Programmability on Kaspa

Overview

Kaspa is UTXO-based - there is no EVM and no global account state. Programmability is built from UTXO-native primitives instead: scripts that can inspect and constrain the transactions spending them (covenants), consensus-tracked covenant lineages, and on-L1 ZK proof verification. The core primitives went live on mainnet with the Toccata hard fork (June 2026).

The pieces, from live primitives to future work:

• Covenants++ - the covenant environment: introspection opcodes (KIP-17) let a script read the spending transaction and require valid successor outputs, while covenant IDs (KIP-20) give each covenant instance a consensus-tracked lineage. Enables tokens, vaults, escrow, time-delayed spending, and more.
• SilverScript - a CashScript-inspired high-level language and compiler targeting Kaspa script, so covenants don’t have to be written in raw opcodes.
• Zero Knowledge - OpZkPrecompile (KIP-16) verifies Groth16 and RISC0-Succinct proofs in script - the basis for trustless bridges and proof-based L2 settlement.
• Sequencing lanes - KIP-21 partitions transaction-ordering commitments into per-app “lanes,” so a ZK prover only processes its own app’s activity. The piece that makes “based” ZK applications practical at 10 BPS.
• VProgs - verifiable programs with shared state and synchronous composition. The research end-goal; explicitly not part of Toccata.

Status

Where to start

• Understand the model: Covenants++, then the Toccata page for what exactly shipped.
• Write something: SilverScript and the Covenants++ Opcodes reference.
• Go deeper: VProgs and Zero Knowledge resources.