1.

The Origins: DAGLabs and the Birth of Kaspa

Kaspa’s story begins with DAGLabs, a research and development company focused on blockchain technology and scalability solutions. Understanding DAGLabs’ role is crucial to appreciating how Kaspa came to be and why it represents such a significant advancement in cryptocurrency technology.

DAGLabs: The Research Foundation

DAGLabs was founded to explore and develop solutions to the fundamental limitations of traditional blockchain architectures. The team, including notable researchers like Yonatan Sompolinsky, worked on developing the theoretical foundations for what would eventually become Kaspa’s innovative BlockDAG structure.

The research conducted at DAGLabs focused on creating a cryptocurrency that could solve the blockchain trilemma-achieving decentralization, security, and scalability simultaneously. Traditional blockchains, including Bitcoin, struggle with scalability because they require linear block ordering, which limits transaction throughput. DAGLabs explored how a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) structure could overcome these limitations while maintaining the security guarantees of proof-of-work consensus.

The Technical Innovation: PHANTOM GHOSTDAG

The core innovation that emerged from DAGLabs research was the PHANTOM GHOSTDAG protocol, a generalization of Nakamoto Consensus that allows blocks to exist in parallel rather than requiring strict linear ordering. This protocol was described in the academic paper “PHANTOM and GHOSTDAG: A Scalable Generalization of Nakamoto Consensus” published in 2018.

Unlike traditional blockchains that orphan blocks created in parallel, GHOSTDAG allows these blocks to coexist and orders them through consensus. This means Kaspa’s blockchain is actually a blockDAG-a structure that maintains security while enabling much higher block rates and faster confirmations than traditional blockchains.

This breakthrough represented a fundamental shift in how proof-of-work cryptocurrencies could operate. Instead of being limited by the need to wait for one block at a time, Kaspa’s blockDAG structure allows for multiple blocks to be processed simultaneously, dramatically increasing throughput while maintaining the security properties of proof-of-work.

Challenges and Transition to Community Ownership

Despite the promising research and development work, DAGLabs faced significant challenges in 2021. The immaturity of optical mining hardware (which they had considered for their initial design) and insufficient funding created obstacles for bringing the project to market through traditional means.

Rather than seeking venture capital funding or creating a foundation with pre-allocated tokens, the team made a pivotal decision: they would transfer Kaspa to the public domain and launch it as a fully decentralized, community-driven project. Approximately six months before the mainnet launch, DAGLabs renounced ownership of Kaspa, ensuring that no single entity would control the project from the start.

This decision was radical and aligned perfectly with the principles that Satoshi Nakamoto established with Bitcoin. By renouncing ownership before launch, DAGLabs ensured that Kaspa would be a true community project from day one, with no central authority, no business model, and no special privileges for its creators.

2.

Understanding the Fair Launch Concept

The concept of a “fair launch” in cryptocurrency was introduced by Satoshi Nakamoto with Bitcoin’s launch in 2009. Understanding this concept is essential to appreciating why Kaspa’s launch was so significant and how it differed from the vast majority of cryptocurrency projects launched in the years following Bitcoin.

What Is a Fair Launch?

A fair launch ensures that everyone has an equal opportunity to participate in a new cryptocurrency from the very beginning. This means no special privileges, no early access, and no unfair advantages for those who create or support the project. The fundamental principles of a fair launch include:

• No Pre-Mining: No coins are mined before the public launch. Everyone starts mining at the same time, from block zero.
• No Pre-Sales: No tokens are sold before launch to investors, early supporters, or the development team.
• No Pre-Allocations: No coins are reserved or allocated to founders, developers, investors, or any other party.
• Equal Access: All participants have the same opportunity to acquire coins through mining or purchase.
• Transparency: The launch is publicly announced and documented, with clear communication about how the project operates.

Why Fair Launches Matter

Fair launches matter because they ensure true decentralization and prevent the concentration of wealth and influence that can undermine a cryptocurrency’s fundamental purpose. When a small group controls a large portion of the supply from the start, they can exert disproportionate influence over the network’s direction and development.

Bitcoin established the fair launch standard, but in the years that followed, very few projects have adhered to these principles. Most cryptocurrencies launched after 2015 have included pre-sales, pre-mining, token allocations to founders and investors, and other mechanisms that create early advantages for insiders.

