What is Kadena?

Kadena is an open-source, hybrid blockchain platform that looks to increase blockchain adoption among businesses and the general population. Kadena intends to do this by improving on the issues of scalability, security and ease of use in other networks. Kadena also offers a decentralized infrastructure and tools for builders to create projects quickly and affordably on top of its blockchain.

Kadena is an affordable blockchain, with little-to-no transaction fees and a much lower environmental impact than other proof-of-work networks. It is designed to utilize a layer 1 chain (Chainweb) and a private, layer 2 chain (Kuro).

What Is Kadena: Quick Facts

• Kadena was launched in 2016 by Stuart Popejoy and Will Martino, who had previously helped to build JPMorgan's first blockchain (JPM Coin).
• Kadena is a hybrid blockchain that claims to be the "industry's only scalable layer-1 Proof of Work (PoW) blockchain".
• Kadena was the first blockchain technology company to come out of JPMorgan's Blockchain Center of Excellence.
• The network runs using KDA, a digital currency used to compensate miners and pay for any transaction fees.

How Kadena Works

Kadena is a unique and well-designed network that functions using several key technologies:

• Chainweb - a public layer 1 proof-of-work blockchain
• Pact - a smart contract language
• Kuro - a private blockchain

The combination of these components allows for increased transactions, the simple creation of secure smart contracts and the ability to upgrade aforementioned smart contracts, without the need for a hard fork. 

Chainweb

Chainweb is Kadena's attempt at improving on Bitcoin's proof-of-work consensus mechanism, without sacrificing its assurance and resistance to censorship, like newer proof-of-stake blockchains often do. 

Chainweb is a parallel chain that combines hundreds or thousands of individually mined peer chains into a single network. Each chain in the network mines the same cryptocurrency, which can be transferred cross-chain using a Simple Payment Verification (SPV). Kadena's whitepaper claims that Chainweb can conduct over 10,000 transactions per second, without minimizing security. However, in 2020, the blockchain's developers increased the number of braided chains from 10 to 20, enabling it to potentially complete up to 480,000 transactions per second. Kadena's developers claim that this would make it the fastest blockchain platform in the world.

Pact

Pact is a programming language that allows blockchains to execute smart contracts. But what is Kadena's smart contract language used for?

Pact allows developers to implement robust, transactional logic, which enables businesses to conduct operations quickly and safely. The script used on previous blockchains is either not powerful enough (Bitcoin) or unconstrained (Ethereum); Pact looks to resolve both of these issues.

Pact makes designing safer smart contracts simple, even for inexperienced developers. It was created to be "readable by humans and verifiable by computers" — the code stored on the blockchain is always legible in its original form, making it an incredibly user-friendly language that encourages adoption amongst beginner developers. The code can also automatically detect bugs and has been rigorously tested over multiple years.

Kuro

Kuro is Kadena's private or 'permissioned' blockchain. It is a distributed ledger — a database that shares and synchronizes data across multiple sites, locations and users — that is only accessible to invited users. This differs to public blockchains like Bitcoin, Ethereum or even Chainweb, Kadena's layer 1 chain.

Instead of using a system of mining or staking like those adopted by public blockchains, the recording and replicating of transactions on a private blockchain is done through voting, and other, similar consensus mechanisms. Kuro has the advantages of regular blockchains (instant transactions and effortless administration, for example), while only allowing a set of approved users to participate in the sharing of sensitive information. Kuro also functions as a side-chain, speeding up transactions and creating additional marketplaces for data.

There are several benefits to Kadena's use of a private blockchain in unison with Chainweb and Pact:

• Automatic bug detection
• Human-readable code
• Ability to upgrade smart contracts
• Easy integration to existing databases
• Advanced security options

Where Is KDA Used?

KDA is Kadena's native cryptocurrency. It is used to compensate miners for mining blocks on the Chainweb blockchain and users also spend KDA in order to have their transactions included in a block.

