Why Kusama Crypto (KSM) Has a Real Chance of Reaching $1,000

Kusama, an experimental blockchain that brings projects to the Polkadot ecosystem, is built using Substrate and has almost the same codebase as Polkadot. It serves as a testbed for major developments before they’re launched on Polkadot.

It describes itself as Polkadot’s “wild cousin” and canary network. Kusama points out problems and vulnerabilities in the code developers are writing. It’s unaudited, meaning it’s not as safe, but it does grant developers the freedom to test the limits of upgrades.

As of Nov. 2020, there were 8.47 million Kusama (KSM) tokens in circulation of the total supply of 10 million. Unlike many other blockchains, KSM doesn’t have a fixed supply and has an inflation rate of 10 percent per year.

Due to Polkadot’s scalable and utility-based ecosystem, KSM is expected to rise along with it. Projects use the Kusama token to bid in an auction for parachain slots and the chance to make it to Polkadot.

Karura Network, which won the first auction on Kusama, is backed by millions in community contributions. A week before the auction, Karura raised 200,000 KSM tokens for $100 million to fund its bid, pushing KSM’s price to a high of $511.

Karura’s win shows that auctions could be very successful for Kusama going forward, taking its price even higher. Also, given that Kusama is four times faster than Polkadot, a $1,000 price tag doesn’t seem unlikely.