Karura Network Raises $100M in Push for A Slot in Kusama Parachain Auction

Decentralized finance network, Karura has raised $100 million ahead of the parachain auctions of Polkadot's canary network, Kusama.

The money, equivalent to 200,000 KSM tokens, came from a crowd loan that included more than 8,500 contributors from Karura's portal.

Kaura's Contributors Gain KAR Tokens

In an announcement, Karura disclosed that more than 900 addresses on the Kraken exchange also contributed to the funding round.

For every Kusama native token (KSM) given, the contributors gained 12 Karura's native token (KAR) back. These KAR tokens can be used once Karura's parachain lease ends after 48 weeks.

Karura disclosed that it is planning on running a parachain that provides a full suite of decentralized finance (DeFi) services on Kusama. This would include a cross-chain automated market maker and a stablecoin collateralized by various cross-chain assets.

Karura is the sister network of Acala, one of Polkadot's early DeFi hubs. Both Karura and Acala are backed by some of the biggest venture funds in the crypto industry, like Coinbase Ventures.

Co-founder and CEO of Acala and Karura Ruitao Su, said that the incredible support Karura has received so far depicts a growing demand for interoperable, decentralized financial products. Bette Chen, Karura's co-founder and COO, added:

“We are blown away by the community support for Karura's launch, as we bring DeFi to the Kusama community. It's exciting to see the community embrace this new, ethical, effective model for bootstrapping blockchain projects. We are making history together.”

Karura is a token trading application built to provide users with a platform to build and use scalable DeFi applications without large transaction fees and external operations between chains.

Acala plans to operate its DeFi parachains on Polkadot and Kusama to serve both communities. Eventually, both networks will be interoperable once Polkadot and Kusama are bridged. DOT -1.29% Polkadot / USD DOTUSD $ 5.98
-$0.08-1.29% Volume 105.21 m Change -$0.08 Open $5.98 Circulating 1.17 b Market Cap 7 b 1 y Bitcoin and Ether Breaks Trend With Outflows While Altcoins Continue to See Inflows 1 y SBI Holdings to Launch Japan’s First Crypto Fund; Including BTC, ETH, DOT, LINK, LTC, XRP & BCH 1 y Solana Unaffected by Price Jitters while Bitcoin, Ether, Polkadot, and Cardano Post Outflows KSM -0.88% Kusama / USD KSMUSD $ 33.16
-$0.29-0.88% Volume 7.89 m Change -$0.29 Open $33.16 Circulating 8.47 m Market Cap 280.89 m 1 y DeFi Hub Acala Network Secures First Spot In Polkadot’s Parachain Auction 1 y Bitcoin’s Longest Slump Since May Severs its Pandemic-era Correlation With Tech Stocks 1 y Big Week Ahead? Bitcoin Rallies Towards ATH, Ether Sets A New High, Crypto Marks Hits $3 Trillion

Founded in 2019 by Gavin Wood, Kusama is a multi-chain network that allows blockchains to connect for interoperability, scalability, and plug-and-play network security.

Demand Of DOT And KSM Tokens Surge

The past week has been somewhat bullish for DOT and KSM. This may be because network developers are buying the tokens to bid for Parachain slots on the projects.

Another factor that can be attributed to the bullish trend of the assets is Venture capitalist Master Ventures' recent announcement.

Master Ventures announced its launch of a $30 million venture to support and finance Parachain bids of tier-1 blockchain projects who want to win a Parachain slot on the Polkadot Relay Chain.

The firm also noted that its proceeds would assist early-stage projects in launching atop the Polkadot and Kusama ecosystems.

This announcement caused DOT to rise by up to 27.91% to $29.21 last week. Kusama's KSM also climbed by up to 39.35% to $511.91 in the same period.