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Does Kusama provide only the value of a test network?

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Why does Kusama, bucking the trend, suddenly come into the spotlight?

Original title: "What is the Value of Kusama and Why is it Important?"

Source: Polkadot Institute of Ecology

background

On September 3, 2020, Bill Laboon, director of technology education at the Web3 Foundation, tweeted that currently the Polkadot community has started discussions on increasing the number of veriators on the Polkadot network at Polkassembly. According to the discussion at Polkassembly, by comparing and referring to the different schemes adopted by Kusama network to increase the number of verifiers, the official gave three schemes:

1. Community members submit to public vote or initiate external motions. This method is the first solution of Kusama network.

2. Plan the event mechanism. Starting from a specific block, the number of verifiers will follow the rule of increasing 2 per 3600 block. (This program has been implemented on Kusama network before)

3. Auto add function. Drawing on Kusama's experience, the Polkadot community is experimenting with a mechanism proposed by the Parity and W3F teams.

This is just another day in the evolution of the Polkadot network, and the improvements proposed for Polkadot are based on the experience of a network called Kusama.

Kusama is an important guarantee for Polkadot to move forward steadily and safely. So what exactly is this Kusama network and why does it play such a big role?

The birth of Kusama 1 brings Testenet "alive"

Back in early 2015, before ethereum launched, there was a test network called Olympics. The test network at the time offered 5,000 Ethereum as an economic incentive to invite people to participate in the test, and encouraged various ways to stress-test the network to test the source code quality and stability of the Ethereum network. Send as many trades as you can, collect as many Ethereans as you can, send as many trades as you can, change the state of the network as much as you can, and so on.

According to Polkadot founder Gavin, the actual test performance at the time and in retrospect, the entire Olympic test network was artificial, tested for the sake of testing, and didn't adequately test for potential problems they didn't know about at the time. In other words, the testing mechanism at the time did not allow them to test the blind areas that they were completely unaware of.

Therefore, a real test network, not for the sake of testing, and there is a normal economic system in operation is very necessary. This is why Gavin launched Kusama (Canary) test network when Polkadot was made. The digital asset KSM issued by Kusama network also has real value, which is equivalent to a working public chain.

Only when there is a functioning economic model like this, and the entire Kusama network is injected with corresponding economic value, can both participants and network initiators seriously participate in the test, so that the completely unknown blind areas mentioned by Gavin can be tested.

And besides Polkadot, other public chain doesn't seem to notice the test network in this deficiency, so most of the test network is no money, or test coin, no one like Kusama, will test the network as a real project operation, also it is cost money to fry, to face the real environment, learn more than plate simulation is not linked to money to play a lot more.

This is one of the innovative ideas brought by Polkadot, which makes Kusama and Polkadot more flexible and creative, and ultimately makes Polkadot more robust and safe to evolve quickly.

2 What is Kusama?

As early as June 12, 2019 in Polkadot (boka) legal channels Shanghai, Dieter Fishbein, the Web3 foundation's associate manager, announced that Polkadot would be online testing the network "Kusama" that year, and then Kusama Token would be issued. However, at that time, everyone thought that Kusama was just a common test network and did not realize the meaning of Kusama.

Then, on July 16, 2019, the Polkadot test twitter account of the Kusama Network published its first tweet, a GIF of a bird, officially promoting Kusama.

The official description of Kusama Network as "Canary Network" and its Slogan is also & NBSP; "Expect Chaos" & NBSP; , the image of the bird was actually a canary, canary is often used for the old mine prospecting, when encountered some colorless, tasteless but poisonous gases, canary warning, by the same token, the Polkadot official to give the meaning of Kusama has wanted it to be as a Polkadot warning network, early testing all kinds of new features and eliminate all kinds of possible problems, to ensure the smooth operation of the main Polkadot.

After Kusama's detailed explanation was introduced, some people began to realize that Kusama was not as simple a test network as it seemed on the surface, and some people were evaluating whether Kusama's assets KSM were valuable.

On August 23, 2019, Gavin announced the official launch of Kusama, which also marks the first step of Polkadot.

It seems that Kusama is a more specialized network with its own economic model. Is this really the case?

Look at the official descriptions of Kusama: Polkadot version 0.5, The crazy cousin of Polkadot, the early unaudited Polkadot, canary network, the experimental network that is not a test network, the network that lies between the test network and the main Polkadot network, Kusama Khalehi network! From these descriptions, we can see that the authorities do not only hope that Kusama is a test network, which belongs to the state above the test network and under Polkadot.