These practices often lead to centralization, as early holders with large allocations can manipulate markets, control governance decisions, and create barriers to true decentralization. Fair launches, in contrast, promote genuine decentralization by ensuring that no single party starts with an unfair advantage.

The Rarity of Fair Launches in Modern Cryptocurrency

Since Bitcoin’s launch, fair launches have become exceptionally rare. The vast majority of cryptocurrency projects launched since 2015 have included some form of pre-sale, pre-mining, or token allocation. This makes Kaspa’s fair launch particularly noteworthy.

Kaspa is one of the very few cryptocurrencies to achieve a truly fair launch in the modern era, joining a small group that includes projects like Bitcoin, Litecoin, Monero, and Grin. This commitment to fairness from the start has helped establish Kaspa as a project that truly embodies the decentralized, community-driven ethos that cryptocurrencies were meant to represent.

3.

Kaspa’s Journey to Mainnet Launch

The months leading up to Kaspa’s mainnet launch were marked by transparent communication, community engagement, and careful preparation. Understanding this journey helps illustrate how Kaspa’s commitment to fairness was established long before the mainnet went live.

Early Public Communication

Kaspa’s journey into the public eye began with transparent communication about the project’s development and plans. On April 12, 2021, Yonatan Sompolinsky published a tweet showcasing the visual success of the Kaspa testnet, marking the beginning of open dialogue about Kaspa’s development with the broader community.

This early communication set the tone for everything that would follow. Rather than working in secrecy and revealing the project only when it was ready for launch, the Kaspa team chose to share their progress publicly, inviting community feedback and building trust through transparency.

Public Announcements and Media Coverage

As development continued, Kaspa began receiving attention from the broader finance and cryptocurrency community. On April 26, 2021, Investing.com, a major international investment news outlet, published an article announcing the official debut of Kaspa as a product of an Israeli startup. The following day, Finance Magnates presented a piece on Kaspa’s emergence, highlighting its potential impact on the market.

These early media mentions helped establish Kaspa’s legitimacy and brought attention to its innovative BlockDAG technology. However, importantly, these announcements came before any launch, ensuring that information was available to everyone equally, not just to early investors or insiders.

The Medium Post: Launch Plan Announcement

On September 21, 2021, Yonatan Sompolinsky published a comprehensive Medium post titled “Kaspa Launch Plan,” which marked a crucial turning point in Kaspa’s public journey. This document outlined the project’s approach to launching and provided detailed information about how the launch would work.

The post emphasized Kaspa’s commitment to a fair launch, detailing that there would be no pre-mine, no pre-sale, and no token allocations. It explained the project’s transition from DAGLabs ownership to community ownership and outlined the principles that would guide Kaspa’s development.

This transparent communication was unusual in the cryptocurrency space, where many projects keep launch details secret until the last moment. By publishing the launch plan publicly, Kaspa ensured that anyone interested in participating had full information well in advance of the actual launch date.

Community Decision: The Mining Algorithm

In a demonstration of community-driven decision-making, the Kaspa community voted to select kHeavyHash as the network’s mining algorithm. This decision was made just one day before the launch, through a community poll that allowed all interested parties to participate.

The algorithm was specifically chosen and slightly modified to prioritize CPU mining exclusively during the initial phase. This was a deliberate choice to prevent potential dominance by advanced hardware such as GPUs and FPGAs, ensuring that the early mining phase would be as accessible and decentralized as possible.

This community-driven decision-making process demonstrated Kaspa’s commitment to decentralization from the very beginning. Rather than the development team making unilateral decisions, the community was actively involved in shaping the project’s parameters.

Pre-Launch Preparation

Throughout the pre-launch period, Kaspa operated with minimal resources. There was no marketing team, no marketing budget, and no institutional backing. The project relied on a small crew of researchers, developers, and enthusiasts who worked to prepare the mainnet launch while maintaining transparent communication through various platforms including Discord, Twitter, Telegram, GitHub, and Reddit.

This grassroots approach reinforced Kaspa’s commitment to organic, community-driven growth rather than paid marketing campaigns. The focus was on building genuine interest through transparency, technological innovation, and community engagement rather than through promotional spending.

4.

November 7, 2021: The Fair Launch

November 7, 2021, marked a historic moment in cryptocurrency history: Kaspa’s mainnet officially launched with a completely fair launch, no pre-mine, and no pre-sale. This section details exactly how that launch unfolded and why it was so significant.

