kusama is the testnet for polkadot, everything that gets released into polkadot must first go via kusama. kusama is a test ground and has less strict rules but highly experimental and unstable, eg staking is revoked over in 7 days compared to 28 days on polkadot. sidechain auctions are about half way through for kusama, effectively you are lending your kusama to the sidechain for x time and will be rewarded with sidechain tokens. karura has completed and the first sidechain to go live https://apps.karura.network/earn https://polkadot.network/kusama-parachain-auctions-second-batch/ get a wallet here polkadot.js.org same auctions will be starting on polkadot soon a good time to get prepped. probably a steep learning curve but expect it to be worth your while.
nov 11 is the date of the first polkadot sidechain auction/crowdloan blatant referral link https://acala.network/acala/join-ac...93e6f8419559107a513209fc070ef6a5c196711e83b07 happy to talk any fellow stackers through the process if you need a hand.
How do you keep ahead of all of this? Do you even sleep? I may have to chat with you, but I'm sprinting to keep up with you and @Stoic Phoenix as it is!
moonriver was a clear winner on kusama and many expect it to do the same. this is a handy link to watch the auctions in real time, you can also still try on kusama as auctions have continued. https://parachains.info/auctions#tab-network-polkadot you can see moonriver returned $6131 per kusama, because it followed its name and mooned expect acala and moonbeam to be the top picks as they have build successful platforms but anything can happen in crypto.
I wouldn’t mind having a chat with you at some stage, if you don’t mind. I’d like to crowdloan the moonbeam project, I just have to read a few more things to try and get my head around it all.
I definitely agree with you about 96 weeks being a long time, is that just for 70% of rewards with 30% being available after successful launch?
ok acala have made it super easy if you want to contribute to their crowdloan. your dots are still locked for 2 years but you get icdots that can be pretty much used as dots for staking and trading. 20% aca is unlocked at launch and the rest vested and released over 2 years. once you have the polkadot wallet installed and dots you can just click through, theres 2.5 days left for a 5% bonus, we both get 5% for using my referral link. i just deposited mine I just contributed to the @AcalaNetwork Crowdloan to get my piece of the Ethereum-compatible DeFi and liquidity hub coming soon to @Polkadot. Join now to get a 5% ACA bonus when you contribute! https://acala.network/acala/join-ac...93e6f8419559107a513209fc070ef6a5c196711e83b07
moonbeam just returned 2x of all the dot loaned and unlocked 25% of the moonbeam tokens, did anyone end up doing this?
No i went with Acala, and used all my dot on them, knew i should have gone with Moonbeam. Pretty good return for those that stuck by Moonbeam
acala will still be good, but moonbean has some early killer apps and returns. worth buying some and farming at https://solarflare.io/