Kaspa

Kaspa is a fast, scalable Layer-1 cryptocurrency built on proof-of-work (PoW) and powered by the GHOSTDAG protocol — a novel consensus mechanism that extends Nakamoto’s original design. Unlike traditional blockchains that discard competing blocks, GHOSTDAG allows parallel blocks to coexist and orders them within a Directed Acyclic Graph (blockDAG), enabling high throughput while preserving decentralization and security. Kaspa currently processes 10 blocks per second, with a long-term goal of scaling to 100 blocks per second, offering confirmation times limited only by internet latency. This level of performance was made possible by the Crescendo upgrade — a hardfork that successfully increased Kaspa’s block rate to 10 BPS while maintaining network stability. Kaspa's mission is to create a PoW that operates with internet speed, combining the reliability of proof-of-work with the responsiveness demanded by modern applications. True to its foundational principles, Kaspa is engineered for accessibility and decentralization. Its full node runs smoothly on a standard PC, requiring modest hardware thanks to efficient multithreaded CPU use and a secure pruning mechanism that limits disk usage while preserving cryptographic integrity. This design reflects Satoshi’s original vision — a decentralized network where anyone can participate fully without specialized equipment. Layer-2 solutions are in active development to further expand Kaspa’s capabilities. These efforts aim to leverage Kaspa’s unique architecture — particularly its multi-leader consensus — to support scalable applications, MEV resistance, decentralized oracles, and secure sequencing for broader ecosystem growth.

Kaspa’s originator is Dr. Yonatan Sompolinsky (Harvard University), whose research under Prof. Aviv Zohar (Hebrew University) introduced scalable proof-of-work protocols that generalize Nakamoto Consensus. The project began through DAGLabs a research company founded by Sompolinsky and funded by Polychain Capital. Elichai Turkel, also a Bitcoin Core contributor, served as DAGLabs’ applied cryptographer during its development phase. DAGLabs was dissolved around the time of Kaspa’s fair launch in November 2021, transitioning the project to a decentralized, community-led model. Kaspa’s ongoing development and research are driven by a global group of contributors who maintain and advance the protocol. A list of active contributors can be found on Rusty Kaspa’s contributor page and at research.kas.pa. Kaspa remains an open-source, permissionless project with no central governance or business model.

Kaspa is unique in its ability to support high block rates while maintaining the level of security offered by proof-of-work environments. Kaspa’s current main net operates at 1 block per second. Down the road, core developers and researchers will work on stretching the capability to the limits—think 10 or even 100 blocks per second.

Kaspa also includes a unique monetary policy which decreases emissions geometrically over time based on the 12-note scale of music. Known as the chromatic phase - this policy activated May 7th 2022 with a block reward of 440 KAS. The block reward will be halved once per year, but smoothly: every month, the block reward is reduced by a factor of (1/2)^(1/12). This means that the ratio of block rewards in consecutive months is exactly the same as the ratio of frequencies of two consecutive semitones in a tempered chromatic scale. The initial block reward is the frequency of the note A4, and every averaged year is hence called an octave.

Note that the policy dictates how many coins are minted per second regardless of the block rate. Should Kaspa change the block rate in the future, the reward will be adjusted accordingly to maintain the same emission rate.

There are around 25.1 billion KAS in circulation as of NOV 2024.

Kaspa network is secured by miners through Proof of Work and uses an algo known as k-Heavyhash.

Heavyhash was chosen for forward-compatibility with Photonic miners when they became available.

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