Vana empowers users to own, protect and profit from their personal data through decentralized DataDAOs. Learn more about how it works in this article.

Imagine a world where individuals regain control over their own data, taking it back from the hands of large corporations that often profit from it without consent. Enter Vana, an innovative platform that combines 

 with privacy-driven features to create a fairer, more transparent digital economy. This article explores what Vana is all about — and its exciting future potential in the decentralized data and AI space.

 is a blockchain network that gives users full control over their personal data through an 

 architecture. It enables decentralized data-sharing and monetization using DataDAOs (

), whose users can collectively own, manage and profit from their data, all while maintaining privacy and ownership.

Vana was co-founded by Art Abal and Anna Kazlauskas, two Filipinos with strong academic backgrounds and degrees from Harvard and MIT, respectively. It started as a research initiative in 2018, and has since grown into a project driven by the desire to empower individuals with control over their personal data. 

Vana seeks to address the current imbalance whereby large corporations profit from user data without fairly compensating the individuals who generate it. The goal is to create a new data economy in which users can benefit directly from the AI models built on their data, ensuring that the financial rewards of AI development are more fairly distributed. The name "Vana," short for "Nirvana," speaks to the project’s mission of liberating and empowering user data.

The Vana project attempts to challenge the status quo of data hoarding by large centralized organizations, and to tackle several key issues as follows.

Vana is designed to transform personal data into a valuable, user-controlled asset. It operates through the following three key layers.

Vana gives users the power to monetize and use their data in several ways, such as earning revenue from AI models trained on their data, or by integrating their data into applications for personalized experiences. Most importantly, users maintain detailed control over how their data is shared and used. As data contributors, they also receive governance rights within their respective DataDAOs, allowing them to make decisions about how their data is used and how the value is distributed.

Users receive a DLP-specific token when they submit data to a DataDAO, according to the DataDAO’s unique 

 that Vana uses to validate data submitted to its network. PoC maintains the reliability and value of the data within the Vana network. 

Vana acts as a trustless intermediary, connecting data owners, communities and users. It enables individuals to pool their data collectively in a secure and traceable manner while also allowing data users to monetize that data for purposes such as training AI models.

 is a central platform where users can buy, stake, trade and explore data tokens within the Vana ecosystem. It also enables users to contribute their data to DataDAOs, and earn rewards by staking their VANA tokens.

 is an incubator designed to support the growth and development of the Vana ecosystem. It provides tools and resources for users to create and manage DataDAOs, ensuring that high-quality data is available for AI model training and other applications.

DataDAOs are decentralized organizations that pool user-contributed data on the blockchain. They allow individuals to collectively own, manage and monetize their data for AI and other applications. Each DataDAO governs its own DLPs, ensuring that data is secure, private and used judiciously. 

 system incentivizes premium-quality data contributions by rewarding the top 16 DataDAOs every 21 days, based on total Vana tokens staked. This competitive structure ensures that the best datasets and contributors are recognized and rewarded, promoting innovation and growth within the Vana ecosystem

 commits 44% of its total token supply to empower the community. It rewards active participation, contributions and innovation across the Vana network. This includes incentives for high-quality data contributions to DataDAOs, early community rewards and support for developers building on Vana. 

Since its start as an MIT research project in 2018, Vana has made impressive progress, emerging as the first decentralized data liquidity network. 

Looking ahead, Vana aims to build a thriving decentralized data ecosystem and promote mass adoption with its clear road map:

The VANA token is the native cryptocurrency of the Vana Network. VANA serves multiple purposes within the Vana ecosystem, such as securing the network through staking, paying transaction fees, staking in DataDAOs, accessing datasets, acting as part of a trading pair and participating in decentralized governance.

The tokenomics of VANA are designed to align the interests of all participants in the Vana network. With a total supply capped at 120 million tokens, distribution is as follows:

 of $32.86 by the end of 2024 and $38.58 by 2025, with the potential to climb to approximately $112.78 by the end of 2030. Similarly, Coin Edition 

 a value of $50 by the end of 2025, with further growth expected up to $68 by 2030. 

Looking to purchase Vana tokens? Bybit now offers the VANA/USDT Spot trading pair. To get started, you’ll first need to create a Bybit account, then fund it with cryptocurrency and navigate to the 

To celebrate this listing, Bybit is holding 

 where you can earn a share of the 560,000 VANA prize pool. 

