Kusama (KSM) is a scalable network of specialized blockchains they build with Substrate and the same codebase as Polkadot (DOT).
In fact, they call Kusama Polkadot’s cousin. They claim Kusama is a living platform they built for change agents (decentralized apps or dApps). One purpose of Kusama is to test new Polkadot apps.
The developers call Kusama “Polkadot’s canary network.” To explain, for centuries miners in underground coal mines kept canaries in cages. The hope was the canary would die before the men if deadly gases entered the mine. That could enable the miners to escape. They also call Kusama “an early release of Polkadot” and a “scalable multichain network for radical innovation.”
Substrate is a blockchain framework that supports multichains. They claim Substrate allows developers to build optimized blockchains fast. Gavin Wood, Ethereum’s cofounder and first chief technology officer (CTO) helped develop both Substrate and Kusama.
Custom Blockchains
Kusama (KSM) allows users to build custom blokchains and launch them fast. They claim the economic barriers to launch a Kusama custom blockchain or parachain are low.
In particular, they claim the minimum requirement for staking on Kusama is lower than for Polkadot. There are also programs for community Validators on Kusama. A Validator is Kusama’s term for the staker.
They are building Kusama as a sharded multichain network to offer more security. In sharding, they split a blockchain into smaller segments they call shards. Each shard holds its own data, allowing independence and making it hard for hackers to steal all of a network’s data.
Open Governance
A feature of Kusama is open governance. They claim the network participants own and control Kusama. In particular, users can control Kusama’s evolution by voting.
Theoretically, Kusama voters can leverage Polkadot’s global brand and developer community for their parachain, parathread, or dApp. Parachains are custom blockchains and parathreads or custom spreads. Decentralized Apps (dApps) operate through the parachains.
Developers and teams can use Kusama to learn Polkadot. Then they can move onto Polkadot. I think Polkadot (DOT) could offer enormous value. CoinMarketCap gave Polkadot a $7.219 billion Market Cap, a Fully Diluted Market Capitalization of $7.946 billion, and a $276.381 million 24-Hour Market Volume on 28 September 2022. They base those numbers on a Circulating Supply of 1.12 billion DOT and a Total Supply of 1.237 billion DOT. Thus, Polkadot offers enormous value.
What Value does Kusama have?
Mr. Market has some interest in Kusama (KSM) it was CoinMarketCap’s 13th most trending cryptocurrency on 23 September 2022.
Moreover, CoinMarketCap gave Kusama a $44.57 Coin Price, a $377.485 million Market Cap, a $428.092 million Fully Diluted Market Cap, and a $27.560 million 24-Hour Market Volume on 28 September 2022. They base those numbers on a 8.47 million KSM Circulating Supply, and a Total Supply of 9.651 million KSM. Notably, Kusama was CoinMarketCap’s 96th largest cryptocurrency on 23 September 2022.
In contrast, CoinGecko ranked Kusama (KSM) 101st and gave it a $44.43 Coin Price on 28 September 2022. CoinGecko gave Kusama a $398.691 million Market Cap, a $22.400 million 24-Hour Trading Volume, and a Fully Diluted Valuation of $443.971 million on 28 September 2022. They base those numbers on a Circulating Supply of 8.98 million KSM and a Maximum Supply of 10 million KSM.
I think Kusama is an interesting cryptocurrency that could offer some genuine value because of its connection to Polkadot (DOT). Speculators need to examine Kusama because it could grow with the blockchain.
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