Independent explainer

Kaspa, explained.

The proof-of-work network where miners don't race for one slot. They work in parallel, and GHOSTDAG orders every honest block into one history the whole network agrees on.

Every claim here gets a label: mainnet, testnet, roadmap, or research. None of them gets to borrow another one's proof.

What is Kaspa?Network overviewProof of Work, blockDAG, GHOSTDAG, and KAS. Live nowCurrent network statusMainnet facts, Toccata status, and dated checks. Check claimsRun a claim through the labelsLive, testnet, targeted, roadmap, research, wrong. RisksWhat can still breakAdoption, liquidity, node load, mining, roadmap execution. BuildBuilder statusPayments, Toccata rules, tooling, and vProgs later. SourcesPrimary documentsReleases, KIPs, docs, APIs, papers, and repo links.

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Mainnet programmability

Toccata activation record

Toccata is live. It activated at DAA score 474,165,565 under Rusty Kaspa v2.0.1, and mainnet now runs L1 covenants, covenant IDs, ZK proof verification, sequencing commitments, and the based-app groundwork. Wallet, explorer, SDK, and app support still need their own receipts.

Primary sources: Rusty Kaspa v2.0.1 release and v2.0.0 activation release.

ActivationThe activation recordThe score, the release, and the dated evidence trail. Try nextUTXO expressivenessCovenants, ZK checks, lanes, based apps, and vProgs boundaries. CapacityTPS of what?Payments, covenants, proofs, tokens, and future app throughput differ. EvidencePrimary linksReleases, KIPs, Testnet-10, vProgs, and Argent.

Latest developments

What changed this month

Toccata activated on June 30 and the protocol has shipped nothing since. July's movement was all in the layers above it.

A second standards process appeared

Kaspa Calls for Conventions launched on July 15 for ecosystem-level agreements. Five specifications are open. None has merged, and a KCC cannot change consensus.

The Toccata KIPs went active

KIP-16, 17, 20, and 21 moved to Status: Active on July 15. They had still been marked testnet-only for two weeks after mainnet activation.

Mainnet covenant use is small

80 active covenants holding 253.98 KAS, against 491,663 covenants on Testnet-10. The primitives work. Almost nobody is using them in production yet.

Read the full developments log What still has to be built

BlockDAG model

Compare the chain and the graph

A single chain has to pick a winner: when two blocks arrive close together, one gets built on and the other is discarded, work and all. A blockDAG keeps both, links them into the graph as parents, and lets GHOSTDAG sort out the order afterward.

Current view Kaspa blockDAG

Live API read

Current network numbers

Pulled live from the public API for orientation. Cross-check anything that matters against a node, an explorer, or the source path below.

If these numbers stop updating, that just means they're stale. Use Status and Sources for claims that need to hold up.

Loading

Circulating supply Loading

Reported by api.kaspa.org/info/coinsupply.

Mined Loading

Circulating supply divided by max supply.

DAG blocks Loading

Total blocks in the blockDAG right now.

DAA score Loading

Kaspa's progress marker, roughly analogous to block height.

Origin proof

Kaspa.org publishes the fair-launch proof: an empty genesis UTXO set, Bitcoin timestamp anchors, checkpoint linkage, and scheduled emission starting from the Nov. 22, 2021 checkpoint.

Verify on Kaspa.org

Extra checks: run the proof, REST API docs, and DAGVIZ.

Waiting for live data.

Status

Live, testnet, roadmap, research

Four buckets, each with its own evidence bar. A claim moves up only when that bucket's evidence shows up, and risk sits underneath all of them.

Live10 BPS PoW blockDAGMining, UTXO ownership, GHOSTDAG, wallets, nodes, explorers. TestnetTN10/TN12 rehearsalBuilder evidence that preceded mainnet activation. RoadmapApps that prove rulesRicher app state, based apps, later vProgs, shared ordering. ResearchDAGKnight consensusParameterless, adaptive ordering. Mainnet runs GHOSTDAG today. RiskWhat's still unprovenLiquidity, node cost, mining concentration, fee demand, apps.

Build path

What can you build now?

Moving money and verifying receipts are live today. Toccata adds covenant rules and proof-based app primitives on top.

Now Move and inspect money

Wallets, payments, receipts, exchange flows, mining/node visibility, and better confirmation-risk UX.

Now Verify receipts

Apps can show txid, amount, address, accepted status, source, timestamp, and fallback verification links.

Toccata work Enforce spending rules

Vault limits, delays, escrow, assurance contracts, asset rules, and bounded UTXO state machines are the near-term app surface.

Later Prove richer app logic

Markets, lending, funding rules, attestations, and shared commitments need richer app-state, custody, oracle, and proof paths.

Build this now

For the full path, open the builder guide.

Transaction path

Wallet to confirmation

Five steps from signed transaction to a history nodes won't reorganize away.

1Create

Wallet prepares inputs, outputs, amount, and fee.

2Broadcast

The transaction reaches nodes and miners.

3Mine

A miner includes it in a proof-of-work block.

4Order

The block joins the DAG and GHOSTDAG orders history.

5Confirm

Confidence rises as more accepted work piles on top of it.