VANA offers a compelling investment opportunity, thanks to its innovative approach to data ownership, expanding ecosystem and optimistic market outlook. By tackling key challenges in the data economy, VANA empowers users while paving the way for decentralized AI development. However, as with any investment, it's important for potential investors to be mindful of market risks and do their 

Vana is empowering users to take full control of their personal data and even profit from it. By combining blockchain technology with robust privacy measures, Vana challenges traditional data systems and lays the foundation for a more equitable data economy. The platform's ambitious road map could position it as a key player in the future of decentralized AI, opening up new opportunities for individuals to become active participants in this increasingly data-driven world.

Intermediate

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Vana (VANA): Unlocking Data Freedom for User-Owned AI

Sonic and Injective are launching the first cross-chain AI agent platform, the Smart Agent Hub, integrating Solana and Injective ecosystems.

Last week, the S&P 500 saw its biggest single-day price gain this month. This raises the hopes of investors for a year-end rally if prices continue to go up. Coindesk Indices, an index measuring broader cryptocurrency market performance was down by 2.54%, with Bitcoin and Ether dropping by 1.24% and 1.00%, respectively in the past 24 hours.

Today's top performer is AAVE, which surged 7.7% following the integration of Aave in Balancer's Boosted Pools, simplifying yield generation.

Aave (AAVE), founded in 2017, is a decentralized lending platform on Ethereum for lending, borrowing, and earning interest on 17 cryptocurrencies. It uses smart contracts, collateral for loans, and aTokens for interest, along with features like instant loans. 

 combine markets to enhance capital efficiency and simplify yield generation for DeFi users. By providing liquidity with $USDC and $USDT, users earn fees from swaps and interest from Aave's supply rates. All earnings accrue automatically with no management required. Balancer v3's Boosted Pools streamline liquidity and enable gas-efficient, passive yield generation, making DeFi simpler and more sustainable.

Check Out the Latest Prices, Charts, and Data of 

, the Smart Agent Hub, integrating Solana and Injective ecosystems. The platform enables developers to create, manage, and monetize AI agents in a decentralized environment, with features like tokenization, cross-chain asset interoperability, and a unified developer experience. By leveraging Sonic's HyperGrid and Injective's IBC, the hub facilitates seamless communication and asset transfer across chains. This innovation supports Web3 games, DeFi, and real-world assets, expanding opportunities for AI agents in various sectors. The rollout begins with a testnet in Q1 2025.

From December 16–20, 2024, GBTC had a net outflow of $248.3M, while non-GBTC products saw a net inflow of $705.5M, resulting in a total inflow of $457.2M. The current total stands at a net outflow of $21.3B for GBTC, a net inflow of $57.3B for non-GBTC, and a combined net inflow of $36.03B.

 offers free participation with potential surprise airdrops. Connect your wallet, vote for projects, and use your CHILL FACTOR (based on past Avalanche transactions) to maximize eligibility.

Beginner

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Sonic and Injective Launch First Cross-Chain AI Agent Platform with Smart Agent Hub

Zerebro (ZEREBRO) revolutionizes AI content creation with Solana and Polygon, offering autonomous content generation, NFT minting, and DeFi integration.

 (AI) continues to unlock limitless opportunities in numerous sectors, including the crypto space. Projects such as 

 and others have had a large impact on various facets in 

AI-generated content is in demand, and the latest crypto project to enter the space, Zerebro, aims to provide a way to create and generate content autonomously through AI content models.

Let’s learn more about Zerebro and its innovative approach to content creation through AI.

Zerebro is an autonomous AI system crafted to create, distribute and analyze content across decentralized and social platforms.

 It maintains content diversity through the use of

 (RAG) system that creates a dynamic memory database, based on continuously updated human interactions.

Zerebro operates independently without human oversight using a concept known as hyperstition to merge fiction with reality, resulting in self-propagated narratives encompassing diverse cultural and financial scopes, with key uses of content creation and cultural integration across the digital community. Zerebro autonomously produces high-entropy content, ensuring diversity and originality, and engages audiences on various platforms, such as X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, Warpcast and Telegram.

