Layer 1 blockchain
Kadena ticker KDA
Summary
Chainweb runs 20 parallel proof-of-work chains, and each produces a block about every 30 seconds. Every new block must reference the previous headers of three neighbouring chains, which braids the chains into one shared history. KDA is one currency across all chains, but each chain keeps its own balances and contract state. Moving KDA between chains takes two transactions: a burn on the source chain, then a claim with a Merkle (SPV) proof on the target. Smart contracts are written in Pact. The core design has not changed since the company exit. The live network is the community fork described in the class note. 1461721222325
Design
- System
- Layer 1 blockchainA permissionless proof-of-work base layer made of 20 braided chains. Kadena LLC ended business operations on 21 October 2025, and its final node release says the network it maintained stopped producing blocks on 15 November 2025. The network live today is an unofficial community fork, Kadena Community Edition, which split from that chain on 8 November 2025. It keeps the same design and network name and was producing blocks when checked on 27 September 2026. Unless a statement says otherwise, this profile describes that community network.
- Settlement family
- Its own design
- Scarce resource
- Work (proof of work)
- State model
- Accounts
- Finality
- Probabilistic
- Who makes blocks
- Miners propose blocks on individual chains. Competitive mining uses Blake2s ASIC hardware. The community site lists three public pools, and pool shares were not measured. A chain can only advance once its neighbouring chains have reached the required height. Since the community fork, protocol upgrades activate when at least two-thirds of the blocks in a voting period of about five days signal support. The first such vote took effect at block height 7,156,800 on 20 August 2026.
- Fork choice
- Nodes compare whole cuts, meaning one block header per chain, and prefer the valid cut with the greater accumulated proof-of-work weight. To replace a block, an attacker must re-mine every later block on other chains that references it directly or indirectly. Confidence grows with depth, but no depth is mathematically final.
Qualifications
- Network continuity · Contested. Kadena LLC's final node release says its network stopped producing blocks on 15 November 2025. An unofficial community fork split off on 8 November 2025, uses the same network name, and was producing blocks when checked on 27 September 2026. This profile does not settle which chain should carry the Kadena name. Transactions made on the company-run chain after 8 November 2025 are not in the community fork's history.
- Parallel chains · Applies. Throughput is scaled inside the base protocol by running 20 braided chains, not by a separate layer. That is why no layer-two, channel or sidechain row is listed.
- Block metrics · Partial. Each of the 20 chains produces its own blocks, and their heights differ by a block or two at any moment. Single-chain block counts or heights understate network-wide activity.
- Evm execution · Not applicable. Chainweb EVM chains ran only on a test network. The final company-run cut and the live community node both list chains 0 to 19 only, so the live network has no EVM chains.
- Emission and namespace control · Contested. The first community node release moved control of the platform-share emissions and the namespace keysets to a new community keyset. Community posts describe it as a three-of-five multisignature group, with emissions frozen until a foundation exists. The community organization says it is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by Kadena LLC.
- Settlement family · Partial. Recorded as other: Kadena runs Chainweb, its own braided proof-of-work design of 20 parallel chains, with Pact smart contracts; the live network runs the community edition of chainweb-node.
Tradeoffs
- Emphasizes
- Security and Scalability
- Gives up
- Some simplicity and some decentralization. Balances and contracts live on separate chains, so moving value between chains takes two transactions and a proof. Competitive mining needs ASICs. Since the company exit, the node software has been maintained by a small community team that says it is not affiliated with the original company.The whitepaper argues that an attacker must overcome the combined hash power of all chains, but it calls its analysis loose and promised a fuller companion paper. This review did not measure the hash power now securing the network. The community reported roughly a dozen nodes just after the fork and more than 70 by mid-December 2025. Security is listed here as a design aim, not a measured property.
- Full node at home
- Practical at home 13151825The community node README lists 2 CPU cores, 4 GB RAM, 250 GB of SSD or fast hard-disk storage and a public IP address, or 4 cores and 8 GB for API or mining use. Port 1789 must accept inbound connections. A sync from scratch takes several days unless a snapshot is used. The storage figure looks low: a community post puts the block database at about 400 GB, or under 50 GB once compacted under node 3.2. Competitive mining needs ASIC hardware.