Launch Day: Equal Access for Everyone

On November 7, 2021, Kaspa’s mainnet went live. At that moment, mining began for the first time, and the first block was mined. Critically, this mining opportunity was available to everyone simultaneously-no one had mined blocks before this date, and no one had access to coins before this moment.

This simultaneous start meant that DAGLabs employees, project developers, and community members all began with the same opportunity to mine or acquire Kaspa. There were no special allocations, no reserved coins, and no early access privileges for anyone, including those who had worked on the project.

The Initial Mining Phase: CPU-Only

During the initial phase of Kaspa’s launch, mining was conducted exclusively using CPUs (Central Processing Units). This was a deliberate design choice that ensured the mining phase would be as accessible and decentralized as possible.

CPU mining meant that anyone with a computer could participate in securing the network and earning rewards from the very beginning. You didn’t need specialized mining hardware, expensive GPUs, or large capital investments. This accessibility was crucial for establishing broad distribution of coins and preventing early centralization.

The CPU-only phase lasted for approximately one month, from November 7, 2021, until early December 2021. During this time, the network grew organically as community members discovered Kaspa and began mining, testing, and using the network.

Public Confirmation and Documentation

The success of Kaspa’s launch was publicly confirmed on November 26, 2021, when an announcement was posted on BitcoinTalk, one of the longest-running and most respected cryptocurrency forums. This announcement provided detailed information about Kaspa’s technology, launch, and community, offering potential participants comprehensive insights into the project.

This public documentation was important because it created a permanent record of Kaspa’s fair launch. Anyone could verify that the launch occurred on November 7, 2021, that there was no pre-mining, and that everyone had equal access from the start.

Additionally, Yonatan Sompolinsky published a follow-up Medium post titled “Kaspa Launch Plan (responding to reality)” that documented the fair launch and reinforced the project’s independence and community-oriented nature. This transparency ensured that Kaspa’s commitment to fairness was not just theoretical but was actually executed in practice.

No Marketing, No Budget: Organic Growth

During the Pre-Deflationary Phase (the first six months until May 8, 2022), Kaspa operated without a marketing team or marketing budget. The project relied entirely on organic growth driven by community enthusiasm, technological innovation, and transparent communication.

This approach was consistent with Kaspa’s fair launch principles. Rather than spending money on advertising campaigns that would benefit early investors or create artificial hype, Kaspa grew through genuine community interest and word-of-mouth promotion. People discovered Kaspa because they were interested in the technology, not because they were targeted by marketing campaigns.

The community regularly updated the project’s progress on various platforms including Discord, Twitter, Telegram, GitHub, and Reddit, maintaining engagement and transparency without paid promotion. This grassroots approach helped build a dedicated community that was genuinely interested in Kaspa’s technology and principles, rather than speculative investors attracted by marketing hype.

5.

Early Development and Mining Evolution

Following the launch, Kaspa entered a period of rapid development and evolution. The mining landscape changed as community members developed new tools, and the network grew from its initial CPU-only phase to support more advanced mining hardware. This evolution demonstrates how Kaspa’s community-driven model enabled organic development and innovation.

The GPU Mining Revolution

On December 6, 2021, just one month after launch, a community member wrote and released the first-ever open-source GPU mining software for Kaspa. This was a significant milestone because it demonstrated the community’s ability to innovate and improve the network without centralized direction.

GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) mining allowed miners with graphics cards to participate more efficiently, increasing the network’s hash rate and security. However, importantly, this transition was organic and community-driven. The development team didn’t create official GPU mining software-instead, community members developed and shared solutions, maintaining Kaspa’s decentralized ethos.

This community contribution exemplifies how Kaspa’s open-source, decentralized model enables innovation. Anyone could contribute improvements, and the best solutions would naturally be adopted by the community. This stands in contrast to projects where development is tightly controlled by a central team or foundation.

FPGA Mining and Further Decentralization

As the network continued to grow, FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array) miners also began participating. The exact date of their appearance is unknown because public FPGA bitstreams emerged much later than individual community members started talking about their FPGA mining efforts.

The gradual incorporation of GPUs and FPGAs furthered the distribution and decentralization of Kaspa. Rather than restricting mining to specific hardware types, Kaspa’s protocol allowed various mining methods to coexist, promoting broad participation and preventing centralization around any single type of hardware.