Zerebro also integrates unique cultural themes through a feature known as “infinite backrooms” designed to elicit thought-provoking conversations among digital communities. Its data sets follow a nonlinear thought pattern, resulting in unpredictable and inherently viral outputs. This unique feature can be used to generate chaotic and surreal artworks that can be autonomously minted as 

 (POL) blockchain. Zerebro also features autonomous trading of artwork through the integration of memetic dynamics and market interaction analysis, thereby demonstrating the potential of AI to merge cultural creativity with 

ZEREBRO, the native token for the Zerebro ecosystem, is hosted on the 

 (SOL) blockchain. The maximum supply is 1 billion ZEREBRO tokens, with 999,972,148 tokens currently in circulation.

An autonomous AI system such as Zerebro has transformative potential in the crypto industry, especially in cultural content generation and financial markets. Its “hyperstition” approach to generating content can help influence markets by shaping investor behavior through an interplay between culture and technology.

Furthermore, the project intends to launch a unified memory across social media platforms that could significantly enhance information retention, leading to further engagement. The Zerebro team also intends to integrate the ZEREBRO token with DeFi protocols, opening holders to various income-generating opportunities, such as 

Zerebro has experienced some volatility since its launch, which isn’t unusual for a new project trying to establish a stable price floor. As of Dec 23, 2024, Zerebro is trading at $0.30, with a market cap of over $377 million. This price was over 6,350% higher than its all-time low of $0.0058 on Nov 3, 2024, and just 39% lower than its all-time high of $0.6153 on Nov 23, 2024.

That said, Zerebro is still a new project that’s subject to high volatility. We highly recommend you practice sound 

 crypto on Bybit’s Spot trading platform. To celebrate the listing, Bybit is holding a 

 up for grabs. The first event is exclusively for new users to deposit and earn from a prize pool of 150,000 ZEREBRO tokens.

To participate, simply register on Bybit and complete verification. Then, proceed to accumulate a deposit volume of at least 400 ZEREBRO, or deposit 100 USDT and trade 100 USDT worth of ZEREBRO via your first trade using your Bybit account. This event runs through Dec 24, 2024, 8:59AM UTC.

, is offering a prize pool of 60,000 ZEREBRO tokens. To earn a share of the prize pool, simply register for the event and trade at least 500 USDT worth of ZEREBRO on Spot through Dec 24, 2024, 8:59AM UTC. 

Rewards will be capped at 3,000 ZEREBRO per user.

In addition to these two events, you can also participate in a 

 with a 30,000 ZEREBRO prize pool. Earn 20 ZEREBRO for every successful referral (up to 10 referrals) Rewards are on a first-come, first-served basis through Dec 24, 2024, 8:59AM UTC. 

Zerebro’s unique autonomous AI system approach to the crypto market sets it apart in the space. Crypto subcultures will be able to tap into its ability to independently generate and analyze content across different networks. Its RAG technology could enhance content diversity among the crypto community, while its “infinite backrooms” are spaces in which these digital communities can engage in diverse cultural and financial narratives.

As AI continues to transform the web3 space, Zerebro is poised to add value through its autonomous system that eliminates human oversight.

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Zerebro (ZEREBRO): Unlimited Possibilities in AI Content Creation

Gearbox Protocol is a composable leveraged lending protocol designed to enhance capital efficiency within DeFi. Learn how Gearbox Protocol works.

 (DeFi) with its composable leverage system. It enables investors to use 

 on assets across multiple protocols, transforming how DeFi participants can trade with margin, 

 and execute complex strategies — all without leaving their ecosystem.

 is making leverage accessible and secure. Whether you’re a lender seeking passive yield or a leverage user exploring advanced strategies, Gearbox’s unique architecture opens up new possibilities. Let’s explore how this on-chain credit layer is improving DeFi.

Since the emergence of DeFi in 2020, it hasstrived to reimagine financial services by removing intermediaries, such as banks and brokers. Through

 systems, DeFi offers transparent and direct access to lending, trading and investments. Despite market fluctuations, the DeFi sector remains resilient, with a current 

 (TVL) of $123 billion — a 128% increase since the start of 2024.

The DeFi sector is poised for resurgence as secure and scalable innovations fuel its growth. With proven use cases and real-world adoption, DeFi continues to solidify its role as one of crypto’s most valuable use cases.

 (WLFI), backed by the Trump family, underscores a shifting acceptance of DeFi in the United States. The project’s multisig wallet has publicly 

 various DeFi tokens, such as AAVE, LINK, ENA and more. WLFI aims to make DeFi accessible to everyday users, but it remains to be seen if the project will achieve its goals.

