Kaspa: The Best of Bitcoin and Ethereum

N. R. Crowningshield

Published in

Kaspa Currency

3 min readFeb 20, 2023

The best parts of Bitcoin and Ethereum with none of the weaknesses.

Kaspa is Taking Tried and True to the Next Level

Since its inception, Kaspa has set out to change the digital currency world. What sets Kaspa apart from other cryptocurrencies is its unique set of features, including scalability and deflationary properties and operation without explicit central governance. Unlike many other cryptocurrencies, Kaspa was launched without premine or presale, which has helped establish it as a truly decentralized platform. Additionally, geared for smart contracts utilization, Kaspa will be able to foster validated financial products with no counterparty risks. To support fast, decentralized payments and decentralized finance, Kaspa is built with two layers: a base consensus layer based on Bitcoin’s proof of work consensus and a secondary computation layer based on Layer 2 smart contract scaling solutions in the likes of “rollups” found on Ethereum.

Foundation of Bitcoin

The base layer of Kaspa is optimized for security and speed, based on the PHANTOM protocol, a scalable generalization of the “Nakamoto Consensus” of Bitcoin. PHANTOM allows for fast confirmation times and throughput in the order of one block per second (soon up to 32 BPS) without compromising security or reverting to centralization. This results in a cryptocurrency supported by a 51% security, a high number of mining validator nodes, and a subsecond first confirmation with ~10-second fully confirmed transactions.

Applications of Ethereum

The second layer of Kaspa is optimized for anticipated capability and usability. It’s positioned to support Ethereum virtual machines (EVM) and other virtual machines via rollup constructions. This layer is decoupled from the money base layer, keeping it as light and secure as possible.

BTC + ETH = KAS

By combining the best of both Bitcoin and Ethereum, Kaspa aims to provide a cryptocurrency that can act as a store of value while supporting decentralized finance applications. While Bitcoin is not optimized for financial applications, Ethereum could be more decentralized. In contrast, Kaspa’s solution is to have a computation layer decoupled from the base consensus layer, allowing the base layer to remain light, fast, and decentralized. Then the second layer is set to provide smart contract support for decentralized finance applications.

Pushing Beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum

Kaspa also solves the security-scalability-decentralization tradeoff problem(blockchain trilemma) that traditional cryptocurrencies face. The consensus layer of Kaspa uses the PHANTOM protocol. This proof-of-work consensus protocol generalizes Nakamoto’s chain into a directed acyclic graph of blocks (blockDAG). First, PHANTOM incorporates “orphan” blocks into the chain to form a blockDAG. Then it uses a novel greedy algorithm to order the blocks such that well-connected, honest blocks are quickly favored and with high probability. Solving the blockchain trilemma and boosting practicality with speed and energy/computational efficiency.

Overall, Kaspa combines the best of both Bitcoin and Ethereum to provide a decentralized currency that acts as a store of value while supporting decentralized finance applications. With its fast confirmation times, high throughput, and scalable consensus protocol, Kaspa is the ultimate store of value and digital currency with significant financial application potential.

Tip: Yonatan Sompolinsky, the founder of Kaspa, is a prominent computer scientist and blockchain researcher with experience in developing and analyzing high-performance, scalable distributed ledger technologies and conducted extensive research on Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Feel free to comment and/or ask any questions.

You can also find me on the Kaspa discord — Bubblegum Lightning