Kadena Founders

Kadena was launched in 2016 by Stuart Popejoy — leader of JPMorgan's Emerging Blockchain group — and Will Martino — former Tech Lead for the SEC's Cryptocurrency Steering Committee. Popejoy and Martino had previously helped to build JPMorgan's first blockchain, JPM Coin.

Kadena's advisory team also includes Dr. Stuart Haber, the co-inventor of blockchain and the most cited author in Satoshi Nakamoto's 2008 Bitcoin whitepaper.

Kadena History

Kadena raised $2.25 million in a pre-A financing round in January 2018, with major investors like Metastable, Kilowatt Capital, Coinfund and Multicoin Capital all getting involved. It went on to raise an additional $12 million in their second round of funding, which enabled the acceleration of the development of Chainweb.

In November 2019, Kadena's mainnet was made available for public mining, and 2.1 million KDA were listed on CoinList.

In 2020, Kadena's public blockchain expanded from 10 to 20 chains, drastically increasing throughput and demonstrating the network's scalability. In September the same year, Kadenaswap, the network's multi-protocol decentralized exchange (DEX), was announced. In November, Kadena partnered with Terra to expand its DeFi ecosystem.

At the beginning of 2021, Kadena made a change to its token economic model, reducing the platform's token emission rate, extending it by an additional five years. 2021 also saw Kadena listed on Kucoin, TradeOgre, Crypto.com and Gate.io, with Katena entering the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap for the first time.

KDA Tokenomics

There is a total, fixed supply of 1 billion KDA tokens, which will be mined over a period of 120 years. Considering its unique approach to Web3 and DeFi, what is Kadena's attitude towards allocating KDA tokens?

• 70% (700 million KDA) - Miners
• 20% (200 million KDA) - Platform
• 9% (90 million KDA) - Investors, strategic and contributors
• Series A and Series B Investor sales: 21.4 million KDA
• 2019 CoinList offering: 2.1 million KDA
• Contributor share (employees, consultants, advisors): 30 million KDA
• Strategic share (ecosystem initiatives and future sales): 36.5 million KDA
• 1% (10 million KDA) - Burned at launch

As well as through mining, pre-allocated tokens are another source of KDA within the Kadena ecosystem. This allocation of KDA was defined in the network's genesis blocks — the first block on each Kadena chain that subsequent blocks are mined from.

A considerable portion of Kadena's token economic model is the platform share. Tokens allocated to the platform share are used for developer and economic grants, community-grown initiatives, ecosystem initiatives and major ecosystem improvements.

How Is KDA Created/Mined?

KDA is emitted through two processes: mining and the release of allocated tokens, although the majority of tokens enter the circulating supply through the former. Miners are incentivized to mine the blocks with KDA, although the rewards for each new block slowly decrease over time.

At Mining Launch, in November 2019, the emission of KDA tokens was 2.018 million tokens per month. By January 2025, this number will have fallen to 1.69 million tokens.

Kadena’s Competition and How It Fares

Much like most well-established Web3 networks, Kadena faces intense competition. But what is Kadena's biggest competitor and how does it fare in comparison?

Ethereum

Ethereum is arguably one of Kadena's biggest competitors. Ethereum, long-established as the second largest network and cryptocurrency, is well positioned to consume the lion's share of the market. That being said, Kadena is able to compete in more ways than one.

Kadena aims to significantly reduce the processing time of blockchains, ensuring better scalability and lower transaction costs. Ethereum is notoriously slow and expensive, with gas (transaction) fees often pricing new investors and developers out of the equation. Kadena has a much faster block time than Ethereum, potentially making it a more viable option.

Kadena also offers much of the same functionality as Ethereum, with smart contract support — which is arguably more user-friendly than that of Ethereum — and the ability to create non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

However, it's difficult to see Ethereum giving up much ground in the battle for 'number one smart contract platform'. Kadena's ecosystem, although constantly growing and improving, is a considerable distance behind its competitor, which may in turn deter new developers and investors from getting involved.