Officially Kusama will persist for a long time, at the same time, Kusama is not only just to test Polkadot itself, it can also make future Polkadot ecological project party practice ahead of time, such as the verifier node, parallel, Polkadot ecological chain team tool builders can use Kusama to prepare ahead of time, and therefore Kusama will form their own ecological.

With the gradual maturity of Kusama network, the authorities have gradually given Kusama a new position and expectation, that is, Kusama will enter the Polkadot ecology as a parallel relay chain network in the future.

Therefore, Kusama is not only a test network, but also a special test network with economic models and its own project ecology. It is a potential network that will have more opportunities to become a full-time member of Polkadot in the future. If Kusama is still regarded as a small canary, we may miss the day when Kusama will spread its wings and soar into the sky.

The characteristics of Kusama

First we need to be clear that Kusama and Polkadot are separate networks based on similar code, but Kusama & NBSP; There are faster governance parameters and lower barriers to entry. But the difference is that Kusama may be more like an adolescent and prone to agitation, while Polkadot seems more like a mature young man, more conservative and more secure, and the two complement each other much like a talented young man who is both rational and emotional, so both are indispensable.

Therefore, judging from the fundamentals, there are still a lot of similarities between the two, but there are also a lot of differences between the two, which we will elaborate on below.

1. What are the similarities between Kusama and Polkadot?

Comparing the similarities between the two, it is easier to understand. First of all, they are essentially "Polkadot networks", that is, Kusama will be available as long as Polkadot has the same function. Functionally, since both are the same underlying technology, the similarities are basically "twin brothers", such as the same consensus mechanism, the same governance mode, the Runtime upgrade on the non-branched chain, the same financial repository mechanism, or the same extension mode, etc.

So, we probably end up at a difference between the two, and that's what we really need to understand.

2 What are the differences between Kusama and Polkadot?

When it comes to differences, we just need to clear a point, namely "Kusama is crazy and fast, more conservative Polkadot", so it is a starting point of different led to differences of the two, rather than both born different, in view of this, Kusama is different from the Polkadot mainly reflected in three aspects, respectively is security and stability, the governance of "fast" and "slow", and for the first two different due to different usage scenarios.

A. "Fast" and "slow" governance methods

One may wonder why Kusama is so crazy, and why? Going back to the underlying logic, Kusama actively accelerates the process compared to Polkadot's governance and proposal time. The time between governance events on Kusama network is shorter, such as proposing new referenums, voting on proposals, and implementing approved upgrades, which will greatly increase the speed.

Specifically, Kusama is four times faster than Polkadot, taking only seven days to hold a referendum and eight days to implement an upgrade after the vote, compared to the 28 days that are currently delayed for most referendums on Polkadot. For this reason, the updating and iteration of Kusama will naturally be much faster, which will fundamentally change its network properties, and also cause changes in its security and stability.

B. Security and stability

Because its update cycle is less than That of Polkadot, Kusama seems to give people a feeling of insecurity and instability. However, this comparison is only compared with Polkadot. Compared with most other networks, Kusama is still a safe and stable network, but it is the experimental field of Polkadot, so it seems "crazy".

As Gavin Wood originally anticipated, Kusama will be a lot of chaos (and a little fun), like a sandbox world, with surprises in the middle of all the ups and downs. Therefore, we later see a lot of interesting things in Kusama. Even if a bug does occur, it seems that few people will blame anyone. After all, Kusama is still a "child".

Of course, if you are a verifier in Kusama network, even the punishment will be much less, which makes it easier for people to explore treasures and find fun in the network.

C. Different usage scenarios

Kusama has been labeled as a "proving ground" since its birth. Therefore, when deciding to build applications on the Polkadot network, many teams can try to test and test them on the Kusama network first, so as to ensure that their applications can run safely and steadily on the Polkadot network and reduce the impact caused by experiments.

At the same time, Kusama another major usage scenario is as an early network, for those who are still in the iteration they emerging technology and business models and not too mature team, this is the small scale, the team energy co., LTD. Offers a lower threshold into the Polkadot ecological key, through deployment on Kusama use first, if you can succeed may also face a lot of attention.

Therefore, the characteristics of Kusama are bound to make some banks and enterprises, for example, give up the choice of deploying applications on their networks and choose Polkadot, which is more mature and stable, to complete their business transformation, which is also the difference between the two application directions.

Of course, we do not rule out that Kusama will develop more unique applications in the future due to her seemingly problematic "shortcomings". After all, "natural talents must be useful".

What is Kusama worth?

