kaspa-explained/what-is-kaspa.html at main · parker2017code/kaspa-explained · GitHub

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width,initial-scale=1">
  <title>What Is Kaspa? Proof-of-Work blockDAG Explained | Kaspa Explained</title>
  <meta name="description" content="What is Kaspa? A plain guide to KAS, Proof of Work, blockDAGs, GHOSTDAG, 10 BPS, and what is live now versus roadmap work.">
  <meta name="robots" content="index,follow,max-snippet:-1,max-image-preview:large">
  <link rel="canonical" href="https://kaspaexplained.com/what-is-kaspa">
  <link rel="icon" href="kaspa-favicon.svg?v=20260512-real-k" type="image/svg+xml">
  <link rel="icon" href="favicon.svg?v=20260512-k4" type="image/svg+xml">
  <link rel="icon" href="favicon.ico" sizes="any">
  <link rel="icon" href="favicon.png" type="image/png">
  <link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="apple-touch-icon.png">
  <link rel="manifest" href="site.webmanifest">
  <meta name="application-name" content="Kaspa Explained">
  <meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-title" content="Kaspa Explained">
  <meta name="theme-color" content="#09090b">
  <meta property="og:title" content="What Is Kaspa? | Kaspa Explained">
  <meta property="og:description" content="Kaspa explained plainly: Proof of Work, blockDAG, GHOSTDAG, 10 BPS, KAS, and the live-versus-roadmap boundary.">
  <meta property="og:type" content="article">
  <meta property="og:url" content="https://kaspaexplained.com/what-is-kaspa">
  <meta property="og:image" content="https://kaspaexplained.com/og-kaspa-explained-20260514.png?v=20260514-logo-clearance">
  <meta property="og:image:type" content="image/png">
  <meta property="og:image:width" content="1200">
  <meta property="og:image:height" content="630">
  <meta property="og:image:alt" content="Kaspa Explained - proof-of-work blockDAG guide">
  <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image">
  <meta name="twitter:title" content="What Is Kaspa? | Kaspa Explained">
  <meta name="twitter:description" content="A plain answer to what Kaspa is, what is live, and what is still future work.">
  <meta name="twitter:image" content="https://kaspaexplained.com/og-kaspa-explained-20260514.png?v=20260514-logo-clearance">
  <meta name="dateModified" content="2026-06-23">
  <script type="application/ld+json">
  {
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@type": "FAQPage",
    "mainEntity": [
      {
        "@type": "Question",
        "name": "What is Kaspa?",
        "acceptedAnswer": {"@type": "Answer", "text": "Kaspa is a live proof-of-work blockDAG network. It keeps Bitcoin-style mining and UTXO ownership, and uses GHOSTDAG to order parallel blocks into one payment history."}
      },
      {
        "@type": "Question",
        "name": "What is KAS?",
        "acceptedAnswer": {"@type": "Answer", "text": "KAS is the native coin used on Kaspa for value transfer and transaction fees."}
      },
      {
        "@type": "Question",
        "name": "Is Kaspa a blockchain?",
        "acceptedAnswer": {"@type": "Answer", "text": "Kaspa is usually described as a blockDAG. It still reaches one ordered payment history, but its block structure can include parallel blocks instead of forcing every honest block into one line."}
      },
      {
        "@type": "Question",
        "name": "What is live on Kaspa now?",
        "acceptedAnswer": {"@type": "Answer", "text": "Kaspa is live as a proof-of-work UTXO blockDAG using GHOSTDAG in the Crescendo-era 10 BPS network. Wallets, nodes, explorers, mining, and transfers exist today; Toccata has a mainnet release and scheduled activation, while DAGKnight still needs separate activation evidence."}
      }
    ]
  }
  </script>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="styles.css?v=20260624-card-hover">
  <script defer src="nav.js?v=20260606-anchor-clearance"></script>
</head>
<body>
  <a class="skip-link" href="#top">Skip to content</a>
  <header class="site-header">
    <nav class="nav" aria-label="Primary">
      <a class="brand" href="/" aria-label="Kaspa Explained home">
        <span class="brand-mark" aria-hidden="true"></span>
        Kaspa Explained
      </a>
      <button class="nav-menu-button" type="button" aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="primary-links">Menu</button>
      <div id="primary-links" class="nav-links">
        <a href="/what-is-kaspa">What is Kaspa</a>
        <a href="/status">Live now</a>
        <a href="/kaspa-claims-checker">Check claims</a>
        <a href="/skeptical-case">Risks</a>
        <a href="/build-on-kaspa">Build</a>
        <a href="/sources">Sources</a>
      </div>
      <button class="theme-toggle" type="button" aria-label="Switch theme">Light</button>
      <a class="nav-cta" href="/toccata-status">Toccata status</a>
    </nav>
  </header>

  <main id="top" tabindex="-1" class="overview-page">
    <section class="sources-hero section">
      <p class="eyebrow">Beginner answer</p>
      <h1>What is Kaspa?</h1>
      <p class="lead">Kaspa is a live proof-of-work blockDAG network. It keeps Bitcoin-style mining and UTXO ownership, and uses GHOSTDAG to order parallel blocks into one payment history.</p>
      <p class="fit-note"><strong>Citable summary:</strong> Kaspa is a mined UTXO blockDAG where GHOSTDAG turns parallel proof-of-work blocks into one ordered payment history.</p>
      <p class="fit-note"><strong>Read the limits too:</strong> the <a href="/skeptical-case">Risks and Open Questions</a> page covers adoption, liquidity, mining concentration, node load, security budget, and roadmap execution.</p>
    </section>

