Hello community,

As announced last year by Björn Wagner and the approved referendum #1177 that will bring to the Polkadot ecosystem the `.DOT` usernames, ensuring easier onboarding of new users by providing them usernames which can be shared for identifying and making transactions instead of the difficulty wallet addresses.

We from PolkaIdentity believe this inniciative should be expanded to Kusama as Polkadot's experimental, fast-paced cousin, provides an excellent testing ground for innovative solutions in production grade environment. Considering that we would like to be add as an Authority at Kusama for issuing `.KSM` usernames.

With our expertise we are aiming to provide a platform for registering and querying the usernames by end of Q2 or beginning of Q3 allowing wallet mobile developers to integrate the service in their wallets pretty soon.

We are making this discussion to hear your thoughts and gather feedback before we start a referendum, you can see our full proposal at: 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PmLdBY8bXB03BCpmSBAaCmv24bPa42A6mOUgo8y_VqE

Who are we?

The team behind PolkaIdentity is composed of individuals who, beyond being friends, have been business partners for over 15 years. Together, they’ve developed more than 50 projects and won dozens of international awards, in multiple niche. PolkaIdentity is the most recent project in this long-standing collaboration.

WinterStamp (Leonardo Custodio)

An accomplished software engineer with ten years of experience, having joined the Polkadot ecosystem four years ago. He has recently graduated from the Polkadot Development Program offered by Sunset Labs and PUCPR in 2024 and is currently a student at the Polkadot Blockchain Academy, Wave 6. His active involvement includes participation in the 1KV program and both cohorts of Decentralized Nodes.

Leonardo is the creator of Polkadart (https://polkadart.dev), a library designed to simplify the development of hybrid applications using Flutter for Polkadot. His leadership has resulted in over six grants delivered to the Web3 Foundation, promoting easier access for developers.

Additionally, he founded PolkaIdentity (https://polkaidentity.com) in Q3 2024, focused on enhancing trust within the Polkadot ecosystem through reliable identity solutions. Leonardo's dedication and contributions to the Polkadot community highlight his passion for advancing blockchain innovation.

Jay Stormy (João Pedro Novochadlo)

João is currently the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at DUX/Decentral, a fintech focused on financial solutions for the creator economy. While rooted in Web2, the company explores Web3-native infrastructure and has received multiple grants—including from the Moonbeam parachain—for its on-chain innovations. Previously, João was Project Manager for Innovation and Artificial Intelligence at the Secretariat of Economic Development of Curitiba (Brazil), where he led city-level strategies around AI, digital identity, and open innovation. He also served as Head of Marketing at Socios.com (Chiliz) in Brazil, where he played a key role in expanding the platform’s presence across Latin America. João is a multi-awarded innovator, with his most recent recognition being the Future Maker award at the 2024 BRICS Solutions Awards, where he represented Brazil among over 1,300 global applicants.