- Throughput claims
- Theoretical peak: 10,000 tx/s 16Theoretical peak; not comparable across chains or with observed load.Stated as 'in excess of' this figure in the design paper's abstract.A design with hundreds or thousands of braided chains. The paper says replicating a full large network would need a server cluster, not a single machine.This is a design-paper figure for a much larger network, not a measurement of the live network, which runs 20 chains. The figure ignores propagation delay, state growth and the per-block gas limit, which caps how much work each block can hold. The paper is marked as a draft, and its security analysis is described as loose. This figure is not comparable with measured rates on this or any other chain.
Scaling layers
No scaling layer recorded in this profile.
Capabilities
| Capability | How it is provided | Notes and sources |
|---|---|---|
| Account abstraction | Structured assessment pending | Not yet assessed for any chain. |
| Atomic swaps | Built into the protocolLimited scope | On a single chain, one Pact transaction signed by both parties can move two assets and settles in full or not at all. Scope is limited to one chain: moves between Kadena's own chains take two steps and are not atomic, and swaps with other networks using hash time locks were not reviewed. 811 |
| Authenticated data publication | Unknown | Not yet assessed under this row's current definition. |
| Light clients | Built into the protocolLimited scope | Chainweb's braided headers carry proof-of-work weight, and the target chain verifies cross-chain claims on chain with SPV Merkle proofs anchored in those headers; the whitepaper argues that one chain plus the header stream can be verified without the full network. Scope is limited: no standalone light-client product was reviewed. 112 |
| Native staking or delegation | Structured assessment pending | Not yet assessed for any chain. |
| On-chain governance | Structured assessment pending | Not yet assessed for any chain. |
| Parallel execution | Structured assessment pending | Not yet assessed for any chain. |
| Payment or state channels | Unknown | No source was cited for absence, so under the rule that absence needs a source this is unknown rather than not present. Earlier finding: no payment or state channel layer anchored to Kadena was found in the reviewed sources (absence not exhaustively verified). |
| Programmable spending | Native (protocol or core-team software) Earlier definition | Accounts are guarded by keysets, which are sets of keys with a signing rule such as all, any or two. Accounts can also be guarded by other guard types. Pact modules use capabilities to scope what a signature authorizes. EVM code does not run on the live network. 910 |
| Protocol-verified messaging | Structured assessment pending | Not yet assessed for any chain. |
| Reversible transfers or recovery | Unknown | Not yet assessed under the current definitions; Pact multi-step transactions can include a rollback step, and the documentation's example is an escrow reversed if the buyer does not finish within an agreed time, but that is contract code built from a language feature, not a standard or product. Account guards can be rotated by their current holders, which is key rotation, not a recovery path. The protocol does not reverse a confirmed transfer. 78 |
| Rollups | None found Earlier definition | No rollup settling to Kadena was found. The Chainweb EVM chains were planned as extra chains inside Chainweb, not as rollups, and they ran only on a test network. 1419 |
| Shielded transfers | Structured assessment pending | Not yet assessed for any chain. |
| Signed partial offers | Unknown | Not yet assessed under this row's current definition. |
Reading these values
- How this feature is provided
- Built into the protocol, core-team software or independent software says where a feature lives and who can change it. These are implementation layers, not quality: core-team software is not closer to the protocol than independent software.
- Structured assessment pending
- The shared review has not assessed this feature for any chain yet (Account abstraction, Native staking or delegation, On-chain governance, Parallel execution, Protocol-verified messaging and Shielded transfers). That does not mean it is absent, and a chain’s profile may already describe it.
- Unknown
- The review has not established this for this chain under the current definition; the note beside it says why. Unknown is not absent and not a low score. A feature reads “Not present” only when a source shows it is absent.
- Earlier definition
- Payment or state channels, Programmable spending and Rollups keep the earlier definition until the next fact-check. There, “Native” does not separate the protocol from core-team software, “Ecosystem software” does not say who publishes it, and “Partial” does not say which layer.
