Kaspa (KAS) tokenomics

Kaspa (KAS) is a decentralized peer-to-peer payment network utilizing a Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus mechanism. Its token economics are designed to mirror the principles of Bitcoin—such as a UTXO model and a deflationary monetary policy—while leveraging a blockDAG (Directed Acyclic Graph) architecture to enable parallel block creation and rapid transaction finality.

Issuance Mechanism

Kaspa employs a unique emission schedule characterized by a smooth, geometric reduction in block rewards rather than the abrupt "halving" events seen in Bitcoin.

• Maximum Supply: The total supply of KAS is capped at 70,000,000,000 (70 billion) tokens.
• Emission Schedule: Rewards decrease monthly by a factor of (1/2)^(1/12). This geometric reduction ensures a steady decline in inflation until the maximum supply is reached, which is projected to occur around the year 2057.
• Current Reward Status: At the network's inception, miners were rewarded with 500 KAS per block. As of February 26, 2024, due to the monthly reduction schedule, this reward has decreased to 81 KAS per block.
• Block Production: The network currently utilizes GhostDAG to facilitate rapid block creation. Future upgrades to the codebase (transitioning to RustLang) aim to increase block speeds from the current rate to 10 blocks per second (BPS), with a long-term goal of reaching 100 BPS.

Allocation Mechanism

Kaspa is distinguished by its "fair launch" approach, which avoids many of the centralized allocation strategies common in modern blockchain projects.

• No Premine: There was no premine or pre-allocation of tokens to founders, early investors, or venture capital firms.
• No Central Governance: The project does not have a central governing body that holds a treasury of tokens for distribution.
• Community Crowdfunding: Because there is no central treasury, ecosystem initiatives are funded through community-led crowdfunding. For example, the community has successfully raised funds for marketing efforts, exchange listing fees, and the development of the DAGKnight consensus and extension wallets. These funds are typically managed via multi-sig wallets controlled by elected community treasurers.

Usage and Incentive Mechanism

The KAS token is the native utility asset of the Kaspa network, serving as the primary driver for security and value exchange.

• Peer-to-Peer Payments: KAS acts as a medium of exchange, allowing users to send and receive funds without intermediaries.
• Transaction Fees: Users pay fees in KAS to have their transactions processed. These fees serve as a secondary incentive for miners.
• Mining Incentives: Miners are incentivized to secure the network through the kHeavyhash algorithm. The winning miner of a block receives both the newly minted KAS (inflationary reward) and all transaction fees contained within that block.
• Network Security: Unlike Proof-of-Stake networks, Kaspa does not have a staking or liquidity provisioning mechanism. Security is derived entirely from the computational power contributed by miners using GPUs and FPGAs.

Locking Mechanism and Unlocking Time

Kaspa’s tokenomics do not include formal locking or unlocking schedules because the project did not conduct a pre-sale or private allocation.

In summary, Kaspa’s tokenomics are strictly meritocratic and decentralized, relying on a transparent, algorithmic emission schedule and community-driven funding rather than private allocations or centralized treasury management.