Kusama’s (KSM) first parachain auction goes live next week
One of the most-awaited features of the high-speed, ‘expect chaos’ blockchain will go live later this month.
The Kusama network will see its first-ever parachain ‘auction’ next week after a council vote passed yesterday, a blog post showed.
“Motion 310 is now up for vote: proposing to open the first auction on Kusama Network, for the next 7 days,” the post read, with the entire process conducted on-chain to ensure security and transparency.
Motion 310 has passed council to open the first parachain auction, and the very first auction on yours truly has now taken flight!
ₑₓₚₑcₜ cₕₐₒₛ.https://t.co/7NQmI9chyw— kusama (@kusamanetwork) June 15, 2021
Members of the broader community were seemingly ecstatic: “A truly historic moment, please come back to this motion in 10 years!,” commented Phala Network CEO Marvin Tong on the governance page.
On Kusama parachains and auctions
Kusama—dubbed the more experimental, ‘chaotic’ version of Polkadot—allows developers to develop fast, multichain, staking-enabled applications over a network that prides itself as a sandbox for experiments and early-stage project deployment.
The KSM token is used to govern both the platform’s decisions and for taking part in auctions. The latter allows accepted projects to form a parachain, or an independent blockchain running over the Kusama blockchain with its set of codes, tokens, and rules coded in.
For each auction, every project with the most KSM bonded to support its bid will be able to claim the auctioned parachain slot. Projects may, in turn, and at their discretion, give rewards to contributors who support their winning bid.
But while demand is unlimited, not everyone gets to deploy on the Kusama network: Unlike Ethereum or Binance Smart Chain, where anyone and everyone can issue a token, the Kusama network using a community-governed method to let projects deploy their blockchains over itself, meaning an auction “slot” is a rather prized piece of real estate on the protocol.
Hundreds of projects are vying to launch on Kusama. And now with the parachain auctions slated for next week, those aims are even closer.
Meanwhile, crypto exchange Kraken extended support for all upcoming Kusama parachains on its platform earlier this month. Clients, excluding those in select jurisdictions, can participate parachain auctions and potentially earn rewards for doing so.
“Parachain Auctions open up a whole new vista for cryptocurrency holders so they can back projects that will likely make substantive changes to various aspects of our lives. Kraken is proud to support these activities, as our role is to be a key infrastructure provider for the space,” said Jeremy Welch, Kraken’s Chief Product Officer, in a statement at the time.
KSM holders are arguably ecstatic right now.