While Ethereum is slowly transitioning to ETH 2.0, other blockchain networks such as Polkadot have been attracting developers and users into their ecosystems. Polkadot’s low-latency, high throughput network uses sharding mechanisms to facilitate faster and cheaper transactions, overcoming the issues that plague Ethereum.

Polkadot’s “canary network” Kusama is all set to start the second batch of parachain auctions on September 1st. A lot of projects building on Kusama are keen to have a fully dedicated parachain slot, but not everyone is going to get a slot. For the uninitiated, here’s a quick overview of Polkadot, Kusama, and parachain auctions.

Polkadot, Kusama, and parachains: An overview

Polkadot is a fully decentralized web 3.0 blockchain platform that aims to bridge the independent blockchains to facilitate seamless communication and asset transfer between them. More than 350 dApps use Polkadot. Kusama is the “canary network” of Polkadot. It’s where developers test new features and code before rolling them out on Polkadot. Since Kusama is designed to facilitate testing, it gives developers a lot of flexibility. Its governance parameters are also less stringent than Polkadot. Polkadot (DOT) and its sister network Kusama (KSM) have two different types of blockchains: – Relay Chain: This is the main network where transactions are settled – Parachains: These are user-created custom blockchains attached to the Relay Chain.