Kadena Partnerships and Investors

Kadena has partnered with a number of companies and projects:

Kadena has introduced a wide range of partnerships, some of which are arguably more useful than others. For example, Wrapped is a cross-chain bridge that allows for interoperability between Kadena and other top layer 1 blockchains. Additionally, Tokensoft will allow for the creation of Wrapped tokens, such as kETH and kBTC, which can be traded for KDA on Kaddex. The introduction of cross-platform payments is imperative for the scalability and wider adoption of any network, so this demonstrates that Kadena is making strides in the right direction.

Kadena Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats

As mentioned previously, Kadena has a number of attributes that make it stand out as one of the top blockchains in the space. But what is Kadena's greatest strength and what are some of its weaknesses?

Strengths

• Kadena offers zero-fee transactions, which is a major selling point for any potential user or investor. This allows Kadena to compete with protocols like Ethereum, which — although further ahead in terms of adoption — struggles with frighteningly high transaction fees.
• Kadena supports the issuance and trading of non-fungible tokens, which is beneficial given the wider adoption of NFTs.
• The Pact smart contract language is incredibly easy to use, but doesn't neglect security or performance. Pact supports upgradable smart contracts and formal verification, while remaining human-readable.

Weaknesses

• Kadena has a relatively weak ecosystem, with a limited number of decentralized applications currently live or in development on its network. Compared to its competitors, Ethereum and Solana, there's potential that this lack of projects will fail to entice new developers and users.
• Kadena is not Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible, which may discourage Ethereum users from attempting to cross over to the network. Kadena's developers have regularly dismissed EVM as being "fundamentally unsafe", but this lack of EVM-compatibility could perturb some users.

Opportunities

• Due to Kadena's impressive smart contract language, lack of transaction fees and increasing real-world utility, Kadena has the potential to position itself at the forefront of the blockchain space as one of Web3's premier smart contract platforms. If Kadena can continue building its ecosystem, there's no reason that it can't rival some of the industry's biggest networks in that regard.
• Kadena Eco — an initiative introduced to grow a healthy Kadena ecosystem — could also be beneficial for the protocol and may help to push the network towards mainstream adoption.

Threats

• Kadena is competing against some of the biggest names in Web3 and crypto. Although there are lots of positives about the network, if it isn't able to truly distinguish itself from the competition, it runs the risk of falling by the wayside. It's important that Kadena continues to announce partnerships and develop its ecosystem in order to avoid this.

Kadena Roadmap

Kadena has a 'Live Roadmap' that details all the upcoming milestones for the network, both in terms of its platform and its ecosystem. Currently, Kadena's roadmap highlights a number of changes regarding Kaddex, Kadena's DEX; Marmalade, the network's NFT smart contract; potential exchange listings; and additional developer updates.

Kadena Updates, News, Highlights

Kadena has announced a number of important updates in 2022 so far. Earlier in the year, the development team updated the Chainweb mainnet, upgrading Pact to version 4.2.0 and improving nodes. The Pact upgrade added a number of bug fixes and saw the introduction of 'lambda' functions, which will have a positive impact on user experience and will increase the network's overall security.

Kadena was also listed on Binance and Okcoin in March of 2022, which can only be beneficial for the protocol. It could also potentially impact the KDA price during future bull markets, considering the fact that a greater number of investors now have access to Kadena's native cryptocurrency.

Kadena Eco was launched in early 2022. It is a long-term initiative designed to bring together big industry names to help fuel and sustain Kadena's economic growth. Kadena Eco supports founders and entrepreneurs by providing:

• An incubator - for hands-on technical development
• An accelerator - for early capital and guidance
• Research and development - to build the necessary Kadena infrastructure 
• Grant programs - to support community-oriented projects
• A venture fund - to help companies realize their vision on Kadena's blockchain

What Is Kaddex and What Makes It Stand Out?

Kaddex is a decentralized exchange built on the Kadena blockchain, which claims to be "the most powerful proof of work DEX". Kaddex's developers were the first DApp builders to leverage Kadenaswap, a multi-protocol DEX built on Kadena. In June 2021, Kaddex raised over 3.3 million KDA in an entirely on-chain token sale, kickstarting its journey towards release in 2022.