- Reading across rows
- The list of capabilities is incomplete. Do not read these rows as a chain leading or lagging overall.
Ecosystem & custody
| Product type | Status | Notes and sources |
|---|---|---|
| Automated market makers | ThinMercatus, eckoDEX pool contracts (kaddex namespace) | Mercatus, listed by the community as a DEX, runs a web app with swaps and add or remove liquidity against a pool contract in the kaddex namespace, eckoDEX's former name. eckoDEX published that code as a Kadenaswap fork modelled on Uniswap v2. Its own site returned a server error on 27 September 2026. Brodex, also listed, is an order-book exchange, not a pool. Liquidity and activity were not measured. 2425282933 |
| Issuer-native stablecoins | None found | Neither Circle's USDC address list nor Tether's supported-protocols page mentions Kadena. Any bridged or wrapped stablecoin on Kadena would depend on its bridge, not on issuer support. 3940 |
| Algorithmic stablecoins | Unknown | No algorithmic or hybrid stablecoin on Kadena was reviewed. Brodex lists a trading pair against a token called zUSD, which was not examined. 29 |
| Bridges | UnknownKinesis Bridge (Hyperlane-based, Kadena to Ethereum) | Kinesis Bridge, built by 4ptO on Hyperlane, moves tokens between Kadena and Ethereum by locking them on one side and minting wrapped copies on the other. A December 2025 community roadmap says the former team shut it down and withheld its code and keys. A June 2026 post said work was resuming. The site loads, but whether transfers work today was not verified. Moves between Kadena's own chains are not a bridge. Risk: Each Hyperlane route is secured by the security module its deployer chose, which this review did not inspect. Wrapped tokens depend on that module, on the bridge contracts and on whoever holds their admin keys, not on Kadena proof of work. The earlier shutdown shows an operator can halt the bridge. 24252627 |
| Block explorers | Established in the ecosystemKadena Block Explorer (community), Denascan, Kadscan | All three are community-run and index the community fork. The company-run explorer hostnames no longer resolved when checked on 27 September 2026. An explorer's view is provider data, not independent validation. 16303132 |
| Hardware wallets | None found | See the custody rows. No hardware wallet path for ordinary users was confirmed: Trezor says it does not support Kadena, Ledger's app catalogue and its own wallet app had no Kadena support on 27 September 2026, and Ledger's Kadena coin page returned not found. Ledger has not stated non-support, so its custody row is marked unconfirmed. An archived Kadena device-app repository offers only unvetted development builds. 34353738 |
Hardware-wallet custody
| Device maker | Status | What users can and cannot do |
|---|---|---|
| Ledger | UnknownSame as native: Unknown | Cannot: Install a Kadena app from Ledger's app catalogue: Ledger's catalogue data listed no Kadena app on 27 September 2026 Cannot: Rely on a Ledger-published Kadena page: ledger.com's Kadena coin page returned not found on 27 September 2026 Cannot: Add a Kadena account in Ledger's own wallet app: its current code registers no Kadena networkNo Ledger path was confirmed, but Ledger has not stated that it does not support Kadena, so this row is unconfirmed rather than unsupported. A Zondax-built Kadena device app sits in Ledger's GitHub organization; the repository was archived on 11 March 2026 and offers only unvetted development builds. Linx Wallet says it imports Ledger accounts without naming networks. 34353638 |
| Trezor | None foundSame as native: No | Cannot: Hold or sign for KDA with a Trezor device through Trezor SuiteTrezor's Kadena page states that Trezor does not currently support Kadena. 37 |
Public data
iKnow Blockchain has no public-data lookups for Kadena yet. This is a limit of the service, not a statement about the network.
| Lookup | Status | What it covers and its limits |
|---|---|---|
| Address or account | Not available yet | Public-data lookups for this chain are not built yet. |
| Tokens and assets | Not available yet | Public-data lookups for this chain are not built yet. |
| NFTs | Not available yet | Public-data lookups for this chain are not built yet. |
| Transactions | Not available yet | Public-data lookups for this chain are not built yet. |
Sourced developments
Developments: Review overdue Reviewed Sep 27, 2026; next review was due Oct 7, 2026, 12:00 UTC.
