can be used in the wider DeFi ecosystem, such as providing liquidity on decentralized exchanges or acting as collateral for lending platforms. Lido has a substantial total value locked (TVL) of around $15 billion, largely from Ethereum deposits. Its native governance token, LDO, currently holds a market capitalization of approximately $1.67 billion.

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