We have learned that it has the advantages of Polkadot, but it also has some innovations and flexibility that are different from Polkadot. Based on the starting point of Kusama's birth and the official position of Kusama gradually becoming clearer, we can sort out some of its core values.

1. Protect Polkadot's pathfinder (rigid demand)

Each large network game need after many times of tests, constantly adjust and eventually to the market, and the game will also be constantly updated content, also need to be tested, so generally large network game will have their own test server, you can experience and test new content in advance, until there is no problem, after getting updates to the formal suit.

If this is true even for games, then blockchain projects that directly involve assets should have a testing network, so Kusama is very necessary for Polkadot.

Similarly, many ecological project based on Polkadot also aware of the necessity of Kusama role, they also worry about their project if directly on the Polkadot would appear some unexpected problems, they also need to advance on the Polkadot test network testing, until there is no problem before the project to the Polkadot network, therefore, Kusama for Polkadot ecological project is also very necessary.

Kusama is a necessary test network for Polkadot and the Polkadot Ecological project. Officials also say that Kusama should exist for a long time instead of only testing for a period of time, which also lays the foundation for Kusama to be the pathfinder for Polkadot's development.

2 Value reproduction

Here is mainly the value of two aspects, one aspect is due to the need of Polkadot some function, will test on Kusama ahead of time, which makes some important can affect the function of the network value will be arriving on Kusama and Polkadot respectively, such as before the main online, open transfer, by the end of this year or next year will be parallel to the chain slot. Master the rhythm of both, and you won't miss out on important development events and reap the benefits.

, on the other hand, is a Polkadot ecological project will do some tests on the Kusama, these tests usually itself will have some incentive mechanism, either direct reward, either learn Polkadot on Kusama network also get a project with a Token test network and economic model, it can not only improve the demand for KSM, and the value of some ecological project test network found opportunity.

In the same way, updates to the testing network of these ecological projects will be rolled out in tandem with their development on the main network, which will provide an opportunity.

Several well-known Polkadot ecological projects have made it clear that they intend to launch their own parallel chains on Kusama, among them: Acala, Chainlink, ChainX, Phala Network, Polkaswap, Moonbeam, and more.

Therefore, the corresponding value on Polkadot will be copied on the Kusama network in advance, which is also one of the important potentials of Kusama.

3 The first step in Polkadot's infinite scalability

At present, Polkadot's plan is to open 100 slots in its trunk chain (100 are the provisional official number, but the actual number will be determined according to the official number later), that is to say, 100 parallel chains will be linked. So many parallel chains linked by a single trunk chain are basically running at full capacity.

But this distance Polkadot envisioned links all network is an important part of, when the Polkadot upgrading to Polkadot v2, parallel chain can be the relay chain relay chain (nested), which means that the Polkadot this relay can be parallel to the links a relay chain chain (para - relay - chain), a new relay chain and there will be 100 slots, and can link 100 parallel chains, and link the next parallel link chain, by analogy, Polkadot can infinite extensibility, All the blockchains are now linked.

Although Kusama is now an independent network, later it is likely to become one of the first parallel relay chains and officially "convert" to the Polkadot ecology, which also represents the first step of Polkadot's extensibility from 100 to infinity. At the same time, the transformation of Kusama into a normal state also means that Polkadot's original ecology gets through with Kusama and can also bring huge flow to Kusama itself. So, from this perspective, Kusama is also very promising.

Afterword.

Despite Kusama's potential, it is important to note again that it is less secure and stable than Polkadot because it is more open to innovation and change. Gavin, commenting on Kusama, also said that it does not guarantee that Kusama will succeed, but they will do their best.

Therefore, it is necessary to have this psychological expectation when participating in the ecological projects above Kusama and Kusama. If Polkadot is compared to A-shares, Kusama is inclined to the New Third Board. The former is relatively stable, and enterprises that can enter A-shares are screened after layers of screening and many operating indicators must meet the standard, while the New Third Board is more open, with more possibilities, but at the same time, it means that the project risks will be higher.

With the parallel chain code being developed, the parallel chain slot auction is getting closer and closer. According to officials, the auction will begin late this year or early next year, and priority will be given to testing on Kusama. At present, to join Polkadot ecology. There are 300, including nearly block chain project team is doing, and slots may only bid on a few, want to secure a slot, the project must will be a certain number of KSM lock 6 to 24 months, so there will be not enough received, in the short term will increase demand for KSM.

Therefore, it is a prerequisite to understand the important milestones of Polkadot and Kusama development as early as possible, but master the rhythm of both so as to obtain the corresponding dividends.