Kaspa is a proof-of-work cryptocurrency that solves the fundamental speed bottleneck of Bitcoin-style PoW chains using GHOSTDAG — a BlockDAG (directed acyclic graph) consensus protocol that allows multiple blocks to be created simultaneously and included in the chain rather than orphaned. While Bitcoin creates one block every 10 minutes and throws away competing blocks at the same height, Kaspa can process 1 block per second (configurable to 10/second) and includes all parallel blocks in its DAG structure. This gives Kaspa near-instant PoW confirmation times while preserving the pure PoW security model that Satoshi introduced.
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Ticker | KAS |
| Price | $0.03 |
| Market Cap | $875.37M |
| 24h Change | -2.8% |
| Circulating Supply | 27.33B KAS |
| Max Supply | 28.70B KAS |
| All-Time High | $0.21 |
The BlockDAG Innovation
Bitcoin’s bottleneck:
Bitcoin creates one block every 10 minutes deliberately — if blocks were created faster, two miners would frequently produce valid blocks at the same height simultaneously. In Bitcoin, only one “wins” and the others become orphans (uncle blocks), wasting the work done and reducing security.
GHOSTDAG (Greedy Heaviest Observed Sub-Tree DAG):
Developed by Yonatan Sompolinsky and Aviv Zohar at Hebrew University (originally published as 2013 academic research), GHOSTDAG allows:
- Multiple blocks at the same “height” to all be included in the DAG
- Blocks reference not just one parent but all recent tips
- An ordering algorithm (GHOSTDAG) determines which transactions in the DAG are canonical
- All parallel blocks contribute to security (no orphaned work)
Result: Kaspa can issue 1 block per second (target) without wasting PoW and without centralization pressure toward large mining pools.
Technical Properties
Block time: 1 block per second (BPS) at launch; roadmap targets 10 BPS and eventually 100 BPS
Consensus: GHOSTDAG (PoW)
Hash algorithm: kHeavyHash (ASIC-friendly, but ASIC development by community-aligned miners)
Max supply: 28.7 billion KAS (pre-determined smooth emission curve)
Smart contracts: Not in initial design; proposed future Rust-based smart contracts via “Kasplex” metaprotocol
Fair launch: No ICO, no premine, no VC allocation — pure mining from genesis
Emission Schedule
Kaspa’s emission is unique — it decreases monthly by a factor of ~0.5 per year in a smooth curve:
- Year 1 (2022): Majority of early supply minted
- Annual halving-like reductions (but smooth rather than discrete halving events)
- Max supply of 28.7B KAS fully allocated over ~36 years
This contrasts with Bitcoin’s 4-year discrete halvings; Kaspa’s smooth curve avoids the market volatility often associated with halving events.
Mining
Hardware: Kaspa was initially GPU-mineable; ASIC miners developed in 2023 by IceRiver and Bitmain
- ASIC miners: IceRiver KS0/KS1/KS2/KS3 series (popular); Bitmain Antminer KA3
- GPU mining became uneconomical after ASIC introduction
Mining pools: K1Pool, HeroMiners, 2miners — standard mining pool setup
Profitability: Kaspa became one of the most profitable mining coins in 2023 despite KAS price; community debate about centralization from ASICs
Fair Launch and Philosophy
Kaspa is one of the few post-Bitcoin PoW chains with a legitimate fair launch:
- No premine: Developers received no KAS before public mining
- No ICO: No tokens sold
- No VC: No venture capital funding
- Open-source development funded by community donations
Lead developer: Yonatan Sompolinsky (the mathematician who published the original GHOSTDAG paper) and Michael Sutton. The research pedigree behind Kaspa’s core protocol is unusually strong for the crypto space.
KRC-20 Tokens
Following in the footsteps of Bitcoin Ordinals and BRC-20:
- KRC-20: Fungible tokens deployed on Kaspa’s network using an inscription-like protocol
- Community-driven (not core protocol change)
- Enabled a wave of meme tokens and speculative activity on Kaspa in 2024
Social Media Sentiment
Kaspa has unusually passionate community of PoW maximalists and technical enthusiasts who view it as Bitcoin’s most direct technological evolution — keeping PoW purity while solving speed. The fact that Yonatan Sompolinsky (academic co-author of the GHOSTDAG paper) is actively developing it lends unusual credibility. Critics note that without smart contracts, Kaspa is a store-of-value/payments coin only, limiting its use case relative to smart contract platforms. The ASIC transition debate mirrors early Monero/ETH ASIC debates. Overall: bullish sentiment among believers in PoW purity; skepticism about use case breadth from the DeFi-focused crowd.
Last updated: 2026-04
Related Terms
Sources
Sompolinsky, Y., & Zohar, A. (2013). Accelerating Bitcoin’s Transaction Processing: Fast Money Grows on Trees, Not Chains. IACR Cryptology ePrint.
Sompolinsky, Y., Lewenberg, Y., & Zohar, A. (2016). SPECTRE: Serialization of Proof-of-Work Events: Confirming Transactions via Recursive Elections. IACR Cryptology ePrint.
Sompolinsky, Y., & Zohar, A. (2018). PHANTOM: A Scalable BlockDAG Protocol. IACR Cryptology ePrint Archive.
Nakamoto, S. (2008). Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System. Bitcoin.org.
Gaži, P., Kiayias, A., & Russell, A. (2015). Ouroboros: A Provably Secure Proof-of-Stake Blockchain Protocol. CRYPTO.