Since its inception, Kaspa has set out to change the digital currency world. Its protocol has a distinct set of characteristics that set it apart from other cryptocurrencies, including scalability, deflationary characteristics, and operation without central governance. Kaspa wasn’t pre-mined or sold during its initial public offering, unlike many other cryptocurrencies, which has contributed to its reputation as a truly decentralized platform.

Understanding Kaspa

In this blog, we will dive deep into this project and explain why it has gained so much traction from the crypto community.

What is Kaspa?

With a proof of work consensus mechanism, Kaspa describes itself as the fastest and most scalable level one instant validation transaction layer. This is due to the fact that it is based on the GhostDAG Phantom protocol, a scalable generalization of the Bitcoin consensus. It is theoretically just as secure as Bitcoin. Unlike legacy blockchains, Phantom allows parallel blocks to co-exist and arranges them in consensus.

Addressing Security Challenges

One of the main problems with the Bitcoin consensus that Kaspa aims to address is the fact that a network attacker only needs to produce slightly fewer blocks than the genuine work. As a result, a 51% attack actually requires less computing power than exact 51 percent. The issue appears when programmers boost network throughput by increasing block rate or size; they inevitably raise the rate of isolation, which compromises network security.

How Does Kaspa Work?

By instant transaction confirmation, user and developer experience is improved, and transaction costs are decreased. Kaspa accomplishes this by shortening the latency of its consensus mechanism. Peripheral Kaspa nodes also guard against serious front running and minor extractable value threats. Users no longer have to be concerned about miners and trading bots manipulating network activity in order to benefit from it.

Instant block times on Kaspa make it possible for pre-trade privacy and anonymous transactions, shielding users from such abuses. The fact that the time between blocks is significantly longer than the amount of time the entire chain needs to learn about a new block is what makes the majority of networks secure.

The GhostDAG Protocol

The Kaspa GhostDAG protocol was developed with the goal of resolving the security trade-off. As multiple nodes propose and validate transactions, it prevents power from concentrating in a single node. Its consensus ensures decentralization, in which no single entity has control over the network.

Kaspa utilizes a directed acyclic graph (DAG) where a block points to several blocks instead of just one. As opposed to most crypto projects, which use a single chain, transactions that line up with earlier transactions are integrated into the DAG, which is set up as a crisscrossed chain.

Exploring Phantom GhostDAG

Now, let’s dive into what Phantom GhostDAG is. As a generalization of the Bitcoin protocol to a direct open chain graph of blocks called BlockDAG, Phantom is a proof-of-work consensus mechanism for permissionless blockchain. To distinguish between honest and dishonest blocks, it resolves an optimization problem over the BlockDAG. This establishes a trustworthy set of commands—a system that is agreed upon by all honorable miners.

Participating in the Kaspa Ecosystem

You can use Phantom to your advantage by operating a node or miner to solve challenging mining puzzles with computing power and validate blocks in accordance with the GhostDAG consensus. To participate in the Kaspa ecosystem, you can become a node operator. KAS, the native currency of the Kaspa chain, allows mining to be more decentralized thanks to the protocol’s fast block rates, which also enable profitable individual mining at low hash rates.

A modified version called HeavyHash is used in KAS mining and integrates well with common mining hardware, including GPUs and FPGAs, making it resource-efficient and core-dominant.

Conclusion

Overall, Kaspa combines the best features of both Bitcoin and Ethereum to create a decentralized currency that supports decentralized finance applications and functions as a store of value. Kaspa is the ideal store of value and digital currency with significant financial application potential, thanks to its quick confirmation times, high throughput, and scalable consensus protocol.