Kaspa is positioned as the fastest open-source, decentralized, and fully scalable Layer-1 protocol. It uses the world’s first blockDAG: a digital ledger designed to handle parallel blocks and provide near-instant transaction finality. Kaspa is powered by a proof-of-work engine with quick one-second block intervals. The Kaspa software also supports multiple features and subprotocols, such as Reachability for querying the DAG’s structure, Block data pruning (with plans in the near future for block header pruning), SPV proofs, and later subnetwork capabilities-intended to simplify future Layer-2 implementations.

Kaspa key features:

Fastest Transactions. The Kaspa blockDAG network creates several blocks each second to record transactions on the ledger. With 10 second confirmation times, Kaspa is suited for everyday payments.Instant Confirmation. Kaspa is designed to be hundreds of times quicker than Bitcoin-each Kaspa Transaction is visible to the network in 1 second, and typically fully confirmed in 10 seconds on average.Scalability. Kaspa addresses scalability by generating and confirming multiple blocks per second. It is presented as doing so without trading off security and decentralization, unlike Proof-of-Stake systems.Efficient Proof-of-Work. Kaspa uses the optical-mining-ready kHeavyHash algorithm for consensus and network security. With high-throughput DAG behavior and no-wasted-blocks, it is described as requiring less energy than other PoW networks.Security. Kaspa aims for an ultra secure block network while maintaining decentralization. It achieves this with pure stake-less proof-of-work and the GhostDag Consensus mechanism.BlockDAG. To address limitations of traditional blockchains, Kaspa handles all blocks in parallel and connects all side-chains. This results in a DAG layout that increases the blocks-per-second output significantly, producing a blockDAG.