For this particular coin, I’ve decided to use Hotbit as a platform to purchase KSM. They have a decently liquid market and while the fees to send out of the exchange are a bit steep, It works.

For an easy, and fee-less pathway to this token you can follow these steps.

Step 1: Setup Kusama Wallet:

1) Visit https://polkadot.js.org/apps/#/accounts

2) In the upper left corner dropdown menu, select a Kusama Network.

3) Install the Polkadot.js browser plugin (if you like).

4) Click Create Account.

5) Safely store your mnemonic seed and create your account password.

Step 2: Send funds to Hotbit exchange via your Coinbase account.

1) If you don’t have USD or USDC: Add USD to Coinbase via your bank account. (Do not BUY tokens yet).

2) Send USD from Coinbase to Coinbase Pro.

3) Convert USD to USDC (free).

4) Send USDC to Hotbit Exchange (you’ll need to create an account there and follow normal transaction protocols).

5) Trade USDC for USDT at Hotbit Exchange.

6) Trade USDT for KSM at Hotbit Exchange.

6) Send KSM to the Kusama Wallet you created in Step 1.

Step 3: Staking Kusama with Staked.us Validator

Visit the Polkadot JS Dapp to get started, and make sure the network is set to Kusama.

2. To nominate validators by bonding KSM from a Stash Address, click on the Staking tab in the left hand navigation menu, and then click on the Account Actions tab in the vertical navigation menu. Next, click on the + Nominator button in the upper right hand corner of the screen. This will open a Setup Nominator 1/2 modal.

3. In the Setup Nominator 1/2 modal, select the Stash Address to bond from in the Stash Account drop-down. Select the same Stash Address in the Controller Account drop-down. Ignore the message warning you not to use the same address for the Stash and Controller accounts. Enter the amount you want to bond in the Value Bonded input field. Make sure to have at least .1 unbonded KSM in your account after bonding to prevent the account from being burned. Select Stash Account (increase the amount at stake) to re-stake your KSM rewards. You can choose Stash Account (do not increase the amount at stake) if you do not want to re-stake your KSM rewards. Click on the Next button in the bottom right of the modal.

4. In the Setup Nominator 2/2 modal screen, turn off the option to “use an automatic selection of the currently most profitable validators.” Next, enter each of the 3 validator addresses in the list below into the “filter by address” field individually, and then select each validator address from the Candidate Accounts section until all of the validator addresses are populated the Nominated Accounts section. Once all of the validator addresses you are nominating are populated in the Nominated Accounts section, click on the Bond & Nominate button in the bottom right to sign and broadcast the bonding transaction.

Validator Addresses

HqGhgHg6YvnhaXSnaAUvyTDiR4FirB6Ssh2XNDedTzwCDv2

GC8hwHbQ4TdbYJJPDS96G7Uj9bivnW5z56UEkqujjwhQPp5

ELhnYFneiAP819s1t7Zmn4rs1tBbcrWVnkeGw4JYKdVp6jL