Updated: 7/28/2026

What is Kaspa?

An orientation for newcomers - what Kaspa is, what makes it different, and where to go next.

Overview

Kaspa is a proof-of-work cryptocurrency. Like Bitcoin, it uses UTXO accounting and PoW mining. Unlike Bitcoin, it is not built on a blockchain - it uses a blockDAG, a structure where blocks can be created in parallel and all of them count.

The result is a PoW network that produces 10 blocks per second (Bitcoin produces one every ~10 minutes) without sacrificing the PoW security model. In practice: transactions are included in a block in about a second, confirmations accumulate at roughly 10 per second, and fees are a tiny fraction of a cent.

Principles

Kaspa carries the core crypto ethos started by Bitcoin:

  • Fair launch. Launched November 2021 with no premine, no ICO, and no insider allocation. Every coin in existence was mined.
  • Proof of work. Mining uses the kHeavyHash algorithm. Block rewards are the only issuance.
  • Open source, community-driven. No company controls Kaspa. Development happens in the open.
  • Capped supply. Emission decreases smoothly toward a maximum supply of roughly 28.7 billion KAS. See Network Parameters.

Research foundation

Kaspa is not a Bitcoin fork with faster parameters - that approach breaks security. It is the product of a research line on scaling PoW consensus led by Yonatan Sompolinsky (whose earlier GHOST work is cited in the Ethereum whitepaper) and collaborators. The resulting protocol is PHANTOM GHOSTDAG, with DAGKnight proposed as its successor.

Development continues post-launch: the Crescendo hard fork (May 2025) took mainnet from 1 to 10 blocks per second, and the Toccata hard fork (June 2026) brought L1 programmability primitives (Covenants++).

Next steps

  1. Set up a wallet and send a transaction.
  2. Explore the DAG with an explorer.
  3. Use the Glossary as vocabulary reference along the way.

Building on Kaspa? Start at Developer Resources.