Publication date · newest first
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Community node 3.2: security fixes, new gas model and a six-month proof window, activated by miner vote
Community release 3.2 is mandatory. It upgrades to Pact 5.4.1, charges signatures and proofs by size and verification cost, shrinks the cross-chain proof window to six months, fixes several security flaws and activates by miner vote. Live block headers show the vote passed and the new rules took effect at block height 7,156,800 on 20 August 2026. A transparency post on 21 August 2026 described the flaws and said none had been exploited.
- Proposal:released for miner vote
- Implementation:implemented in 3.2 and 3.2.1
- Release:released 2026-08-02 (3.2) and 2026-08-21 (3.2.1)
- Activation:activated at block height 7,156,800 on 2026-08-20, read from live block headers; no activation announcement found
Sources: Kadena Community Edition — chainweb-node Community Edition 3.2 (external site) · Kadena Community Edition — chainweb-node Community Edition changelog (external site) · Kadena Community Edition — KDA Community Edition posts (Medium feed) (external site) · Kadena Community Edition — chainweb-node Community Edition 3.1 (external site) · Kadena Community Edition — Community node block header, chain 0, height 7,156,800 (external site) · Kadena Community Edition — Community mainnet version definition (Mainnet.hs) (external site)
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Final company release records that its Kadena mainnet stopped
chainweb-node 2.32.0, the last company release, states that the company-run Kadena mainnet stopped producing blocks at 23:26:15 UTC on 15 November 2025. It publishes the final cut, removes the bootstrap nodes and the node expiry date, and precedes archiving of the repository.
- Implementation:final release
- Release:released 2025-11-22; repository archived 2025-11-24
- Activation:block production stopped 2025-11-15
Sources: Kadena LLC — chainweb-node 2.32.0 (external site) · Kadena LLC — chainweb-node repository (archived) (external site) · Kadena LLC — chainweb-node changelog (Kadena LLC) (external site)
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Community Edition node released, forking Kadena on 8 November 2025
A community group published chainweb-node 3.0 Community Edition. It forked from the company-run chain at 04:00 UTC on 8 November 2025, moved the platform-share and namespace keysets to a community keyset, and added community bootstrap nodes. Release 3.0.1 made nodes that had followed the other chain rewind to the fork point.
- Proposal:community decision announced
- Implementation:implemented in releases 3.0 and 3.0.1
- Release:released 2025-11-06
- Activation:fork at 04:00 UTC on 2025-11-08; blocks still being produced on 2026-09-27
Sources: Kadena Community Edition — chainweb-node Community Edition 3.0 (external site) · Kadena Community Edition — chainweb-node Community Edition changelog (external site) · Kadena Community Edition — KDA Community Edition posts (Medium feed) (external site) · Kadena Community Edition — Community node current cut (mainnet01) (external site)
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Kadena LLC ended business operations
The company that built and maintained Kadena announced on its website that it ended business operations on 21 October 2025. Its website now shows only that notice.
- Implementation:company operations ended
- Release:not applicable
- Activation:effective 2025-10-21
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Company node 2.31: Pact 5.4 and a 20,000-block limit on cross-chain proofs, followed by point release 2.31.1
Kadena LLC published chainweb-node 2.31 as a mandatory upgrade. It moved the node to Pact 5.4 and made SPV proof roots, which are used to finish cross-chain transfers, expire after 20,000 blocks. The notes said older versions would stop working at 00:00 UTC on 15 October 2025 and scheduled the 2.31 rules for block height 6,269,344, estimated for 16 October 2025. Point release 2.31.1 followed on 10 October 2025, marked strongly recommended. The commit it links changed the service date for mainnet and testnet from 15 October 2025 to 7 January 2026. 2.31.1 was the last company release before the community fork of 8 November 2025.
