Polkadot and Kusama Asset Hub (former Statemint and Statemine, respectively) are system parachains on Polkadot and Kusama for creating and sending fungible and non-fungible (NFTs) tokens. Their native tokens are DOT and KSM, respectively.


The most common use of Asset Hub 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.


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 0.1 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 are: 

  • Tether USDT on Kusama Asset Hub (asset ID: 1984)
  • Tether USDT on Polkadot Asset Hub (asset ID: 1984)
  • RMRK on Kusama Asset Hub (asset ID: 8)


‼️ IMPORTANT

Transaction fees are paid in the native token when using Polkadot-JS UI. This means that you need to have DOT on a Polkadot Asset Hub account or KSM on a Kusama Asset Hub account in order to make any transactions, even when sending a sufficient token.

The protocol does allow for fees to be paid with sufficient tokens, but this functionality hasn't been added yet to Polkadot-JS UI, but other wallets might support it.

Beware of scams


Anyone can create an asset on Asset Hub and name it whatever they want. Right now, there are a lot of assets on both parachains with well-known names. But that doesn't mean they are the real asset! 


So, you must be very careful when accepting an asset, especially if you paid for it, to ensure that the sender sends you the real asset and not some worthless imitation!


Each asset is identified by a unique ID, and that's what you need to verify. For example, the real Tether USDT on both Asset Hub has an asset ID of 1984. Anything else with the same name is fake and worthless.


⚠️ ATTENTION

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 parachain, 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 (former Statemine), as well as instructions on how to send tokens and on more advanced topics, like minting and destroying your own assets.