Kusama Price

What Is Kusama (KSM)?

Kusama, a public blockchain network running on the same codebase as Polkadot, describes itself as “the wild cousin of Polkadot.” It can also be described as Polkadot's “canary network,” a highly experimental environment for new features that are eventually deployed to Polkadot. It offers a low barrier to entry for those looking to launch their own custom blockchain project.

Kusama acts as a virtual copy of Polkadot, allowing a realistic testing environment for blockchain projects. Due to its experimental nature, Kusama is faster and gives developers more flexibility while finalizing the Polkadot projects' designs.

Although some may think of Kusama as only a testnet, it’s more than that. As a development environment for Polkadot, Kusama is faster, allowing users to try new technologies and prepare for full Polkadot deployment.

What Is KSM?

The KSM token is the native crypto of the Kusama network, similar to DOT within the Polkadot network. The initial distribution of the KSM token was similar to that of the DOT token. If you participated in the Polkadot ICO, you have access to the same number of KSM tokens you purchased during the Polkadot ICO. This encourages token holders to use the KSM network, and has greatly helped in KSM’s development.

What Is Kusama (KSM) Used For?

The KSM token plays an important role in operating and maintaining the Kusama network. By staking KSM, users can vote on network upgrades, with each vote proportional to the amount of KSM tokens they stake. You can also stake KSM, as it allows you to use one account to store your funds and another account to control your staking. 

Two types of blockchains are used by Kusama to process every transaction: Relay chains and parachains. The relay chain is the main network, and is responsible for coordinating the system as a whole. Parachains are user-generated networks which can be customized for any number of use cases, and feed into the main blockchain (i.e., relay chain).

Who Is the Founder of Kusama (KSM)?

Kusama was founded in 2016 by the creators of Polkadot: Dr. Gavin Wood, Peter Czaban and Rober Habermeier. 

Gavin Wood also invented Solidity, which developers use to write decentralized applications (DApps) on Ethereum. In 2015, he founded a company called Parity Technologies that maintains Substrate, a software development framework used by Kusama developers who wish to create parachains. 

Parity Technologies has an extensive team of some of the most successful blockchain engineers. Wood is also the president of the Web3 Foundation, which handled the token sale for Polkadot. Additionally, Kusama was funded by grants from the Web3 Foundation.

How Does Kusama (KSM) Work?

Two types of blockchains can be created using the Kusama network.

Relay Chain: This is the main blockchain, where every transaction is finalized. To make the process faster, the relay chain separates the addition of new transactions from the process of validating transactions.

Parachains: These are custom blockchains that are globally coherent and validatable by the validators of the relay chain. As the name suggests, these chains run parallel to the relay chain. Due to their parallel nature, they can process transactions in parallel to achieve scalability for the Kusama system. The great thing about launching a parachain with Kusama is that it has low bond requirements. In fact, the requirements are much lower than that of Polkadot.

Relay Chain

The Kusama Relay Chain uses a variation of the proof of stake (PoS) consensus mechanism, called nominated proof of stake (NPoS), which keeps the network in agreement about the state of the system. This system permits anyone who stakes KSM (by locking it in a special smart contract) to execute one or more of the following roles required for its operation:

Validators: They’re responsible for maintaining the network by adding new blocks and reaching consensus with other validators. They validate data in parachain blocks, participate in consensus and vote on proposed changes to the network. While the PoS system rewards them, they can also get slashed if they’re acting maliciously, making it detrimental to the network. “Slashing” means that validators can get penalised and lose a predefined percentage of their stake if they are found to be misbehaving. Validators are chosen every 24 hours.

Nominators: They secure the relay chain by selecting trustworthy validators. Anyone can be a nominator. Nominators help allocate votes for validators by delegating their coins to the chosen validators. They receive a part of the block rewards, which are earned by the validators that they’ve voted for.

Users who stake KSM and execute these roles are eligible to receive KSM rewards.

KSM Governance

Software development of Kusama can be influenced by the following three types of Kusama users:

The Referendum Chamber: This includes all KSM holders, and is responsible for submitting, approving or rejecting change proposals. The group votes on the proposals to determine the ones that go forward. Members can apply to become council members, and can also vote for council members.

The Council: Elected by KSM holders, The Council consists of 13 members who are responsible for proposing changes and determining which changes make it to the software. A vote is cast every 24 hours to select the council members. The Council is expected to increase in size as the community grows.

The Technical Committee:Elected by the council members, this group can make special proposals in an emergency. Their role is to determine how critical each proposal is, and to decide — along with the Council members — whether or not it should be fast-tracked.

Kusama’s governance process begins with these three governance actors. The Referendum Chamber can make a proposal (or the Council can submit its proposal), and the technical committee can make emergency proposal submissions. All three can alter the Kusama protocol.

