Kadena (KDA) is majorly known as a digital currency used for paying for all computing activities made in the Kadena public chain. In addition, it is a proof of work network, relying on decentralized mining for its function and growth. In KDA, miners receive block rewards. These rewards can be used for making transactions, creating smart contracts, and paying gas costs. Kadena was founded by Stuart Popejoy and Will Martino in the year 2016. The founders brought substantial expertise from their time at JPMorgan, where they were leaders at the Emerging Blockchain group and developed the financial giant’s first blockchain.
The development of Kadena is with a concise mission. Aiming to power global finance and real-world applications via blockchain with the combination of security, scalability, and efficient energy. unlike other projects that focus mainly on cryptocurrency trading. This article talks about the history, features, how it works, and its blockchain alone.
Milestones Reached:
Since the development of Kadena to date, it has reached lots of leading milestones, which include
- 2019: Launched the Chainweb mainnet
- 2021: Expanded from 10 to 20 parallel chains
- 2024: Introduced Kadena SpireKey, a secure Web3 wallet.
- 2025: Announced ChainwebEVM and the RWA Grant Program
Key Features of Kadena
1. Hybrid Blockchain Architecture:
The Kadena makes use of hybrid blockchain architecture; these are both public and private blockchains.
- Chainweb: The chainweb has a braided structure achieved through cross-chain references; each chain consist of a Merkle root. (They ensure the wholeness, undamaged, and un-altering of data blocks when passed between pairs). from different chains in its block headers.
- Kuro: This blockchain permits enterprise use. It enables security and fast transactions.
2. Scalability with Chainweb: Unlike Bitcoin, which uses a single blockchain, Kadena operates 20 parallel chains that work simultaneously within the same network.
3. Energy Efficiency: Furthermore, Kadena improves on Bitcoin’s proof of work mechanism, making it more effective in parallel chains.
4. Smart contracts and path: It has a smart contract referred to as Path. It offers security to users transaction, it is user-friendly, and is well-equipped with a built-in error checker, unlike ETH.
5. Low Gas Fees & Gas Stations:
Kadena has a low gas fee, and it allows business owners to pay transaction fees for users. This is to enhance users experience, unlike ETH.
6. Interoperability and Enterprise Use Cases:
Kadena plans to seamlessly integrate with different systems and industries, such as healthcare, finance, and management of the supply chain.
How Does Kadena works?
Most importantly, the Kadena Blockchain is a layer one blockchain. In addition, also known for utilizing a scalable proof-of-work architecture called Chainweb with a smart contract language called Pact. Furthermore, Kadena blockchain aims to make technology more accessible and usable for business purposes.
Lastly, the chainweb has a braided structure achieved through cross-chain references; each chain comprises a Merkle root. (Merkle roots ensure that data blocks passed between peers are whole, undamaged, and unaltered) from different chains in their block headers. This creates a network where an attacker will require overcoming the combined hash power of all chains to compromise the system. As analyzed in Kadena’s technical papers, to replace a given block in the network, an attacker “must fork all chains that directly or indirectly reference that block starting at the point that the reference occurs.”
In conclusion, this method helps Kadena explain more elaborately what blockchain experts call the “blockchain trilemma” – the” challenge of achieving security, decentralization, and scalability without compromise.