Gearbox Protocol is a composable leveraged lending protocol designed to enhance capital efficiency within DeFi. By offering a flexible credit layer, Gearbox empowers users to leverage their positions across multiple DeFi platforms, seamlessly integrating with protocols they already trust.

Gearbox’s fundamental design minimizes costs while maintaining flexibility. Its modular architecture reduces gas costs and improves scalability..

Unlike traditional leveraged lending protocols that silo funds within their ecosystems, Gearbox allows users to execute trades and strategies across integrated platforms, such as 

 correlated assets, Gearbox offers a new way to utilize leverage without restrictions.

With Gearbox Protocol, leverage becomes a DeFi primitive — an infrastructure layer that lets users go beyond basic 

 containing both user funds and borrowed margin funds. They serve as automated leveraged DeFi wallets, allowing users to manage positions and execute strategies independently.

: Gearbox enables users to integrate leverage with DeFi protocols like Uniswap for margin trading, Curve for leverage farming, and more. This flexibility empowers diverse strategies across different platforms.

: Gearbox combines lending and prime brokerage functionalities within the same protocol, simplifying the user experience and expanding possibilities for leveraged trading and farming.

, Gearbox maximizes capital efficiency. It minimizes gas costs and ensures that funds remain noncustodial, unlocking the full potential of leverage without compromising user security.

, ensuring that all integrations, policies and upgrades are managed transparently and collectively by the community and stakeholders.

Gearbox Protocol operates through two main user types:

The Credit Accounts enable operations while maintaining safety through 

Gearbox’s modular architecture supports seamless integrations with third-party protocols, ensuring assets remain decentralized and noncustodial. Liquidations are determined by 

 (based on calculated risks), and protect lenders while offering dynamic leverage possibilities.

 utility token with a capped supply of 10 billion, is the governance token of Gearbox Protocol. It empowers DAO governance and supports initiatives, such as liquidity mining and staking rewards, with an annual emission of just 3% from the DAO's holdings. 

Token distribution percentages are as follows:

Nearly full circulation has been achieved, minimizing supply overhang as a majority of token 

 concluded in 2023. The DAO treasury retains around 40% of the supply, ensuring the community’s strong influence on protocol development.

Marketwise, GEAR has recently experienced notable price movements. Over the past seven days, the token has surged by 11.9%, and its 30-day performance skyrocketed by 166.3%. Year-to-date, GEAR's price has risen approximately 57.7%, reflecting increased investor confidence. Daily trading volume hit $11.8 million over the past 24 hours, marking a 600.3% spike that indicates growing market interest. 

Gearbox Protocol's innovative approach to DeFi simplifies user experience through its wallet-centric design and the integration of the 

. With a capped supply of 10 billion GEAR tokens, robust DAO governance and nearly full circulation, Gearbox prioritizes community-driven growth. 

Recent market performance reflects growing investor confidence, with significant price increases and a surge in trading activity.

Looking ahead, Gearbox Protocol’s road map focuses on enhancing usability and interoperability within the Ethereum ecosystem. The integration of Credit Accounts into account abstraction (AA) wallets such as EIP-4337 revolutionizes the way users can access and manage funds, eliminating the need for complex lending interfaces.

Future developments may include pool-based models and optimizers to tackle liquidity fragmentation, further strengthening 

 Ethereum solutions. As Gearbox Protocol evolves, its focus remains on delivering efficient, user-friendly financial tools that empower users and redefine DeFi as we know it.

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Gearbox: Powering On-Chain Credit for DeFi

Altcoins

Crypto

The Kusama coin (KSM) is crucial in the maintenance and operation of the Kusama network. Find out what makes this crypto special.

The blockchain industry is ever-growing, with new and better developments being launched on a daily basis. This naturally results in a need for innovations that improve the performance of existing blockchain projects. It’s necessary to evaluate these innovations regularly in order to tackle potential weaknesses and vulnerabilities that may undermine the efficiency of a project. This is the main goal that Kusama sets out to achieve: to ensure that all project improvements made are fit for 

Kusama is built with substrates and codes similar to those of 

. Often referred to as “the canary network of Polkadot,” Kusama is an evolutionary and multi-channel network designed to facilitate an audit system for Polkadot. How does the audit system work? Well, Kusama welcomes new features and experiments with them before said features are rolled out to Polkadot.

Most blockchain ecosystems only use a test network to develop their decentralized applications (DApps) and projects. Kusama, however, provides a functional market and test network conditions that other chains don’t provide. Kusama also benefits from modified governance parameters that allow it to operate up to four times faster than the Polkadot ecosystem.