Why Is Kusama (KSM) Valuable?

Kusama holds a unique place in the testnet market, and is considered one of the most productive. The high speed of Kusama leads to lucrative opportunities for investors and users alike. It shares the same innovative and reliable codebase as that of Polkadot. 

KSM is highly valuable, and is positioned to be a market leader for DApp production and blockchain development with its forward-thinking design. Therefore, it’s likely to remain one of the most active and useful testnets in the market for many years to come. 

What Makes Kusama (KSM) Unique?

Kusama aims to assist a wide range of developers who seek to innovate cutting-edge blockchain projects and deploy them. Developers use Kusama to test their applications before deploying on Polkadot, as it offers the latest tech tools from Parity Technologies and the Web3 Foundation before they’re implemented on Polkadot. As mentioned, it was founded to become a testnet for Polkadot.

Structure

The foundation layer of both Polkadot and Kusama are its parachains. Kusama and Polkadot use the same set of actors to maintain the network: Nominators, collators, validators and governance actors. It's a diverse set of participants, who work together to ensure the security, stability and evolution of the network.

Speed of Governance System

The on-chain governance process on the Kusama protocol is four times faster than that of Polkadot. This doesn’t mean that Kusama is faster, but rather that there’s a shorter time between governance events — such as proposing new referenda, voting, and enacting approved upgrades. This helps Kusama to adapt and evolve faster than Polkadot. Deployment on Kusama is faster and cheaper than on Polkadot, true to its nature as a testing ground.

Kusama and Polkadot operate independently and have different functions. Kusama is faster, due to its flexible and experimental nature. It’s also more economical to deploy code on Kusama than on Polkadot. However, Polkadot is more secure and stable than Kusama.

Both networks are independent and autonomous, but with different strategies. While Kusama is ideal for bold experimentation and deployment at an early usage stage, Polkadot is more conservative, prioritizing stability, security and reliability.

How Many KSM Tokens Are in Circulation? 

At the time of this writing (June 16, 2022), KSM price is $56.77, with a 24-hour trading volume of more than $125 million. Kusama has a live market cap of approximately $481 million, with a circulating supply of 8,470,098 KSM, or 88% of the total supply of 9,651,217 KSM.

The highest price achieved by KSM is $623.75 on May 18, 2021, while the lowest price is $0.9158 achieved on January 14, 2020.

Unlike some other blockchains, the max supply isn’t fixed, and changes at a 10% annual inflation rate. The distribution of newly minted KSM tokens is proportional to KSM that are staked. 

If exactly half of all KSM is staked, Kusama validators receive 100% of newly minted tokens. However, if it’s above or below 50%, some of the inflation rewards will go to the Kusama Treasury, a pot of funds used to provide financial support for projects that promote the development of the Kusama network.

How to Store KSM

You can store your KSM in two ways:

• Storing your KSM coins through Polkadot{.js} wallet

• Download the polkadot{.js} wallet extension

• Create your polkadot {.js} wallet

• Access your polkadot{.js} wallet

• Storing your KSM coins through the Ledger hardware wallet

• Install the Kusama app

• Access your Kusama wallet

• You can select a wallet per your preference. It's important to know how to keep your cryptocurrency safe, before investing.

How to Buy KSM

You can buy KSM from any of the top crypto exchanges, including Bybit. 

Buying KSM on Bybit 

To purchase KSM on Bybit, simply follow these steps:

1. Head to the spot trading page of KSM. 

2. Select your trading pair on the left side of the page. For KSM, you can only trade with USDT.

3. Choose the type of order you’d like to make: Limit Order, Market Order or Conditional Order.

For Limit Orders:

1. Select Limit.

2. Enter the order price.

3. Enter the number of KSM you want to buy.

4. Click on Buy KSM.

5. Once you’ve confirmed that your information is correct, click on Buy KSM.

6. View your order details under Active on the web page, or Orders if you’re using the Bybit app.

For Market Orders:

1. Select Market.

2. Enter the amount in USDT that you’ve paid to buy KSM.

3. Click on Buy KSM.

4. Once you’ve confirmed that your information is correct, click on Buy KSM.

5. View your order details under Filled.

For Conditional Orders:

1. Select Conditional.

2. Enter the trigger price.

3. Choose to execute at Market Price or Limit Price.

1. Market Price: Order price need not be set.

2. Limit Price: Order price needs to be set.

4. According to order types:

1. Market Buy: Enter the amount of USDT you’ve paid to buy KSM.

2. Limit Buy: Enter the number of KSM you want to buy.

5. Click on Buy KSM.

6. Once you’ve confirmed that your information is correct, click on Buy KSM.

7. View your order details under Conditional on the web page, and All Orders → Current Orders on the Bybit app.

For more help, you can also visit the Bybit spot trading guide.