What is Crowdloan (Polkadot and Kusama)?

A crowdloan is a process through which parachain teams building on Polkadot or Kusama enable outside investors to stake their DOT or KSM tokens within a parachain slot, for the purpose of increasing their allocated number of tokens — thereby strengthening the chances of winning a parachain slot auction. If successful, the project will be able to operate their parachain in the Polkadot Relay Chain or the Kusama Rococo Relay Chain for a period of 6 months to 2 years, with the possibility of extension prior to expiration. Winning teams are able to structure their crowdloan in numerous ways, rewarding their various contributors how they want.