Polkadot and Kusama Asset Hubs (formerly known as Statemint and Statemine, respectively) are system rollups (also known as system parachains) designed to support the creation and transfer of fungible and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).


With the upgrade to runtime version 1.6.0, Kusama Asset Hub has expanded its capabilities to include the deployment and execution of smart contracts. Polkadot Asset Hub is expected to receive the same upgrade soon, enabling identical smart contract functionality. 


The most common use of the Asset Hub rollup is for transferring non-native tokens and creating NFTs, but there are a couple of reasons why someone might want to use them for their DOT and KSM as well:

  • To utilize Asset Hub's lower transfer fees and existential deposits.
  • To meet the existential deposit for other (non-sufficient) assets.
  • To benefit from the smart contracts deployed on Asset Hub.


If you're interested in teleporting your DOT or KSM to Asset Hub, you can find detailed instructions here.


TABLE OF CONTENTS

Sufficient and non-sufficient assets


There are two types of assets on Asset Hub: sufficient and non-sufficient. 


To hold a non-sufficient asset in an account, the account needs to exist on-chain, which means it needs to have a balance in the native asset at least as much as the Existential Deposit (ED). This means 0.01 DOT on Polkadot Asset Hub and 0.000003333 KSM on Kusama Asset Hub. These existential deposits are ten times smaller than those on the Relay Chains.


So, to send a non-sufficient asset, you need to ensure that the recipient account has at least the ED. A sufficient asset doesn't require the account to have any balance in the native token to be received. 


However, each asset (either sufficient or non-sufficient) has its own minimum balance that an account must hold.


⚠️ ATTENTION

Tether, the entity behind USDT, has announced the discontinuation of USDT on the Kusama network (though it'll still be available on Polkadot).

It's recommended you redeem your USDT from Kusama Asset Hub (formerly Statemine) by sending them to a compatible exchange (like Bitfinex) before the specified deadline mentioned in Tether's official announcement.


Currently, the sufficient tokens and foreign assets (native assets on other networks) in Polkadot Asset Hub are: 

  • USDC (asset ID: 1337)
  • USDT (asset ID: 1984)
  • ETH (foreign asset transferred via Snowbridge)
  • WETH (foreign asset transferred via Snowbridge)
  • KSM (foreign asset transferred via Polkadot <> Kusama bridge)
  • USDC (foreign asset transferred via Snowbridge)
  • USDT (foreign asset transferred via Snowbridge)


Sufficient tokens and foreign assets in Kusama Asset Hub are:

  • USDT (asset ID: 1984)
  • RMRK (asset ID: 8)
  • ETH (foreign asset transferred via Snowbridge)
  • WETH (foreign asset transferred via Snowbridge)
  • DOT (foreign asset transferred via Polkadot <> Kusama bridge)
  • USDC (foreign asset transferred via Snowbridge)
  • USDT (foreign asset transferred via Snowbridge)
⚠️ ATTENTION

Anyone can create and name an asset on Asset Hub, which means many assets may share familiar names. However, that doesn't guarantee they're the real or official versions. To avoid scams, always verify the asset's unique ID before accepting or paying for it. For instance, the legitimate Tether USDT on Asset Hub has the ID 1984, anything else is fake USDT.

If you don't know what the asset ID is for the token you're interested in, contact the issuer of the token and find out, before accepting any tokens.

How to check an asset's ID


The following instructions refer to Polkadot Asset Hub, but the same applies to Kusama Asset hub.


1. On Polkadot-JS UI, first switch over to "AssetHub". You can find it under "Polkadot & Parachains."



2. Then navigate to the Network > Assets page and the Overview tab (the default tab):


Here, you can see all the assets created on the system rollup, with their IDs in the first column. Other information includes the name of the token, the owner, admin, and issuer accounts, and the total supply:



You can also create your own token on this page. For more information on how to create a token, you can visit this wiki page, or see the video below.

How to transfer a token


We have a detailed guide on how to transfer Tether USDT on Polkadot or Kusama Asset Hub. The same instructions apply to all tokens on both networks.

In the following video, you can find detailed information about Kusama Asset Hub, as well as instructions on how to send tokens and on more advanced topics, like minting and destroying your own assets:


Learn How to Create, Transfer and Destroy Fungible Tokens on Polkadot | Technical Explainers