Testing on the Rococo network is near its completion. All main Kusama projects have tried out the crowdloan auction scheme. During the test, all projects were able to participate in the slot auction and try connecting to the main network as a parachain. Previously, these participants have tried interchain transactions in the Rococo testnet and some other parachain features.

Thanks to this testing and the active community support now we can tell with some sort of confidence what projects are more prepared for slot auctions and thus can predict what projects will make it to the list of the 10 auction winners that will get connected to Kusama as its first parachains. If you want, you can always check the latest news on Parachain News. This is just a prediction, and the actual outcome may be totally different. Also, we don’t plan to review all projects that will participate in the slot auctions, and this is our subjective point of view. You can do your own research to form your opinion. You can find more information about Polkadot projects on PromoTeam YouTube Channel.

What are parachain auctions and how do they work?

To understand why the auctions are important, first, let’s explain how it works from a technical point of view. Kusama (and also Polkadot in the future) serves as a Relay chain that interconnects all parallel chains (parachains) in its ecosystem. All parachains have their own governance and functions, but their security is rooted in the Relay chain. Currently, there’s a limited amount of available parachain slots that can be connected to the relay chain, hence all projects have to compete for these slots in automated decentralized auctions. You can read more about Polkadot and Kusama auctions and their rules in the article «What is Polkadot Parachain Auction and how it will reveal the hidden power of the Polkadot ecosystem» or watch our review Hidden Dimonds of Polkadot | Kusama Ecosytem / Parachain auction strategy.

Very soon all major projects will publish their strategies of slot auction participation, but only a few have done it so far, so we’ll make a comparative article as soon as they’ll be ready.

Participants of the auction

Now let’s get back to the ecosystem projects. For convenience, we’ll divide them into 3 groups.

The first group contains two infrastructure projects that are very important for the Kusama ecosystem, the bridges, connecting Kusama with Bitcoin and Ethereum.

The second group includes the projects that were in the Kusama community for a long time and thus clearly declared their intention to join Kusama as parachains instead of Polkadot. They have a strong technical background, a history of Rococo testnet participation and are deemed generally as the projects with big potential.

The third group includes the projects that weren’t very active in the ecosystem previously or were doing their work in a secretive manner, but some of them may also participate in the auctions and join as parachains to Kusama.

When the Kusama will be ready for auctions we will face the influx of new projects. Every 3–4 weeks a new batch of projects will be connected to Kusama as parachains. The plan is to connect about 30 parachains in the first year. So we have to expect much more than just 10 auctions.

The first group — infrastructure projects

These are infrastructure projects for the common good of the Kusama ecosystem.

These projects will get their parachain slots in Kusama without auctions thanks to the decision of the Kusama Council. Cross-chain communication is crucial for the success of Polkadot and Kusama, that’s why bridges with Bitcoin and Ethereum have such great importance and don’t have to compete for slots with other projects.

These bridges are funded by Web3 Foundation grants, and they are the official, tested bridges, distributed in open-source format and fully audited by Web3F, Parity, the community and third-party auditors. These parachains, PolkaBTC and Snowfork will become the first Kusama parachains and will allow users to transfer liquidity from the Bitcoin and Ethereum networks to the Kusama ecosystem, which will benefit the subsequent auctions.

Also one of the first parachain connections will be Kusama and Polkadot. Kusama may become the first parachain of Polkadot, by the decision of Polkadot and Kusama councils. And by the way, there are plans to add 10M DOT to Kusama chain to support Kusama value and maybe fund the pool for crosschain transactions or represent Kusama in Polkadot council. The final decision will be on Kusama Council.

The second group

This group includes the biggest projects of the Kusama infrastructure that are very likely to be on the list of its first parachains.

The leaders — Acala/Karura and Plasm/Shiden

There are 2 leaders competing for everyone’s attention — Acala (its parachain for Kusama will be called Karura) and Plasm (Shiden for Kusama).

Acala / Karura Network and Plasm / Shiden Network Infographics

Karura is the ecosystem’s monetary hub, and Shiden is a smart contract platform that aggregates all technologies related to smart contracts and their scaling, as the smart contract functionality isn’t available on the basic layer of Polkadot and Kusama. Both teams are very active on the Rococo testnet and usually are the first to try out all new Kusama features.