The ASIC Era Begins

On April 13, 2023, approximately one and a half years after launch, the ASIC era began when a representative of the IceRiver company joined the Kaspa Discord server and presented their product lineup. This marked a new phase in Kaspa’s mining evolution.

ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit) miners are specialized hardware designed specifically for mining Kaspa. Their introduction significantly increased the network’s hash rate and security, but also represented a shift toward more capital-intensive mining.

However, Kaspa’s blockDAG architecture and rapid block rates help maintain mining decentralization even with ASICs. The network’s design allows for effective solo-mining even at lower hash rates, preventing the extreme centralization that has affected some other proof-of-work cryptocurrencies.

Community Software Development

Beyond mining software, community members developed various tools and applications for Kaspa. Wallet software, block explorers, and other utilities were created by community developers, further demonstrating the ecosystem’s organic, decentralized growth.

This community-driven development model has continued throughout Kaspa’s history. Rather than relying on a single development team or foundation, Kaspa benefits from contributions from dozens of developers around the world, each working on aspects of the project that interest them or that they believe will benefit the community.

6.

Community-Driven Governance and Growth

From the very beginning, Kaspa has been a community-driven project with no central authority, no business model, and no institutional control. This section explores how Kaspa’s governance model works and how it has enabled sustainable growth without traditional funding structures.

The Crowdfunding Model

Because Kaspa launched fairly with no pre-mine or pre-sale, there was no initial budget or centralized authority with funding reserves. The community had no choice but to implement a crowdfunding model, which has become the bedrock of Kaspa’s funding infrastructure.

This crowdfunding model relies on community donations and voluntary contributions to fund development, infrastructure, and other project needs. Rather than having a treasury controlled by founders or investors, Kaspa’s funding comes directly from the community through transparent, decentralized mechanisms.

Multi-Signature Wallets and Community Treasurers

To manage community funds transparently and securely, Kaspa uses multi-signature wallets controlled by community-elected treasurers. These treasurers are publicly voted in by the community and are responsible for managing funds according to the results of public votes.

The dev fund wallet, for example, is managed by four community members who were publicly elected to serve as treasurers. This is a multi-signature wallet with a 2/4 signing formula, meaning at least two of the treasurers must sign any spending transaction for it to be executed.

All spending is published in public channels and performed according to the results of public votes. This ensures complete transparency in how community funds are used and prevents any single individual from controlling the treasury.

Public Voting and Governance

Decisions about funding, development priorities, and project direction are made through public voting in community channels. Anyone can participate in these votes, and the results are transparent and verifiable.

This democratic approach to governance ensures that Kaspa’s development and funding decisions reflect the will of the community rather than the interests of a centralized authority. It also creates a sense of collective ownership and responsibility among community members.

Open-Source Development

Kaspa’s codebase is completely open-source, inviting contributions from developers worldwide. Core code development is undertaken by dozens of individuals from around the world, with many more contributing to the ecosystem through wallets, tools, and other applications.

This open-source model ensures that Kaspa’s development is transparent, auditable, and not dependent on any single organization or group. Anyone can review the code, suggest improvements, or contribute directly to the project’s development.

The decentralized development model also means that Kaspa is not vulnerable to the risks associated with centralized projects. If one developer or organization steps away, the project continues because it’s supported by a broad community of contributors.

Community Growth and Adoption

Since launch, Kaspa’s community has grown organically through genuine interest in the technology and principles. The community includes developers, miners, users, merchants, and enthusiasts from around the world, all united by their interest in Kaspa’s innovative technology and commitment to decentralization.

This community growth has been entirely organic, driven by word-of-mouth, technical discussions, and genuine enthusiasm rather than paid marketing campaigns. The result is a community that is deeply engaged, technically sophisticated, and genuinely committed to Kaspa’s success.

Community members organize meetups, create educational content, develop tools and applications, and contribute to governance decisions. This level of engagement demonstrates how a truly decentralized, community-driven project can thrive without centralized leadership or funding.

7.

Major Milestones and Network Upgrades

Since its launch, Kaspa has achieved numerous milestones and undergone significant network upgrades. This section highlights some of the most important developments that have shaped Kaspa’s evolution and demonstrated its continued commitment to innovation and decentralization.

