Kusama News

Please be aware of scams! Note that Web3 Foundation, Polkadot, or Parity are NOT giving away DOT or KSM!

There is currently a non-binding (system.remark) referendum to redenominate Kusama 100x, just as Polkadot was (1 "old KSM" → 100 "new KSM"). With ~ 2.73% turnout and ~70% voting "aye", the vote is currently failing (but seeing rather high turnout for a Kusama vote). Details here: https://kusama.polkassembly.io/referendum/91

There has been a lot of discussion on "An NFT Strategy for Kusama" - https://kusama.polkassembly.io/post/303

With five candidates, the Kappa Sigma Mu society is growing quickly! https://polkadot.js.org/apps/#/society

Candidate HWjJN... has only a few hours to go for their Kappa Sigma Mu vote and has yet to show proof of ink. They have just received their first rejection. https://polkadot.js.org/apps/?rpc=wss%3A%2F%2Fkusama-rpc.polkadot.io#/society

Web3 Foundation has set up an open-source and low-cost registrar for verifying your identity on-chain. The Kusama version is currently running; the Polkadot version will be up very soon! https://medium.com/web3foundation/w3f-registrar-a043cb2206eb

Interested in making better decisions about which validators to nominate? Check out the Validator Resource Center to automatically select validators based on your preferences. https://colm3na.github.io/kusama-validator-resource-center/

Bruno Škvorc, Kusama Council member, continues to describe why he voted the way he did on all Council decisions. https://bruno.id/council-participation-report-27102020/

There were numerous equivocations in the last few eras, causing slashing in eras 1457 and 1458. https://polkadot.js.org/apps/?rpc=wss%3A%2F%2Fkusama-rpc.polkadot.io#/staking/slashes

Check out how to use the new Bounty extension with Raul's article on Subsocial, "How To Submit a Bounty Proposal On Kusama and Polkadot networks" https://app.subsocial.network/1231/posts/316

Tips and Tricks

The Calendar can show you what events are scheduled for a chain, including elections, era beginnings, and when referenda will be enacted, in an easy to use format. https://polkadot.js.org/apps/?rpc=wss%3A%2F%2Fkusama-rpc.polkadot.io#/calendar

Interested in following along with parachain development? The best place to visit is the Rococo chatroom on Matrix - #rococo:matrix.parity.io

If you only want to store a single seed phrase, but have multiple accounts, look into derived accounts! These are supported natively by Polkadot{.js} extension, Parity Signer, and many other wallets. https://wiki.polkadot.network/docs/en/learn-accounts#address-generation-derivation-and-portability

If you are interested in some of the academic publications coming out of the elections research being done at Web3 Foundation, check out "A verifiably secure and proportional committee election rule" by A. Cevalos and A. Stewart. https://w3f-research.readthedocs.io/en/latest/polkadot/NPoS/2. Paper.html

Interested in seeing why slashes have occurred? You can see details on individual slashes on Polkascan: https://polkascan.io/kusama/inherent?module=grandpa&page=1

Keep up to date with the news on Kusama with Twitter, Telegram or Element.