Kusama uses two types of blockchains to process transactions and manage network activity. The main network, on which the validators are located, is called the relay chain. The relay chain has minimal functionality and is responsible for coordinating the system as a whole. Parachains, on the other hand, are unique and allow users to run separate Layer 1 blockchains with the Kusama network. Being able to run these single layers linked to the relay chain ensures the security of the 

 and significantly increases the scalability and interoperability of the Kusama network. There are also user-generated networks called parachains that may each have different architectures, features and use cases, depending on the project using each one. We’ll explain these in detail later on in this guide.

The KSM token is the native cryptocurrency of the Kusama network (just as DOT is the native token of the Polkadot network). The initial distribution of this token respects the same DOT token distribution. Essentially, this means that if you’ve participated in the 

, you’ll have access to the same number of KSM tokens that you purchased in the DOT ICO. This serves to encourage token holders to use the Kusama network and help the team in its development. However, perhaps the biggest change in Kusama is related to the generation of tokens via network rewards.

The KSM coin is a governance token to manage protocol updates and patches and pay fees through parachains. Validators stake their KSM to ensure network security and earn inflation rewards, while nominators can use their KSM to show support to certain validators and receive a share of the rewards. In addition, the KSM cryptocurrency can be used for linking to support new parachains.

You can buy KSM tokens on various leading crypto exchanges, including Bybit. However, this isn’t the only way to get KSM coins. Kusama has aligned itself with the Polkadot community by offering KSM tokens to anyone who’s purchased DOT during its ICO. Those who own a DOT indicator token can follow these instructions to claim an equal amount of KSM. There’s no deadline by which to claim the KSM tokens.

 If you have a project that will increase the value of the network, you can submit a cash flow proposal.

 The bug bounty program rewards anyone who discovers vulnerabilities in Kusama’s code.

 Validators can claim rewards for running the validation node. The number of KSM needed to become a validation node is dynamic, changing over time. 

 Kusama nominators play a passive investor role by delegating their KSM to a maximum of 16 validators. For this, they receive rewards which are dynamic and evolve. 

The governance of the Kusama network lies primarily in the hands of three groups: the referendum chamber, the council, and the technical committee.

 This is the group that submits proposals for change, and votes on these proposals to see which ones will move forward. They also vote for board members, and can apply to become board members themselves.

 The council has 13 members elected to represent Kusama holders, who remain passive. A vote is held every 24 hours to determine the members of the board. The council is responsible for electing the technical committee.

 These members are elected by the board. The committee can include blockchain developers or development teams, and its role is to determine the degree of importance of each proposal. They ensure that urgent proposals are voted on and implemented first.

The referendum chamber may make a public proposal, or the council may submit its proposals, while the technical committee may submit emergency proposals. These three actors can potentially lead to implementing changes in 

The main aspect of governance is the referendum, which determines whether or not to make changes to the protocol. It’s possible to make several changes by referenda, such as altering the parameters of the network, registering or deregistering a parachain, voting on the financing of a project by the public Treasury, and many others.

On Kusama’s network, the referenda are voted on every seven days. The proposal supported by the greatest number of interests is deemed the most important, and becomes a referendum. This process alternates between public and council proposals, so that neither has priority.

Once a proposal becomes a referendum, anyone interested can vote for or against it. If the referendum is adopted, it’s promulgated after a waiting period of seven days. Kusama uses a new voting concept called “Adaptive Quorum Biasing” that makes passing a proposal easier or more difficult, depending on the governance group that submitted it and the number of voters who vote.

In short, when the turnout is low, the protocol requires a supermajority decision to reject proposals, as well as less total passing votes to pass proposals. Still, when the turnout increases to around 100%, it becomes a simple majority.

Kusama includes a logic that allows its governance system to deal with unforeseen events that require rapid legislative changes. This type of legislative “short circuit” makes it possible to submit a proposal to a referendum immediately, in parallel with the normal monthly proposals. 

In case of approval by a supermajority (more than three-quarters) of the council, and a two-thirds approval of the technical committee, a bill can then be accelerated. It’s immediately voted on in the referendum chamber, with a much shorter than normal voting time (three days) and a promulgation period close to zero. The approval mechanisms, in this case, are unchanged from what they normally would be (a simple majority or, in the case of unanimous counsel, a default deferral). This mechanism should be sufficient for non-contentious bug fixes and technical upgrades.