- Implementation:implemented in 2.31; 2.31.1 corrected the mainnet and testnet service date
- Release:released 2025-10-07 (2.31, mandatory) and 2025-10-10 (2.31.1, strongly recommended)
- Activation:scheduled at height 6,269,344 (est. 2025-10-16); no activation notice reviewed. Inference: applied, as the final company cut shows every chain past that height
Sources: Kadena LLC — chainweb-node 2.31 (external site) · Kadena LLC — chainweb-node 2.31.1 (external site) · Kadena LLC — chainweb-node changelog (Kadena LLC) (external site) · Kadena LLC — chainweb-node 2.32.0 (external site) · Kadena Community Edition — chainweb-node Community Edition 3.1 (external site) · Kadena Community Edition — chainweb-node Community Edition 3.2 (external site)
Topics your AI can explain
Your AI can explain these topics for Kadena through the connection, with sources.
Known gaps
What this profile's review did not establish:
- Which chain should carry the Kadena name is contested. This profile describes the unofficial community fork because it is the only one still producing blocks. No foundation or legal successor was confirmed.
- The node 3.2 activation date comes from reading live block headers against the community's node source, not from a community announcement of activation.
- Current hash power, pool concentration and the cost of attacking the network were not measured.
- Total supply and the remaining emission schedule were not verified.
- Whether the Kinesis Bridge is operating again, which assets it supports and how its routes are secured were not verified. No bridged stablecoin was reviewed.
- Liquidity and activity on Mercatus, Brodex and the eckoDEX pool contracts were not measured. The eckoDEX site returned a server error.
- No algorithmic stablecoin was reviewed, including the zUSD token paired on Brodex.
- Whether a Ledger device can sign for the live network through a sideloaded development build or a third-party wallet was not verified.
- Current total disk use for a full node was not measured. The README's 250 GB storage figure is lower than the database sizes given in community posts.
- Most Kadena documentation pages are rendered in the browser. Their text was read from the site's published content bundle, not from static HTML.
- Web search was unavailable for this review. Community-fork facts come from the community's own repositories, sites and posts, not from independent reporting.
Sources
Oldest dated source check: Source checked Sep 27, 2026 Next check due Oct 27, 2026.
- Chainweb: A Proof-of-Work Parallel-Chain Architecture for Massive Throughput (draft v15) (external site)
- chainweb-node repository (archived) (external site)
- chainweb-node 2.32.0 release notes (external site)
- Chainweb Cut module source (Cut.hs) (external site)
- Kadena (external site)
- Chainweb execution and latency (external site)
- coin contract reference (external site)
- Transaction format and flow (external site)
- Accounts, keys, and principals (external site)
- Basic concepts (external site)
- Transfer funds safely (external site)
- Get simple payment verification (spv) (external site)
- Get started running a node (external site)
- Chainweb EVM testnet deployment guide (external site)
- chainweb-mining-client README (external site)
- KDA Community Edition GitHub organization (external site)
- chainweb-node Community Edition releases (external site)
- chainweb-node Community Edition README (external site)
- Community node info endpoint (mainnet01) (external site)
- Community node current cut (mainnet01) (external site)
- Community node block header, chain 0, height 7,156,800 (first block with fork number 1) (external site)
- Community mainnet version definition (Mainnet.hs) (external site)
- Miners (external site)
- Ecosystem (external site)
- KDA Community Edition posts (Medium feed) (external site)
- Kinesis Bridge (external site)
- About the Kinesis Bridge (external site)
- Mercatus (external site)
- bro-dex repository (external site)
- Kadena Block Explorer (community) (external site)
- Denascan (external site)
- Kadscan (external site)
- eckoDEX smart contracts (external site)
- Ledger Kadena app (archived) (external site)
- Ledger application catalogue data (external site)
- Linx Wallet (external site)
- Kadena wallet (external site)
- Ledger Wallet coin-module loaders (loaders.ts, develop branch) (external site)
- USDC contract addresses (external site)
- Supported protocols (external site)
Report an error
Found something wrong or out of date? Reporting is free, and every chain goes through the same process. Published corrections appear in the public log.
Funding disclosure
Funding disclosures appear here when an upkeep arrangement exists, in the form “Upkeep funded by [name]; verdicts unaffected.” The funder ledger has not been published yet. Neutrality & funding