On October 7, 2025, the Kusama network officially completed the migration of the Asset Hub. This was not just a routine technical update, but an important milestone in the evolution of the Polkadot ecosystem architecture, as the Relay Chain finally shifted from being an 'all-powerful brain' to 'focusing on the core', with the Asset Hub becoming a new functional hub.
What is Asset Hub?
Asset Hub is a system parallel chain for assets, governance, smart contracts, cross-chain, and Polkadot interactions. It operates independently with its own blocks and logic, primarily used for creating, managing, and trading various digital assets within the ecosystem (including fungible tokens and NFTs).
However, unlike completely independent public chains, the security of the Asset Hub is provided by the main relay chain, just like other parallel chains/Rollups in the Polkadot ecosystem. It acts like a tenant, renting the unified security guarantees offered by the Polkadot/Kusama network without needing to maintain its own set of validator nodes.
The Asset Hub is also seen as a 'Common Good Chain', an indispensable infrastructure for the entire ecosystem.
Why migrate?
The core goal of migration is to 'lighten the load' of the relay chain and 'speed up' the ecosystem.
The core mission of the relay chain is to provide unified security and cross-chain interoperability for the entire Polkadot/Kusama ecosystem.
Before migration, frequent and resource-intensive operations like staking, governance, and account balance management were all running on the relay chain. Moving these daily functions out can allow the relay chain to focus on its most critical tasks (security and interoperability), thereby improving the overall stability and scalability of the network.
This aligns with Polkadot's long-term architectural vision of 'all functionalities should run on parallel chains'.
Is asset migration 'moving' or 'mirroring'?
Many users may ask: How should I migrate my assets on the relay chain? Are they 'copied' to the new chain?
Previously, most asset cross-chain operations involved locking native assets on one chain and creating an equal amount of 'wrapped' or 'derivative' assets on another chain. The original assets did not move; they were just temporarily locked. This migration is not a simple asset 'mapping', but a thorough 'state migration'.
This is like 'moving', completely transferring assets, account states, and related functional logic from the old system (relay chain) to the new system (Asset Hub). After migration, these functions and data will no longer exist in the old system.
But have users reported that they can't find their KSM balance in their wallets?
This is the most common concern (actually a misunderstanding). After migration, some wallets (like Trust Wallet) temporarily have not updated to the new Kusama Asset Hub endpoint, so they display 'zero balance'. In fact, your assets are still safely stored on-chain. As long as the wallet or block explorer is upgraded to the new node address (endpoint), the assets will automatically display.
Additionally, PolkaWorld reminds everyone to be cautious of fake account scams recently! The Kusama Asset Hub has successfully migrated, and users do not need to perform any manual operations to retrieve their funds. Recently, there have been accounts impersonating 'Polkadot administrators', posting tutorials or links to 'retrieve Kusama funds'. Please note that these are all fake and not related to the official team! Remember not to click suspicious links, and do not provide anyone with your mnemonic phrase or private key.
Direct benefits after migration
Migrating functionalities to the Asset Hub, designed specifically for asset management, directly brings a series of significant improvements for users and developers:
1. Lower transaction costs
Transaction fees have dropped significantly: After migration, transaction fees on Kusama have decreased by about 5 times. For the upcoming migration of the Polkadot network, fees are expected to drop by more than 10 times.
Minimum balance threshold reduced: The minimum balance required to hold assets (i.e., 'existential deposit') has been significantly reduced. For example, on Polkadot, this threshold will drop from 1 DOT to 0.01 DOT, reducing it by 100 times, allowing more users to participate in the network.
2. Better user experience
Unified Operating Platform: Users can seamlessly manage KSM/DOT, stablecoins (like USDT/USDC), various ecosystem tokens, staking, and governance voting in one place at the Asset Hub without switching between different chains, greatly simplifying operations.
Flexible Fee Payment: Users can pay transaction fees using any supported token in the Asset Hub, no longer limited to KSM or DOT.
3. Stronger scalability
Broad Asset Support: Unlike relay chains that only support native tokens, the Asset Hub can natively support and manage a variety of assets, including NFTs, stablecoins, and tokens from other parallel chains.
Simplified Cross-Chain Interaction: The Asset Hub acts as a unified asset platform, greatly simplifying the asset transfer and interaction processes between different chains.
Why is this step so critical for REVM?
The migration of the Asset Hub is not just a 'move'; it also creates the prerequisites for the upcoming integration of REVM (Revolutionary EVM).
REVM is a virtual machine execution environment fully compatible with Ethereum, allowing developers to deploy smart contracts directly on Polkadot/Kusama using Ethereum tools such as Solidity, Hardhat, Truffle, etc.
To ensure the smooth operation of REVM, two conditions must be met:
1. High-performance, low-cost execution environment;
2. Stable asset management system.
REVM, as a powerful smart contract execution environment, will bring a large demand for computation. Deploying it directly on the already busy relay chain will lead to network congestion and performance degradation. The Asset Hub is specifically optimized for assets and complex operations, significantly lowering transaction fees and making the deployment and operation of smart contracts (especially DeFi applications) more economically viable and competitive.
The 'purification' of the relay chain's functions allows it to focus solely on network security and consensus. Meanwhile, the Asset Hub is built into a multifunctional platform integrating asset management, trading, and smart contract execution. This also aligns with Polkadot's strategic blueprint to create an ecosystem that is highly attractive to developers and users.
Future Outlook
The migration of Kusama is just the beginning. According to Parity's roadmap:
Late October 2025: The Kusama Asset Hub will be the first to integrate REVM; November 4, 2025: The Polkadot mainnet will launch the Asset Hub migration; Mid-December 2025: The Polkadot Asset Hub will go live with REVM.
Polkadot aims to build the Asset Hub into a super 'Polkadot Hub' that integrates assets, staking, governance, and smart contracts.
Read more about Asset Hub content: https://support.polkadot.network/support/solutions/articles/65000190561https://forum.polkadot.network/t/polkadot-hub-prioritizing-growing-ecosystem-3rd-party-providers-inc-defi-asap-through-evm/14130
About the Author
PaperMoon is an innovative company focused on enhancing the Web3 developer experience and is also an important member of the Polkadot Decentralized Future Program. The company has built a comprehensive service system aimed at providing all-around support for Web3 projects: covering the writing of high-quality technical documentation, production of educational content in various forms such as videos and blogs, and providing direct and efficient support for developers through online forums and offline meetings. Its mission is to simplify the process of building applications on blockchain platforms and inject continuous vitality into the rapidly growing Web3 ecosystem. https://papermoon.io/
