KAS

Kaspa

Layer 1

A fast proof-of-work blockDAG that added covenants and ZK opcodes in 2026, but paid usage is still tiny.

Strong tech, thin usage v1.1 · as of 2026-10-21 · framework v1.13 Coinsight · all analyses
Bottom line

Kaspa is a fair-launched proof-of-work chain running at 10 blocks per second, and the June 2026 Toccata hard fork gave it covenants, native tokens and ZK verification on layer 1. The token has not followed: −25% over a year, −61% from the 12-month high and −81% from the July 2024 ATH. Fees are close to zero and DeFi on its L2s holds only about $1M, so miners still sell ~2M new KAS a day into a thin market. With 96.7% of supply already mined, the dilution story is nearly over; the open question is whether anyone will pay to use the chain.

Scorecard (1–5)
Project
Token performance
Tokenomics
Price
$0.0390
+4.7% 24h · −9% 30d · CoinGecko 21 Oct
Market cap
$1.08B
rank #75 · FDV $1.08B
24h volume
$12.7M
1.2% of market cap
From ATH
−81%
ATH $0.2074, Jul 2024
2026 YTD
−9%
$0.0430 → $0.0390
Supply mined
96.7%
27.77B of 28.70B max

The last 12 months

$0.02$0.04$0.06$0.08Oct 25NovDecJan 26FebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJan 272025-10-22: $0.0517$0.0522026-01-11: $0.0647$0.065 peak2026-08-14: $0.0253$0.025 low2026-09-27: $0.0478$0.0482026-10-21: $0.039$0.039112-month high at $0.0652Igra L2 mainnet (Galleon)3Rusty Kaspa v1.1.04Kaskad lending launches5Toccata hard fork live6Min fee ×100, tx −86%7Year low at $0.02538Rebound to $0.0489Monthly reward cut10DAGKnight + ZK bridge fork
MarketProductTechAdoptionUpcoming

Daily closes from CoinGecko, 22 Oct 2025 to 21 Oct 2026. Jan to Mar 2026 closes are noisy and sit above prices quoted elsewhere (~$0.033 in mid-Feb), so the January peak may be overstated.

Key events
  1. 1
    11 Jan 26 12-month high at $0.065. Brief spike in CoinGecko closes; other trackers show a slide toward ~$0.033 by mid-February.
  2. 2
    26 Jan 26 Igra L2 mainnet (Galleon). EVM-compatible L2 on Kaspa goes live with miners as sequencers; permissionless phase planned for March.
  3. 3
    Mar 26 Rusty Kaspa v1.1.0. Node release focused on stability and a more flexible base for developers.
  4. 4
    24 May 26 Kaskad lending launches. First lending market on Igra: borrow USDT against KAS; now ~$1.0M TVL.
  5. 5
    30 Jun 26 Toccata hard fork live. Largest consensus change so far: covenants, covenant IDs, ZK verification opcodes and sequencing commitments on L1.
  6. 6
    01 Jul 26 Min fee ×100, tx −86%. Higher minimum relay fee cuts daily transactions from ~483k to ~67k, mostly spam and a now-offline app.
  7. 7
    14 Aug 26 Year low at $0.0253. Low end of a three-month slide; closes held near $0.025 into late August.
  8. 8
    27 Sep 26 Rebound to $0.048. Altcoin rotation lifts KAS +89% off the low (an 18% day on 7 Sep), then it fades to ~$0.035.
  9. 9
    ~Nov Monthly reward cut. Block reward drops by ~5.6% again, as it does each month (smooth yearly halving).
  10. 10
    Soon DAGKnight + ZK bridge fork. Proposed bundled hard fork for DAGKnight consensus and a ZK L1–L2 bridge; no date set, already later than planned.

How a KAS payment or covenant transaction flows through Kaspa

User
Signs a transaction

Wallet builds a UTXO transaction, optionally locked by a covenant script.

Node mempool
Checks fee and script

Pays at least the minimum relay fee (raised 100× in July 2026).

Miners
Mine kHeavyHash blocks

About 10 blocks a second, built in parallel by ASIC miners.

GHOSTDAG
Orders the blockDAG

Parallel blocks are all kept and ordered; no orphans.

L2 / covenant
Apps settle on L1

Igra or Kasplex batches EVM activity; ZK opcodes can verify proofs.

Receiver
Final in seconds

Funds confirmed in seconds; miners collect the fee plus new KAS.

Where KAS comes in: every L1 transaction pays a small KAS fee to the miner, and every block mints new KAS to the miner, which is by far the larger flow. KAS is also gas on the Kasplex and Igra L2s. Nothing is burned or staked, so value accrual depends on fee demand growing as the block reward halves.

Usage and adoption

KAS per day, recent snapshot (approx.)
L1 fees paid
~160
Kaskad lending fees (L2)
~4.2k
New KAS mined
~2.0M

L1 fees: ~67k transactions a day after Toccata × median fee of 232,500 sompi (Kaspalytics, Jul 2026); a median-based estimate, so rough. Kaskad: ~$4.9k fees in 30 days on DefiLlama, converted at $0.039. Mined: ~2.0M KAS a day (OneMiners, 2 Sep 2026). Paid usage covers well under 1% of new supply.

  • weak signal
    L1 fees
    ~160 KAS / day

    ≈ $6 a day; estimate from median fee × daily transactions after the July fee change.

  • weak signal
    Largest DeFi app TVL
    ~$1.0M

    Kaskad lending on Igra (DefiLlama). No aggregate Kaspa DeFi or stablecoin figure found.

