Coin98 Insights

Save

Copy link

What is Kusama? Everything you need to know about KSM Token

Polkadot is well-known by a large number of crypto-enthusiastics, but there are still some who are unfamiliar with or have never heard of Kusama, one of Polkadot's critical components.

vytran

Published Aug 12 2020

Updated May 17 2024

4 min read

What is Kusama?

Before jumping into the concept of Kusama, let me first remind you of the Polkadot concept to quickly grasp the main idea of the Polkadot architecture and functionality. Polkadot architecture combines Relay Chain (the central chain), parachains (Layer 1 blockchains linked to Relay Chain), parathreads, and bridge.

The Polkadot Relay Chain is commonly known by the name "Polkadot."

Kusama, a canary network of Polkadot, was born in July 2019 as another Relay chain and will serve as a proving ground, allowing teams and developers to build and deploy a parachain or try out Polkadot’s functionality in a real environment.

In short, Kusama is an experimental and development network of Polkadot.

Learn more: What is Polkadot?

website kusama — Kusama Website: https://kusama.network/

How does Kusama work?

Kusama is built using Substrate and has nearly the same codebase as Polkadot. The network is an experimental development environment for teams who want to move fast and innovate on Kusama, or prepare for deployment on Polkadot.

Gateway to launch any custom blockchain

For projects who want to enter the Polkadot Ecosystem, Kusama will provide some of the noteworthy features for developers to choice:

Fast iteration: Kusama is ideal for lean startups looking to move fast and iterate by lowering the barriers for projects to entry.
Valuable experience: Because Kusama and Polkadot share nearly the same codebase, it is a good idea to start building on Kusama first to test the real economic environment before fine-tuning on Polkadot.
Advanced Technologies: Because of its experimental features, Kusama will be upgraded with the latest tech from Parity Technologies and Web3 Foundation in the hands of developers, even before those features make it to Polkadot.

compare polkadot kusama — Kusama & Polkadot Comparision

Detailed information about KSM token

KSM Token Metrics

Token Name: Kusama
Ticker: KSM
Blockchain: Kusama
Token Standard: Updating…
Contract: Updating…
Token Type: Utility and Governance
Total Supply: 10,000,000 KSM
Circulating Supply: 8.980.098 KSM

KSM Token Allocation

Updating…

KSM Token Release Schedule

Updating…

KSM Token Use Case

Similar to DOT Token, KSM is the native token of Kusama Network which has the following use cases:

Staking to do Validator.
Parachain Auction: When a project wants a slot for Parachain, they will have to go for an auction and when the auction is successful, this KSM number will be locked.
KSM is the governance token of Kusama.

How to get KSM Token

Updating…

How to buy KSM Token

You can buy KSM through these exchange: Binance, Kraken, Gate.io, MEXC Global, AEX,...

How to store KSM

You can store KSM token on Coin98 Wallet with these simple steps:

Step 1: Open Coin98 Wallet & click Receive on the home screen.

Step 2: Search KSM Token.

Step 3: Click on the correct result, copy the wallet address and send KSM to this address.

Team, Investors, and Partners

Team

Gavin Wood, co-founder of Ethereum, the founder of the Solidity programming language, wrote the Yellow Paper for the Ethereum Virtual Machine, and served as the first Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of the Ethereum Foundation.

Investors

Updating…

Partners

Kusama will be supported by Web3 Foundation as a part of Polkadot Ecosystem.

Roadmap and Updates

The 17th auction of the Parachain Slot Auction in Kusama is currently ongoing, with a total of 35 auctions planned. The first auction began on June 15th, 2021, and the final auction (also the 35th) will begin on May 4th, 2022, and end on May 11th, 2022.

Is KSM a good investment?

I hope that you have understood what Kusama is with the information mentioned above. This article should give you a deep insight into the project, so there is no financial advice. You should Do Your Own Research before conducting any investment and be responsible for your own fund.

However, Coin98 will provide some notable points about the project to give you the best overview to make your own decisions.

Kusama Ecosystem

Kusama now already has integrated 19 parachain. One of its notable parachains is Karura (sister of Acala), Moonriver (sister of Moonbeam), Shiden (sister of Astar),... These parachains have runned on Kusama for a long time and matured over with the Kusama ecosystem. Kusama has specific-purpose parachains for everything from DeFi to identity and supply chain, gaming and NFTs, IoT, DAOs, and more.

Until now, after launching the 17th auction, a total of 19 projects on Kusama (except two common good parachains named Statemine & Encointer) have been funded for nearly $850M in order to secure a parachain slot on Kusama.

Furthermore, despite just being a Polkadot experimental network, Kusama's TVL is now around $3.2 billion (compared to other layer 1 blockchains' TVLs of $5-10 billion). Kusama has demonstrated its ability to function independently and successfully alongside Polkadot.

project on polkadot kusama — Top Projects on Polkadot & Kusama. Source: Coin98 Analytics

You can also invest in good projects on its parachain, such as those on Moonriver, Karura, and others. Remember that the Kusama and Polkadot relationships are in some ways interconnected but also distinct, and that most people will only be familiar with Polkadot if they first hear about the Polkadot ecosystem. As a result, Kusama may be less intriguing to new people (as well as new money flow) than Polkadot.