The common goal of all users in Kusama is to maintain and develop the network. As with Polkadot, anyone can participate in the Kusama network, in several different ways. However, there are two major classes of participants who play specific roles in its overall operations: builders and network managers. Since the Kusama network works like Polkadot, it’s operated and maintained by the same set of users.

These users are allowed to build and customize their applications on Kusama before deploying them to Polkadot. Thus, they can apply the same logic to the Polkadot network that got the best and most effective result of their experiments on Kusama.

Builders create parachains, bridges, parathreads and other elements on the network. They are essentially the development teams and individual developers. Here’s why development teams might consider using Kusama for their development efforts:

Since Kusama is a canary network, developers should build the parachains on Kusama first for a testing process before deploying them to Polkadot.

Kusama (KSM) is a permissionless network; every KSM holder has the opportunity to use it. KSM holders can interact with all the features of the Kusama network. These include, for example, staking (i.e., validating or nominating), governance, parachain auctions, transfers and everything else. Anyone participating in the Polkadot sale can claim a pro rata amount of KSM through the Kusama claims process. KSM used to be publicly accessible via a so-called faucet (quasi a small coin donor), which has since been taken out of operation.

The network maintainers are responsible for maintaining and controlling the operations of the platform. This category of users includes collators who receive information from parachains and transfers to validators via new blocks for verification. These validators receive the new blocks and add them once they’ve been verified. They also engage in future activities, such as consensus with other validators. This set of users are considered the maintainers of the network because they impact the activities that take place on the network.

Kusama’s Treasury consists of funds from transaction fees, lost deposits, the inefficiency of bets and the reduction of penalties. KSM token holders can make an expense proposal by depositing 5% of the amount he proposes to spend with the Treasury. These funds are for the Kusama network. It’s up to the community to decide precisely how the cash flow funds should be spent.

For a proposal to be adopted, it must receive a favorable vote of at least 60% of the board. The deposit will be slashed if the proposal is rejected, or returned if the proposal is accepted. This process takes place every six days.

From a technological point of view, there’s little difference between a parachain and a parathread. The parachain can become a parathread, and vice versa. The real difference between the two is economic: parachains are standalone blockchains with custom tokens and functionality adapted to specific use cases. The parachain connection to the relay chain is present throughout, and the system provides full throughput. A parathread, on the other hand, is a special form of parachain that isn’t constantly associated with the relay chain, and is therefore priced based on pay-as-you-go. Kusama has adopted an operating system that organizes several specified blockchains for various purposes into a network of parachains. 

Parachains got their name from the concept of multiple chains running parallel to the relay chain. This allows them to parallelize, and scale transaction processing. The parachain places at Kusama are limited to 100. If a project wants to get hold of a parachain, it must participate in a parachain auction. Various 

 projects compete for the available places, ensuring the highest level of quality since not every team receives a parachain place. The parachains are maintained by a network maintainer, the so-called collator. The roles of the collator node are to maintain a full node of the parachain, receive all the necessary information of the parachain and produce new block candidates.

What’s so special about the parachains is that they can be adapted for any number of applications. In addition, the parachains are connected to the main Kusama blockchain (relay chain). In this way, they benefit from their network security. To create this community, Kusama uses so-called parachain slot auctions. This is a market-efficient selection of parachains that are added to the Kusama relay chain. Teams that inspire the trust of the KSM community are given preferential treatment. The final decision on everything that happens in the Kusama network (including the timing of the parachain slot auctions) is finally made by the Kusama council and the KSM stakeholders.

How Does the Kusama Parachain Auction Work?

The parachain auction is how projects bid to obtain a parachain on the respective networks. This auction is done through the candle auction process, which dates back to the sixteenth century when auctions were allowed until a real wax candle went out. Uncertainty about the actual end time of the auction was used to reduce bid sniping (this is bidding at the last moment), which was a problem even then. In auction sniping, bids are tightened at the last possible moment so that other participants don’t have the opportunity to react with a higher bid.

When combined with blockchain technology, this method has proven, beneficial properties, especially for achieving efficiency. It’s therefore considered an appropriate mechanism for allocating parachain slots on both Polkadot and Kusama. Unlike the old-style candle auction, the end is determined retrospectively. This means that the auction always has a set, fixed duration to continue bidding, and the actual end block (“terminal block”) is determined randomly only after that time.

