Kaspa is a blockchain based on the Ghostdag/Phantom proof-of-work protocol, a consensus mechanism that removes the security constraints on throughput. After GhostDAG, Michael Sutton and Yonatan Sompolinsky started working on a new ordering mechanism called DAGKNIGHT. This protocol is the result of three years of research and development in blockchain technology that aimed to solve a problem that Nakamoto consensus (Bitcoin), among other protocols, had:
- Nakamoto consensus assumes network delay is smaller than 10 minutes
- Phatom/GhostDAG assumes a different parameter
- Other protocols assume SOMETHING about network delay
DAGKNIGHT assumes nothing and is theoretically just as secure as Bitcoin.
If you want to nerd out on the details of synchronous and non-synchronous consensus and their resiliency to byzantine attackers, watch Yonatan Sompolinsky’s presentation:
So by harnessing the power of DAGKNIGHT, Kaspa is able to have near-instantaneous block confirmations and extremely high throughput, positioning Kaspa as a frontrunner in the race for efficient, decentralized, permissionless digital payments (sound familiar?). The word Kaspa is Hebrew for "silver coin" or "money". which is why Wolfie describes it as “Digital Silver”.
As you may have heard, there has been chatter about BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) considering the creation of their own currency and could be also be considering using digital silver (Kaspa) to exchange value thanks to the push of the Kaspa KII - Kaspa Industrial Initiative Foundation, which led by chairman Paul Van Son, a sort of James Bond type character with all sorts of connections around the world, is building a global network of companies, leaders, academics and even entire industries that are using the Kaspa network including finance, logistics, energy, and carbon trading, which is a $400 billion dollar industry.
Just to get an idea of Paul Van Son's connections, consider his carreer: After being active as the founding CEO of Dii Desert Energy also known as Desertec Industrial Initiative from 2009 until 2020 he is now serving Dii as its President. This international group of 110+ energy infrastructure, industrial and financial companies is well known for paving the way for countries in North Africa and the Middle East (MENA) to become an emission-free energy ‘Powerhouse’ for the benefit of their own people and, ultimately, for exporting green energy into the global markets.
Source: kaspa-kii.org
Then there's Marathon Digital Holdings, a mining company with a hash rate of 29.9 Exahashes/s (1 quintillion hashes per second), making it one of the largest Bitcoin mining companies in the world, which has been mining only bitcoin for over 14 years, has now mined over 93,000,000 KAS.
KRC20 tokens
Kaspa launched these to mainnet in Septmeber this year, which introduced smart contract functionality as well as the ability to create and manage tokens on the Kaspa network, very similar to what you see on Ethereum and EVM-compatible chains today.
Before the launch of KRC20 the network was doing 31,000 daily transactions. On the day of the KRC20 launch, the network spiked at 8.86 Million transactions and settled back down to an average of 1 Million per day.
With Kaspas upcoming Crescendo hard fork, the Kaspa network will grow from its current 1 block per second to 10 blocks per second with each block holding 250 transactions. So if the network saw 15 Million transactions in 24 hours due to a minting frenzy, after the hard fork it will be able to do 150,000,000 transactions without breaking a sweat.
Could Kaspa's unique blockchain paired with a powerful foundation such as The Kaspa Industrial Initiatve be the key to driving adoption of cryptocurrency? We'll have to wait and see, but for now it might be worth considering for your portfolio.
Of course, as I am not a financial advisor, none of what I wrote here should be considered financial advice. I'm just a regular guy who thinks blockchain technology has the potential to change the world, so I read (and listen to) as much as I can about the tech as I can.
Resources used for research:
