Kusama
KSM
Kusama runs the same Substrate-based codebase as Polkadot and was originally launched as its "canary network" for testing parachains and runtime upgrades under real economic conditions. In 2025, Kusama's governance approved a new direction backed by a 10 million DOT allocation from the Web3 Foundation, repositioning it as an independent, experiment-focused peer network rather than purely a testbed for Polkadot. KSM is used for staking, governance, and parachain slot auctions on the network.