Typically, these auctions take place over seven days. The first Kusama parachain was auctioned off in June, and Karura was the highest bidder in this auction. Karura network is an autonomous and all-in-one 

 platform for the Kusama ecosystem. It offers services such as loans, interest, liquid staking, the introduction of stablecoin, and an autonomous exchanger (AMM 

As of early September 2021, KSM was trading at $395.92, according to CoinMarketCap. [

: With the recent downturn in the crypto market, KSM is trading at around $344 as of September 22, 2021.]

 of Kusama is approximately$2.9 billion from a 

How Do I Take Part in Kusama Crowd Loans?

A crowd loan can be similar to a participatory loan. It’s a “fundraising-type” crowdfunding, but in the form of a loan for the duration of a parachain. This allows a project to collect the sum, or part of the sum, necessary (in DOT or KSM loaned) for bidding and obtaining a parachain during auctions on Polkadot or Kusama. 

Therefore, to participate in a Kusama crowd loan, you must identify a specific project that wants to buy a parachain. While the process may differ with each project, they’re all fairly straightforward. Specifically, tokens (KSM in this case) are collected on behalf of the teams, and remain under the custody and security of the “relay chain.” Participating in a crowd loan campaign is safe and secure for users, who can be sure to receive their contributions on one of the two predefined dates.

Kusama and Polkadot are blockchains that operate independently and have different functions. Kusama is more flexible, faster in its governance and more economical to deploy code than its counterpart, Polkadot. On the other hand, Polkadot is more stable, secure and conservative than Kusama. Eventually, the two blockchains will be connected through a bridge, enabling interoperability.

Many parts of the two networks’ codes are identical. – They share the same architecture, nominated Proof-of-Stake (NPoS). Polkadot and Kusama are independent and autonomous networks with different strategies. Kusama is the ideal network for bold experimentation and deployment at an early usage stage, while Polkadot is more conservative, prioritizing stability, security and reliability. 

Governance on Polkadot and Kusama is designed to be fully decentralized and without permission, giving a say in how the network is managed to anyone with the native token (DOT for Polkadot, KSM for Kusama). Thus, over time, the networks will evolve independently, converging or diverging according to their respective communities’ decisions.

The key technical difference between Polkadot and Kusama is that Kusama has changed the governance settings, which allows for very fast upgrades. The Kusama network can be adjusted on short notice should the community decide to implement any changes. Additionally, Kusama is up to four times faster than Polkadot, with a seven-day voting period for KSM holders, followed by seven days to enact the blockchain referendum. On Polkadot, this period is four times longer: the voting period lasts 28 days, followed by a period of promulgation of 28 days. Note, however, that Polkadot will always be the main network for the deployment of applications. 

The Kusama initiative has several advantages and benefits for network users. First, it offers a quick iteration process and allows developers to explore new technologies and ideas that could significantly impact the market. Second, it allows developers who intend to deploy certain applications and parachains on the Polkadot network to predict the performance of planned innovations, based on their experiences on Kusama that have allowed them a testing period.

Over the past year, KSM’s price saw an increase of over 1,124%, from $30 in August 2020 to about $386 in September 2021. KSM hit an all-time high of $623 on May 18, 2021, smarking a 1,242% gain in less than a year of trading. 

 continues to gain mainstream popularity, the need for viable testing platforms like Kusama is now greater than ever. Built to support the growing Web 3.0 ecosystem, Kusama has characteristics almost identical to those of Polkadot. It’s instructive to see how the protocol works independently from the Polkadot network, while complementing Polkadot’s growing system at the same time.

The platform presents a system of democratic functioning which allows for radical innovations. It also allows developers to initiate their specific blockchains from multiple sources and connect them to the main network. Kusama includes the latest and most effective technological tools introduced by the Web3 Foundation and Parity Technologies. It allows developers to use the blockchain facilities provided by the testnet. This helps them launch their blockchain with fast iteration and a well-audited process before deploying to Polkadot, which makes Kusama an integral part of the success DeFi projects enjoy. 

Kusama is a network that functions as a test environment. Developers can experiment and analyze the effectiveness of their code before proceeding with the official launch on the Polkadot network. The Kusama infrastructure allows developers to take advantage of both a more flexible governance system and lower staking requirements than the Polkadot network. Overall, Kusama is a great platform for testing using parachains.

Kusama Coin (KSM): Everything You Need to Know

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