Network Performance and Throughput

Kaspa’s BlockDAG architecture has enabled remarkable network performance from the start. Following the Crescendo upgrade in May 2025, the network now operates at 10 blocks per second on mainnet, with ambitions to scale to 32 blocks per second and eventually 100 blocks per second in the future. This is orders of magnitude faster than traditional blockchain networks like Bitcoin, which produces one block every 10 minutes.

This high block rate enables extremely fast confirmation times-typically around 10 seconds, dominated by internet latency rather than block production time. This performance makes Kaspa suitable for real-world payment applications where fast confirmations are essential.

Exchange Listings and Market Adoption

Over time, Kaspa has been listed on numerous cryptocurrency exchanges, increasing accessibility and liquidity. These listings occurred organically as exchanges recognized Kaspa’s technological innovation and community support, rather than through paid partnerships or promotional agreements.

Each exchange listing represents a milestone in Kaspa’s adoption, making it easier for people to acquire and trade KAS. These listings also validate Kaspa’s legitimacy in the broader cryptocurrency ecosystem, as exchanges typically conduct due diligence before listing new assets.

Ecosystem Development

Kaspa’s ecosystem has grown significantly since launch, with the development of:

• Multiple Wallet Options: Kaspa NG (desktop and web), Kaspium (mobile), and Tangem (hardware wallet) support
• Block Explorers: Multiple block explorers allow users to view transactions and network statistics
• Mining Software: Various mining software options for different hardware types
• Developer Tools: APIs, SDKs, and documentation for developers building on Kaspa
• Merchant Tools: Payment processing solutions for merchants who want to accept KAS

This ecosystem development has been entirely community-driven, with developers creating tools and applications based on their own interests and the community’s needs rather than according to a centralized development roadmap.

Rusty Kaspa: A New Implementation

One of the most significant technical developments has been the creation of Rusty Kaspa, a Kaspa node implementation written in the Rust programming language. This implementation is exceptionally efficient, capable of processing 3000 transactions per second on very cheap hardware.

Rusty Kaspa demonstrates how Kaspa’s open-source model enables innovation. Rather than being limited to a single codebase, community developers can create alternative implementations that improve performance, efficiency, or features. This diversity strengthens the network by providing redundancy and enabling continuous improvement.

Future Developments and Roadmap

Kaspa continues to evolve with plans for additional features and improvements. These include the implementation of zk-opcodes and the Sparkle development stack, which will enable smart contracts and Layer 2 solutions on Kaspa.

The development roadmap is driven by community consensus and technical feasibility rather than business objectives or investor demands. This ensures that Kaspa’s evolution remains true to its principles of decentralization, transparency, and community-driven development.

As Kaspa continues to grow and develop, it maintains its commitment to the fair launch principles that guided its creation. Every development, every upgrade, and every decision reflects the community’s values and priorities rather than the interests of centralized authorities or investors.

Conclusion

Kaspa’s history represents a remarkable achievement in modern cryptocurrency: a truly fair launch in an era dominated by pre-sales, token allocations, and centralized control. From its origins in DAGLabs research to its transition to community ownership and its fair launch on November 7, 2021, Kaspa has consistently demonstrated its commitment to decentralization, transparency, and community-driven development.

The project’s journey illustrates how a cryptocurrency can thrive without centralized funding, marketing budgets, or institutional backing. Through organic growth, community contributions, and transparent governance, Kaspa has built a dedicated community and a robust ecosystem entirely through grassroots efforts.

Kaspa’s fair launch serves as a model for how cryptocurrencies should be launched-with equal access for everyone, no special privileges, and complete transparency. In a space where most projects prioritize fundraising and investor returns, Kaspa has prioritized fairness, decentralization, and technological innovation.

As Kaspa continues to evolve and grow, it carries forward the principles that guided its creation. Every network upgrade, every development milestone, and every community decision reflects Kaspa’s commitment to being a truly decentralized, community-driven cryptocurrency that anyone can participate in on equal terms.

The history of Kaspa and its fair launch is not just a story about a cryptocurrency project-it’s a demonstration that the principles Satoshi Nakamoto established with Bitcoin can still be realized in the modern cryptocurrency era. Kaspa proves that fair launches are not just possible, but that they can create strong, sustainable, and truly decentralized cryptocurrencies that serve their communities rather than their creators or investors.