Proof of Work
A security model where miners spend real computation to propose blocks. Kaspa keeps this Bitcoin-like foundation.
Glossary
Kaspa terms in plain English.
Use this page when the main guide mentions a term before you have the mental picture. The definitions are short on purpose.
Core mechanics
The words that explain the live network.
UTXO
An unspent transaction output: a spendable coin chunk. Kaspa uses UTXOs rather than Ethereum-style account balances.
BlockDAG
A graph of blocks where multiple honest blocks can exist in parallel instead of forcing every block into one line immediately.
GHOSTDAG
Kaspa's live consensus rule for ordering the blockDAG so parallel work can contribute to consensus.
Selected parent
The chosen parent that helps define the main ordering path inside the DAG. It is not the same thing as Bitcoin's longest chain.
Mergeset
The group of past blocks a new block brings into view. It helps explain how parallel work gets folded into ordering.
Anticone
Blocks that are neither in a block's past nor its future. Anticones matter because parallel blocks need a rule for ordering.
Blue / red blocks
GHOSTDAG classifies well-connected blocks as blue and less-compatible blocks as red for ordering and security accounting.
Blue work
Accumulated proof-of-work weight through blue blocks. It is part of how Kaspa compares competing DAG histories.
Virtual block
A conceptual current tip/state used by nodes to reason about the present view of the DAG.
Speed and storage
The terms behind scaling claims.
BPS
Blocks per second. Kaspa's 10 BPS era means faster block production, not unlimited throughput or instant finality.
Fast inclusion
A transaction gets into a block quickly.
Fast confirmation
Confidence rises quickly that the transaction will not be reversed. This is stronger than merely appearing quickly.
Finality depth
A threshold after which old history is treated as settled under the protocol's assumptions.
Pruning
Removing old block data that ordinary nodes no longer need for current validation.
Archival node
A node that preserves full historical data for explorers, audits, and historical queries.
MuHash
A compact commitment tool used around UTXO-set state and pruning safety.
Transaction mass
Kaspa's measure of transaction resource cost.
Storage mass
A cost model intended to make UTXO/state growth pay for the burden it creates.
Roadmap terms
The app-layer and research vocabulary.
Toccata
A targeted hard-fork track for covenants, ZK verification foundations, sequencing commitments, and vProgs groundwork.
Covenant
A rule that constrains how a UTXO can be spent in the future, enabling controlled state-machine patterns.
Silverscript
A higher-level scripting direction around Kaspa's covenant and programmable-UTXO path.
ZK verification
Checking a proof that computation was done correctly without re-running all of that computation on L1.
Sequencing commitment
A commitment structure intended to help app activity and proving scale by lane rather than by the whole DAG stream.
vProgs
App-level verifiable programs: richer application logic around Kaspa while keeping L1 focused on sequencing, commitments, verification, and metadata.
DAGKnight
A parameterless/adaptive consensus research direction. It is not current mainnet behavior.
RTD
Real-Time Decentralization: Hashdag's framing for Kaspa's core edge, meaning Bitcoin-style PoW security and censorship resistance operating in real time. Oracle and TangVM ideas are downstream extensions.
Proof of Useful Work
A speculative research direction where mining work might also perform useful computation. It is not live Kaspa functionality.