What Is Kusama (KSM)? Polkadot's Experimental Network

The Kusama network is a blockchain built on Polkadot's technology, and KSM is the native coin its holders stake and vote with. New code usually reaches Kusama before it reaches Polkadot, and every change goes through a vote of KSM holders on the chain itself. It shares only its name with the famous artist.

Kusama's chain counted 19.09 million KSM in early November 2026, 10.52% more than a year earlier. Polkadot's wiki gives Kusama's inflation rate as 10% a year, and the extra half point comes from paying it out every six hours on a supply that keeps growing.

What Is Kusama Crypto?

Kusama is a live blockchain that runs an early release of Polkadot's code with real money at stake. Developers use it as a proving ground, where runtime upgrades (the chain's own software updates) and new governance rules usually go live first.

The KSM coin pays transaction fees and buys coretime, the processing time that projects rent to run their own chains on the network. You can also stake KSM to back the validators who produce blocks, and you cast votes with it on chain, not in off-chain systems. People who took part in Polkadot's token sale can claim a proportional amount of KSM through the Kusama Claims process.

Kusama and Polkadot share their code, yet each runs its own chain with its own coin and its own votes, so Polkadot's price is a separate story from KSM's.

How Does Kusama Work?

Kusama secures its chain with nominated proof of stake, or NPoS. Validators run the machines that produce blocks, and nominators back the validators they trust with KSM and share in the rewards.

The clock runs in sessions of one hour, and six sessions make an era of six hours. The chain mints new KSM once per era, so a year holds about 1,460 of these payouts. When you stop staking, your KSM stays locked for 28 eras before you can move it, which comes to seven days.

KSM balances moved in the autumn of 2025 from Kusama's relay chain, the base chain its validators secure, to Kusama Asset Hub. Asset Hub is a system chain the network runs for tokens and balances.

Asset Hub's count went from about 162,000 KSM in late September 2025 to 17.27 million in early November 2025. Asset Hub mints the staking rewards too, so this count is the one that tracks KSM's supply.

KSM Tokenomics: Does the Supply Really Grow 10% a Year?

KSM's supply grew by about 10.5% across the year, a little faster than the headline rate. Polkadot's wiki sets the rule out on its Kusama inflation page, "KSM is an inflationary token. Inflation is set to be 10% annually." Kusama's runtime code agrees, capping the yearly rate at 10% with no maximum supply.

The chain pays the 10% out in small pieces. Each six-hour era mints a sliver of new KSM based on the supply at that moment, and the next era pays on the slightly larger total. Over the roughly 1,460 eras in a year, the code's arithmetic works out to about 10.5%, the same effect that makes interest paid daily beat interest paid once a year.

The chain's own count matches that arithmetic. Kusama Asset Hub's count rose from 17.27 million KSM to 19.09 million across the year. Measured over 12 stretches of the year, the yearly pace stayed between about 10.4% and 10.6%, so no single jump explains the extra half point.

The new KSM goes to stakers and Kusama's treasury, and the split depends on how much of the supply is staked. Stakers get all of it when the staked share matches the network's ideal rate, which Kusama's code sets at 75%. Any gap from that rate sends the remainder to the treasury.

How Does Kusama Governance Work?

Every change to Kusama goes through a vote of its holders. The Kusama getting-started guide on Polkadot's wiki says "Kusama is owned by those who hold the Kusama tokens (KSM). There's no central kill switch and all changes are made through the protocol's on-chain governance." The same page sums up the bargain in two words, "Expect Chaos."

You can vote with your KSM, hand your voting power to a delegate who follows the votes closely, or put down a deposit to bring a referendum of your own.

A referendum that passes executes its change on the chain by itself, and Kusama's upgrade to runtime version 2.5.1 went live that way in late October 2026.

Kusama's model is on-chain governance from end to end, because the vote and the change both happen on the chain. By early November 2026, holders had opened 678 referenda under OpenGov, the voting system Kusama has run since late 2022.

Is Kusama Crypto Dead?

Kusama was still running in early November 2026, adding blocks every few seconds and holding votes on its own future. Its supply grew in every one of the 12 stretches measured through the year, so the chain minted staking rewards from start to finish.

The open question on the chain was JAM, a planned successor design for Polkadot's family of chains.

Holders passed Referendum 573 in August 2025, choosing the JAM upgrade option titled "Lightweight and independent" by about 144,000 KSM to a fraction of one.

Four infrastructure proposals followed in October 2026, numbered 671 to 674. Their titles set out cores and terms, from eight cores for five years to two cores for 20 years, and all four were rejected in early November 2026. Referendum 676 was still open at the time. Its title asks for "an independent Kusama on a reduced JAM, keeping its validators".

How to Buy KSM Safely

KSM is Kusama's native coin, so the real coin lives on Kusama Asset Hub and has no token contract to check.

1. Pick a platform that lists KSM on the Kusama network itself and lets you withdraw it to your own wallet. Check that it sends and receives on Kusama Asset Hub, since balances moved there in 2025.

2. Set up a non-custodial wallet that supports Kusama Asset Hub, so the keys stay with you.

3. Send a small test amount first, and check that it lands on Kusama Asset Hub before you move the rest.

4. Treat a KSM-named token on any other chain as a different asset from the coin on Kusama.

5. If you plan to stake, budget for the week it takes to get unstaked coins back.

KSM's perpetual left Phemex after a June 2026 delisting notice, and its spot pair followed after a September 2026 notice. An older KSM/USD contract is delisted too. Phemex runs futures markets on many other coins. Futures use leverage, and a leveraged position is closed automatically if losses reach its margin, a forced exit known as liquidation in crypto trading.

What Are the Risks of KSM?

Dilution comes first. With supply growing about 10.5% a year and no cap, any KSM you hold without staking makes up a smaller share of the network each year. The wiki says as much, noting that idle tokens "get diluted over time".

The rules can change too. The wiki calls the inflation rate "not a forever fixed value" that on-chain governance can update, and the open JAM vote shows how large a change holders can put to a ballot.

KSM has already lost its pairs on Phemex, and another platform could drop it the same way. Anyone can also launch a token under the KSM name on another chain, and the checks in how to audit a new crypto contract apply to such a copy.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Kusama the same as Polkadot?

No. Kusama shares Polkadot's technology, but it's a separate network with its own KSM coin and its own votes. New code usually goes live on Kusama first.

How long does it take to unstake KSM?

Seven days. Kusama's code sets the unbonding wait at 28 eras, and each era lasts six hours.

Who runs Kusama?

KSM holders do, through referendums on the chain. A vote that passes carries out its own change, and the wiki says there's no central kill switch.

Is Kusama a good investment?

KSM closed early November 2026 near $3.38, about 64% below its close a year earlier, while its supply grew about 10.5%. Referendum 676 on Kusama's future under JAM had not closed by then.

Bottom Line

Kusama does what its wiki says, with one detail the headline rate leaves out. A 10% yearly rate paid in six-hour slices on a growing base compounds to about 10.5%, so a holder who never stakes ends each year with a share of the network about 9.5% smaller. That cost lands on idle KSM every six hours, whatever the price does.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and is not financial advice. Cryptocurrency trading involves substantial risk. Always do your own research before making investment decisions.