Kaddex aims to deliver the true vision of decentralized finance by creating user-focused, accessible and scalable financial tools for its users. 

What is Kadena's DEX used for?

Using Kaddex, users are able to:

• Swap: swap tokens with zero transaction fees
• Pool: provide liquidity for any token pair
• Stake: stake KDX and earn 0.05% on all trades
• Farm: access KDX liquidity mining

There are also a number of unique features that make Kaddex really stand out compared to other decentralized exchanges. Kaddex has promised to always offer gas-free transactions, regardless of how much the Kadena network grows. Additionally, liquidity pools will be able to either claim 0.25% of swapping fees or claim the rewards in KDX tokens.

Kaddex's developers also claim that the DEX will never experience network congestion, due to Kadena's endless scalability. This should allow for consistently fast and secure settlements.

Kaddex also has its own decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), which focuses on the growth of the DEX's ecosystem, with an overall goal of seeing greater adoption for the Kadena blockchain. Due, in large part, to the DAO, Kaddex is entirely decentralized, with no intervention from off-chain oracles or central on-chain authorities.

Finally, Kaddex will be the only multi-protocol DEX with native, decentralized bridges. In the future, this will allow users to access value through Kaddex, without worrying about switching between different networks.

Where To Buy KDA

For potential investors looking to buy or trade KDA, OKX is one of the best places to do so. Users can trade KDA/USDT as a spot on OKX, which is a secure, industry-leading platform that enables the trading of a range of cryptocurrency pairs. 

How To Store KDA

Kaddex offers a number of excellent options for storing KDA. Regardless of the eventual KDA price, the following three options are incredibly secure and are all perfectly suited for use on the Kadena network.

Chainweaver

Chainweaver is the official Kadena wallet for advanced blockchain usage and smart contract development. The desktop version of Chainweaver allows users to interact with DApps on Chainweb.

Zelcore

Zelcore is a very user-friendly, multi-network wallet that can be used to store and trade KDA. Zelcore is a third-party wallet that also allows users to interact with DApps on the Kadena Chainweb, much like Chainweaver.

X-Wallet

X-Wallet is a web extension wallet that allows users to send and receive assets, execute cross-chain transfers, view transactions and interact with DApps on the Kadena network. X-Wallet is also the preferred wallet to use with Kaddex.

FAQ About Kadena

What Is Kadena?

Kadena is a decentralized, open-source blockchain platform that looks to increase the adoption of blockchain and Web3 amongst the general population. Kadena utilizes a hybrid blockchain model, operating using Chainweb, a public, layer 1, proof-of-work blockchain; Pact, a user-friendly smart contract language; and Kuro, a private chain.

Who Founded Kadena?

Kadena was founded by Stuart Popejoy and Will Martino in 2016. Popejoy previously served as the leader of JPMorgan's Emerging Blockchain group, while Martino was the former Tech Lead for the SEC's Cryptocurrency Steering Committee. Both founders had previously helped to build JPMorgan's first blockchain, JPM Coin, and Kadena was the first blockchain technology company to come out of JPMorgan's Blockchain Center of Excellence.

What Is KDA?

KDA is Kadena's native cryptocurrency. KDA is used to incentivize miners to validate the next block on Kadena's layer 1 chain, Chainweb. KDA can be purchased or traded on a number of exchanges, including OKX, where KDA/USDT can be traded as a spot.

What Is Kaddex?

Kaddex is a decentralized exchange built on top of the Kadena network. Kaddex's developers claim that it is the "most powerful" proof-of-work DEX available. Users can swap, pool, stake and farm on Kaddex with zero transaction fees and no network congestion.

Is KDA a Good Investment?

The cryptocurrency space is highly volatile and so it's essential that any potential investors do their own research before committing any money to a trade or purchase. Kadena has a number of advantages over competitor networks, but it's impossible to know whether the KDA price will rise or fall in the future.