WHY KUSAMA SPENDS MONEY ON SYSTEM COLLATOR (https://kusama.subsquare.io/referenda/630) WITH SIMILAR AMOUNT TO POLKADOT (https://polkadot.subsquare.io/referenda/1832), WHILE KSM NETWORK MARKETCAP VALUE LOWER THAN DOT SO MUCH.
DOES this was discussed with any economics researchers???
You can read through the full costs of the proposal in detail in the linked document: System Parachain Collator Bounty - Topup Request January 2026 ยท GitHub
The cost of running collators is orthogonal to the market capitalization of the chain.
I believe system chains are absolutely essential for the ecosystem.
That said, I would like to raise a few concerns regarding this proposal.
The three curators receive $1,067.48 per month each, across both bounties. If we take the $85/hour rate referenced by the coordinator, are we really expected to believe that each curator dedicates 12 hours per month to these tasks? It is difficult to justify a monthly payment of $1,067.48 per curator for work that appears to require little more than a few clicks.
This concern is further amplified by the fact that the proposals include the amortization of an $8,500 tool, with the cost split between Polkadot and Kusama. The stated purpose of this tool presumably reducing the amount of manual work required from curators. If that is the case, the current level of compensation becomes even harder to understand also for the coordinator.
Additionally, it has been demonstrated that some members receiving payments from this bounty have engaged in commission flipping multiple times within the same day, abusing nominators and, in some cases, operating under multiple identities. These behaviors clearly violate good faith and run counter to the principles promoted by the W3F.
In my view, curators and coordinator compensation should be adjusted to reflect the actual time and effort invested, and bad actors should be removed from the bounty altogether.