However, after the auction, everything can change, as we don’t know yet the details and conditions of participation that the teams will offer. One thing seems certain: both will be among the first parachains because indeed they are very mature, both are being in development for more than 2 years, have excellent technical teams and active communities. Both projects prepare their referral programs that will allow auction participants and promoters to earn token rewards. These two are the undoubted leaders of the race.

Other high-quality projects in the 2nd group

Robonomics, Bifrost, Phala, Crust, Darwinia, KILT and Moonbeam represent another batch of highly praised projects for Polkadot. Let’s see what can they bring to the Kusama ecosystem.

Robonomics

Robonomics has one of the most technically advanced teams in the Polkadot space building infrastructure for the Internet of Things, robots, smart contracts and their interaction with each other and with people. The most futuristic and at the same time down-to-earth project, which has no reason not to become a parachain of the first wave. It will definitely become a parachain in near future. (www.robonomics.network)

Bifrost

Bifrost is a serious DeFi project featuring KSM and DOT staking and providing DeFi liquidity. The Bifrost team is building bridges with EOS, ETH, and has many other platform bridges and additional features in the plans. With the active development, it could become a significant part of the infrastructure of Kusama and Polkadot. Unlike Akala and Plasma, Bifrost doesn’t have a separate network for Kusama, and all Bitfrost auction participants on Kusama will get the same tokens as they will get in the future Polkadot auction. (www.bifrost.finance)

Phala Network

Phala Network is a lightweight, powerful and secure platform for creating confidential smart contracts and services built on this technology. The platform uses TEE (Trusted Execution Environment) hardware that will allow Plasm to become the new decentralized cloud for confidential computing. It has a good chance to connect to Kusama, thanks to its well-thought tokenomics, several projects that are already using Phala to build services on top of this blockchain, and an enthusiastic community. (www.phala.network)

Crust Network

Crust Network is a decentralized cloud storage for Web 3.0, also with good prospects to become a parachain after the first auction. It has successfully passed a series of testnet launches, has a ton of real use applications and collaborations with two dozen ecosystem projects. In fact, this is an IPFS infrastructure for the Kusama ecosystem, a strong competitor to Filecoin. (www.crust.network)

Darwinia Network

Darwinia Network is a decentralized cross-chain bridge network building on Substrate, which provides general bridge solution, connecting Ethereum, TRON and other heterogeneous chains by cross-chain assets transfer and general remote chain call. Also, its main application areas include Defi, cross-chain NFT trading market, games, etc. Darwinia has advanced very far in building its infrastructure and community, and definitely can try to get its slot in the first wave of parachains. (www.darwinia.network)

Moonbeam / Moonriver

Moonbeam — EVM implementation and smart contract platform, it’s a highly specialized Layer 1.5 chain that mirrors Ethereum’s Web3 RPC, accounts, keys, subscriptions, logs, and more. The Moonbeam platform extends the base Ethereum feature set with additional features such as on-chain governance, staking, and cross-chain integrations. Moonbeam will be presented as Moonriver on Kusama. This project is an alternative or the direct competitor to Plasm.(www.moonbeam.network)

KILT

KILT provides a base layer for verifiable credentials in the Web 3.0 world. Using the benefits of blockchain, They are going to bring real-world accreditation to the digital world, creating a way for businesses to verify credentials and bring trust to a whole new level. KILT won the third place in the test auction, if they can market their project well to the community, they will probably be included in the first wave of parachains. (www.kilt.io)

The third group — work in progress

The third group is for projects that are still in development or have not expressed yet their plans to connect as a parachain, or there’s too little information available about their team or the details of their product. These projects can also become parachains in the future — both in the first and subsequent waves. In any case, it would be good to be informed about them.

ChainX / SherpaX

ChainX — ChainX, digital asset gateway and Polkadot second-layer relay chain,To realize cross-chain asset exchange, leading the new direction of Bitcoin Cross-DEFi. The project began development a long time ago, but went on hold for a long time, and started to show signs of life only recently, in the wake of the future parachain auctions. They have a very weak Github activity. (www.chainx.org)

Zenlink

Zenlink is committed to building a new generation of cross-chain DEX network. By integrating the Zenlink DEX Module, Zenlink can enable parachains to quickly possess DEX capabilities and share liquidity with other parachains. www.zenlink.pro

