How to become part of the Polkadot/Kusama ecosystem

The first few hours and days understanding the Polkadot/Kusama/Substrate ecosystem can be rough. Where do you start your journey? Where do you get information? What can you trust?

To find your way around, we created this little guide with the most important websites and communities for your journey into the ecosystem.

We will look into:

• Core information and sources
• News & Latest Developments
• Social Media

This article is also available as video: https://youtu.be/lxRS-3qAEeM

Core Information & Sources

The single most important source when you are just starting out is the official Polkadot Wiki. It explains basic concepts and is not shy to go deep an relevant concepts that they introduce into the blockchain world. The Kusama Wiki will go into details where things get more experimental or might be different from Polkadot.

On-Chain

To get insights into what is happening on-chain, use the Polkadot.js.org App (aka Portal) and see what is happening in governance via Polkassembly.

Explorers

There are three commonly known blockchain explorers, these are subscan.io, polkascan.io and polkastats.io

Official Channels

The Community page offers all the channels. Communication of the core community happens mostly in Riot/Element.

Price

The best aggregator for price information so far is dotmarketcap.com. They also offer info on Tokens and Tokenomics.

News & Latest Developments

YouTube

The YouTube Bubble isn't too big yet and next to yours truly, only a few channels exist:

• KryptosChain: Daily News, mostly about the Dotsama ecosystem
• PromoTeam: Updates on the relevant developments
• Crypto Elementary: Parachain Auctions and Technicals so far
• Jay Chrawnna: A lot of FAQ explainers and commentary on Parachain Slot Auctions
• DotsamaDeFi: Focus on DeFi

Podcasts

• Parachain Auctions Podcast by Kraken
• Layer 0 Podcast by Teriyaki Don

Social Media

• The ecosystem has a strong Twitter game with a lot of core people participating there. Our Twitter account has curated lists of important channels: Lists
• Medium is another medium where a lot of information is exchanged. Again, a list of channels we follow can give you a jump start.
• Subsocial is an actual dedicated Social Network built on Substrate. Which means as long as you can't buy tokens and the faucet is only giving you a little, you will mostly be able to read there.
• Reddit game is weak so far but you can find a lot of questions being answered in the offical Subreddits.

Ready to become part of the system?

Then start by staking your KSM right on chain and earn higher interest than on exchanges: Don't just let your KSM sit in your account doing nothing while you wait for the right moment. You can earn interest on your KSM and also support our channel.

Get all the details here: Alice und Bob want your nomination!