    <section class="section">
      <p class="eyebrow">Plain model</p>
      <h2>The simple picture.</h2>
      <div class="summary-grid">
        <article>
          <span>Coin</span>
          <p>KAS is the native coin people send, receive, mine, and pay fees with.</p>
        </article>
        <article>
          <span>Security</span>
          <p>Kaspa uses Proof of Work. Miners spend energy and hardware work to create blocks.</p>
        </article>
        <article>
          <span>Ownership</span>
          <p>Kaspa uses UTXOs, meaning wallets spend specific outputs instead of editing a global account balance.</p>
        </article>
        <article>
          <span>Shape</span>
          <p>Kaspa uses a blockDAG, so honest blocks found close together can stay visible in the graph.</p>
        </article>
        <article>
          <span>Ordering</span>
          <p>GHOSTDAG gives nodes the rule for ordering that graph into one shared payment history.</p>
        </article>
        <article>
          <span>Status</span>
          <p>The live network is in the 10 BPS Crescendo era. Future app and consensus work needs separate status labels.</p>
        </article>
      </div>
    </section>

    <section class="section">
      <p class="eyebrow">Live vs next</p>
      <h2>What is live, and what is not live?</h2>
      <div class="table-wrap">
        <table class="reality-table">
          <thead><tr><th>Claim</th><th>Status</th><th>Safer wording</th></tr></thead>
          <tbody>
            <tr><td>Kaspa is Proof of Work</td><td><span class="status-pill live">Live</span></td><td>Kaspa is mined Proof of Work.</td></tr>
            <tr><td>Kaspa is 10 BPS</td><td><span class="status-pill live">Live</span></td><td>Kaspa is in the Crescendo-era 10 BPS network.</td></tr>
            <tr><td>July 2026 is a sudden emission cliff</td><td><span class="status-pill not-live">Misleading</span></td><td>Kaspa emission steps down monthly; July 2026 is one scheduled step, not a sudden cliff.</td></tr>
            <tr><td>Toccata has activated on mainnet</td><td><span class="status-pill target">Scheduled</span></td><td>Toccata has a mainnet release and activation score, but current mainnet DAA is still below the activation score.</td></tr>
            <tr><td>DAGKnight is current mainnet consensus</td><td><span class="status-pill research">Research</span></td><td>DAGKnight is future consensus research and implementation work, not current mainnet behavior.</td></tr>
          </tbody>
        </table>
      </div>
    </section>

    <section class="section">
      <p class="eyebrow">Read next</p>
      <h2>Where to go from here.</h2>
      <div class="path-grid">
        <a href="/ghostdag-explained"><span>Mechanism</span><strong>Understand GHOSTDAG.</strong><p>How the blockDAG becomes one ordered history.</p></a>
        <a href="/kaspa-origin-story"><span>Origin</span><strong>Read the fair-launch story.</strong><p>Research, DAGLabs, failed launch paths, early stress, Rust, Crescendo, and Toccata boundaries.</p></a>
        <a href="/kaspa-confirmations-finality"><span>Payments</span><strong>Inclusion versus finality.</strong><p>Why fast blocks are not the same as instant irreversibility.</p></a>
        <a href="/kaspa-claims-checker"><span>Claims</span><strong>Check common claims.</strong><p>Live, testnet, targeted, roadmap, research, wrong, unsupported, or out of scope.</p></a>
        <a href="/sources"><span>Evidence</span><strong>Open the sources.</strong><p>Use code, releases, KIPs, docs, and research for status-sensitive claims.</p></a>
      </div>
    </section>
  </main>

  <footer class="footer">
    <div class="footer-grid">
      <p><strong>Independent Kaspa-positive research guide.</strong> Claims are labeled live, targeted, roadmap, research, unsupported, or wrong. Not investment advice.</p>
      <nav class="footer-nav-groups" aria-label="Footer">
        <div class="footer-link-group" aria-label="Learn">
          <span>Learn</span>
          <a href="/start-here">Start here</a>
          <a href="/what-is-kaspa">Kaspa 101</a>
          <a href="/overview">90-second overview</a>
          <a href="/glossary">Glossary</a>
        </div>
        <div class="footer-link-group" aria-label="Verify">
          <span>Verify</span>
          <a href="/status">Status</a>
          <a href="/kaspa-claims-checker">Claims checker</a>
          <a href="/toccata-status">Toccata status</a>
          <a href="/skeptical-case">Skeptical case</a>
          <a href="/sources">Sources</a>
        </div>
        <div class="footer-link-group" aria-label="Build">
          <span>Build</span>
          <a href="/build-on-kaspa">Build on Kaspa</a>
          <a href="/builder-guide">Builder guide</a>
          <a href="/kaspa-app-ideas">App ideas</a>
        </div>
        <div class="footer-link-group" aria-label="Site">
          <span>Site</span>
          <a href="/search">Search</a>
          <a href="/about">About</a>
          <a href="/about#corrections">Corrections</a>
        </div>
      </nav>
    </div>
  </footer>
</body>
</html>