HydraDX

A unique solution enables putting all assets into one shared liquidity pool — unlocking unparalleled efficiency. It’s a good idea, but it’s still in the development phase. However, that’s a very interesting fresh approach to DeFi, the team is trying to reinvent the established format of liquidity pools, and it’s very active in the parachain race. We’re waiting for a testnet to see their features in action and make conclusions about the product. (www.hydradx.io)

Equilibrium

A cross-chain money market that combines pooled lending with synthetic asset generation and trading. Not launched yet. A team has a banking background, they plan to provide the tools to operate with synthetic instruments and bring the best elements from the classical financial system to DeFi. (www.equilibrium.io)

Subsocial

An open platform for decentralized social networks and marketplaces. It’s censorship-resistant and has built-in monetization methods. Built with Polkadot and IPFS tech stack. That’s a high-profile project with the support of the Polkadot community and Web3Foundation. Subsocial has great chances to become a parachain very soon.(www.subsocial.network)

Centrifuge

Centrifuge is the protocol for decentralized asset finance. An interesting idea and a talented team. We’re waiting for more details and their propositions for the Kusama ecosystem. (www.centrifuge.io)

Litentry

This network supports cross-chain aggregated identities. Built on Substrate.(www.litentry.com)

PolkaFoundry

It’s a platform for creating borderless and frictionless DeFi & NFT apps.(www.polkafoundry.com)

MathChain

Layer 2 blockchain built on Substrate (www.mathchain.org)

DataHighway

A sophisticated IoT parachain based on Polkadot, that allows its users to stake, govern, mine and otherwise participate in the network using the new DHX token, its associated Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) and Inter-Chain Data Market. (www.datahighway.com)

Bit.Country

Start your own bit country. Metaverse, NFTs & Token Economy.(www.bit.country)

SubDAO

It is a DAO infrastructure based on Polkadot, where any decentralized organization is allowed to conveniently create and manage a DAO. SubDAO does not only connect DAO with DApps to realize DAO’s cross-chain management but also bridges Web 2.0 and Web 3.0. Dao concept for Kusama ecosystem, great idea. There’s a strong demand for such functionality, and we hope that this project also will provide us a good product in near future. (www.subdao.network)

Encointer

Encointer is a fundamental redesign of money. Based on the principle of equal opportunity every human gets a universal basic income and a digital ID without relying on a central authority. (www.encointer.org)

Edgeware

Edgeware is a smart contract chain with a community-managed treasury, decentralised proposal system and network of DAOs. Old project with a good background, but it has not revealed the plans to become a parachain yet. It’s probable that they will participate in the second auction wave, or stay parathread. (www.edgewa.re)

More updates in the future!

We’ll continue adding more information to this article as it becomes available, as we get feedback and new details from teams and the community. We’ll add new participants when they announce their plans of joining the network. You can add this article to your bookmarks and check it from time to time. Stay tuned! If you liked this article please share it on your social networks to increase awareness about the Kusama ecosystem.

This article reflects our team’s personal view, it can be changed in the future and it expresses our opinions about the mentioned projects and their perspectives in the parachain ecosystem. It can play out differently after a while.

Authors:

Idea and text — Alex PromoTeam ( Polkadot Head Ambassador for Russia and PromoTeam lead) / Text and corrections — Naikee / Pictures and infographics — Valeriia Panina ( Designer & Polkadot cand.Ambassador) / Sirius Lee (Copywriter/translator, cand.Ambassador)

Huobi

Huobi is a strong supporter of the Polkadot Community and released in December 2020 several initiatives that can make an important impact on Polkadot Ecosystem and all web3 movement. You can read more here.

You can also trade tokens of some projects mentioned in this article on Huobi:

Robonomics $XRT / Phala $PHA / Crust $CRU / Darwinia $Ring / and of course $KSM and $DOT

There are more Huobi initiatives connected to Polkadot Ecosystem coming soon! Stay tuned! This article also posted on Huobi Medium.

What is PromoTeam?

PromoTeam — is the international team of Polkadot fans with experience and professional abilities: We excel in community growth, business communications and strategy, promotion, advertising, mathematics, programming, entrepreneurship, and many others areas. Our main goal is to increase adoption and the value of the Substrate ecosystem. By nurturing a grassroots community and involving as many people as we can. Our mission is to give the Polkadot and Substrate community the utility it needs to promote Polkadot ecosystem.

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