Polkadot Soft-Launches Its Experimental 'Canary Network' Kusama

Blockchain interoperability protocol, Polkadot, launched its experimental "Canary network" dubbed Kusama, this morning, Aug. 23.

In order to get off the ground, Kusama was begun as a Proof-of-Authority network.

All validator nodes are currently being run exclusively by the Web3 foundation.

During this initial period much of the functionality is disabled, most notably balance transfers and governance.

Functionality will be limited to staking, sessions and claims modules.

Which Polkadot expect to last from one to four weeks, an upgrade will be introduced to remove Web3's authority over the chain.

Effectively, this will transform Kusama from a centralized PoA network to a decentralized Proof-of-Stake network.

At this point, governance and transfers will be activated, and the Kusama network will be functionally live.

As previously reported by Cointelegraph, the Kusama "Canary network" is a conscious decision to eschew "Fake" test-nets and "Step into this unknown and see what chaos awaits."

Kusama will only exist as long as there is community demand, and Polkadot expects it to unlock new, high-risk functionality and projects that would serve as a preparation stage for development and deployment on Polkadot.