Kusama is the current pre-production environment for the well-known Polkadot, where developers can experiment and test their newly made blockchains or apps before their actual release there.

Kusama Explained

Kusama is known for being the grounds for the early testing stages of Polkadot’s projects and upgrades, or a developer’s sandbox, but with actual cryptocurrency being traded.

Flexibility is greatly enhanced as the primary goal of Kusama is to facilitate testing as much as possible. As such, Kusama will mimic all of Polkadot’s main design features while having much less stricter rules.

Kusama has two types of blockchains:

1. The relay chain: which acts as the main network and where transactions are permanent

2. Parachains: which are user-generated networks, customized for any type of use. They emply the relay chain’s computing resources in order to attest for accuracy in transactions

As new projects start out on the Kusama network, developers can galvanize users before officially releasing them.

Kusama’s Relay Chain

As to achieve consensus on the system’s state, the Relay Chain employs a derivative of the proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus, entitled nominated proof-of-stake (or NPoS).

By staking KSM users can perform one of two roles:

1. Validators: which validate data on parachain blocks, vote on changes and collaborate on consensus

2. Nominators: which secure the Relay Chain through the process of selecting validators who are deemed trustworthy

Kusama’s software development can be influenced by three of its user types:

1. The Referendum Chamber: where KSM token holders can propose whatever change they see necessary up to vote

2. The Council: where users who are elected by KSM holders can propose changes for the council to vote on

3. The Technical Committee: which are the dev teams behind Kusama and are voted in by the members of the council

The History Behind Kusama

Kusama was created in 2016 by Gavin Wood, Robert Habermeier, and Peter Czaban, the men behind Polkadot.