  • medium signal
    Daily transactions
    ~67k

    Down from ~483k after the minimum fee rose 100×; the old count was mostly spam. A transaction is any L1 transfer or script spend.

  • medium signal
    Covenant activity
    ~1.2k tx / day

    Covenant-creating transactions seven weeks after Toccata; only 9 ZK precompile calls that day.

  • medium signal
    Hashrate
    ~314 PH/s

    Sep 2026. Shows miner commitment and security, not paid demand.

Kaspa's adoption signals are security and developer activity, not paid usage: fees are a rounding error next to the ~2M KAS mined each day. Toccata gives apps the tools; the next year shows whether they bring stablecoins and fee-paying users.

Project

What it is
A proof-of-work layer-1 built as a blockDAG (GHOSTDAG): blocks are produced in parallel at 10 per second and all are ordered, not orphaned. Mainnet since Nov 2021 with no premine and no token sale.
Team
Founded by Yonatan Sompolinsky (GHOSTDAG author, Harvard postdoc); core development led by Michael Sutton and community contributors, without a company or foundation treasury steering the chain.
Technology
Rust node (Rusty Kaspa) at 10 BPS since the 2025 Crescendo fork. Toccata (30 Jun 2026) added covenants (KIP-17, KIP-20), ZK verification opcodes (KIP-16) and sequencing commitments (KIP-21).
Traction
Small. Igra (EVM L2) went live in Jan 2026 and Kasplex runs a second L2. The largest DeFi app, Kaskad lending, holds ~$1.0M TVL; seven weeks after Toccata only 9 ZK precompile transactions were counted in a day.
Competitors
Bitcoin and other PoW coins as money; Ethereum L2s and Solana for programmable apps; other fast L1s that already host stablecoins and DeFi.
Key risks
Fees too low to replace the block reward as it shrinks; usage stays thin after programmability; miners selling into a $13M-a-day market; no funded entity driving adoption.
Roadmap
Next: a fork that Sutton proposes would bundle DAGKnight consensus with a ZK L1–L2 bridge, plus later vProgs and 100 BPS. No date announced; third-party roadmaps range from Q3 2026 (missed) to 2027.

Token performance

1-year return (22 Oct 2025 → 21 Oct 2026, CoinGecko)
KAS
-25%
BTC
-22%
ETH
-35%

KAS fell slightly more than BTC over 12 months but less than ETH. Over 3 years it is down about −22% (from ~$0.05 in Oct 2023), far behind BTC (~+179%) and ETH (~+53%); the 3-year figure is researched by hand because the free CoinGecko API covers 365 days.

Range 2026
$0.0253 low (14 Aug) to $0.0647 high (11 Jan), daily closes; now $0.039, −9% YTD
12-month drawdown
−61%, from $0.0647 (11 Jan 2026) to $0.0253 (14 Aug 2026); +54% off the low since
Liquidity
$12.7M traded in 24h, 1.2% of market cap; rank #75
Relative strength
−25% in a year vs BTC −22% and ETH −35%; September altcoin rotation lifted it to $0.048 before it faded
ATH check ATH check passed. The $0.207 high came on 31 Jul 2024, about 2.7 years after the Nov 2021 fair launch, so it is a cycle high, not a launch spike.

Tokenomics

Supply
Hard cap ~28.70B KAS; 27.77B (96.7%) already mined. Circulating equals total: no team, VC or treasury allocations.
Inflation
Block reward falls monthly by a factor of (1/2)^(1/12), a smooth yearly halving. ~2.0M KAS a day in Sep 2026, about 2.6% a year now and falling.
Unlocks
None. Fair launch, no premine, no vesting schedule.
Utility
Transaction fees on L1, gas on the Kasplex and Igra L2s, collateral in Kaskad lending. No staking.
Distribution
All coins were mined, so ownership is spread across miners and exchange buyers; early miners and exchanges hold large balances, but no single insider allocation.
Sinks
None of note: fees go to miners and are tiny, there is no burn, buyback or ETF.

Bull case

Toccata's covenants and the Igra L2 attract stablecoins and real DeFi, so fees start to matter as emission keeps halving each year. With almost all supply mined, steady new demand would hit a coin with no unlock overhang; holding $0.035 and breaking the $0.048 September high would confirm it.

Bear case

Usage stays a rounding error and miners keep selling ~2M KAS a day into $13M of daily volume. DAGKnight slips again, attention moves on, and price loses $0.035 and retests the $0.025 August low.

Watch before the next re-run

  • Daily fees and covenant / ZK transactions after Toccata (Kaspalytics)
  • Igra and Kasplex TVL and any native stablecoin issuance
  • Date and scope of the DAGKnight + ZK bridge hard fork
  • $0.035 support and the $0.048 September high

Where to trade

Krakenlisted

KAS against EUR · USD · USDT

24h $759.5k · ±2% depth $525.0k

OKXnot listed

No KAS spot market on OKX.

Largest exchanges

Exchange24h vol±2% depth
GateKAS/USDT$1.59M$120.2k
KuCoinKAS/USDT$1.15M$83.3k
BybitKAS/USDT$1.09M$91.4k
MEXCKAS/USDT$1.09M$93.4k
KrakenKAS/USD$646.6k$609.4k

Deepest DEX pools

No on-chain pool with real trading found.

On-chain share of all KAS volume: 0.0%.

As of 21 Oct 2026 · CoinGecko tickers (24h volume, ±2% depth). ±2% depth is the money it takes to move the price 2% either way: the real size of a market. Exchanges ranked by volume among well-known venues; pools by depth. Not investment advice.

Where to follow

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People on X
Code and governance
Data
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