KASPA : A True Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System
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Bitcoin is failed, it resembles more of a scarce asset than a Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System. While ETFs tied to Bitcoin are coveted globally, financial giants like BlackRock have not aligned these funds with the vision of a cash system.
The crux of Bitcoin’s narrative lies in its Achilles’ heel: scalability. Its sluggish transaction processing undermines its practicality as a daily cash system. Consider buying coffee — with a card, it’s a swift swipe and sip experience. In Bitcoin’s realm, you’d face a tedious wait, as transactions crawl, with blocks generated every ten minutes.
Exploring the blockchain universe reveals scalability as its central hurdle. Bitcoin, lauded for its security, is painfully slow. Ethereum, despite its soaring popularity, battles network congestion and exorbitant fees. Bitcoin Cash, aiming for speed with larger blocks, compromised security, driving miners back to the original Bitcoin.
Scalability is the blockchain’s Archimedean point — the fulcrum poised to reshape the financial world. Striking a balance that upholds security and decentralization is key. Achieving this could unlock the full potential of digital currencies, realizing the dream of a true peer-to-peer electronic cash system.
// Chapter I: GHOSTDAG and POW, Answer to Scalability
In the realm of blockchain, scalability was a labyrinth waiting to be unraveled. Enter Yonatan Sompolinsky, who swung open the doors to a new dimension of Proof of Work’s potential.
Back in 2013, Yonatan, alongside his mentor Aviv Zohar, pioneered the GHOST protocol, challenging Bitcoin’s ‘longest chain rule’. Envision Bitcoin as a one-dimensional line, stretching out every ten minutes. GHOST transformed this linearity into a multi-faceted plane, where numerous lines branch out in unison, creating a more efficient two-dimensional space.
As Ethereum began to take shape under the guidance of Vitalik Buterin, it was influenced by the ripples of GHOST’s innovation. Ethereum adapted a variant of GHOST, acknowledging its potential.
Advancing further, 2016 witnessed Yonatan and Aviv refining this vision with GHOSTDAG. This new protocol tackled sequence intricacies, conceptualizing the blockDAG as a directionless network, bustling with swift, concurrent transactions. GHOSTDAG emerged as a sophisticated city’s road system, selecting critical ‘main roads’ from a network of pathways.
Shai Wyborksi later joined this visionary team, ironing out imperfections and fortifying GHOSTDAG’s security foundations. In 2021, this groundbreaking work was showcased at the Advances in Financial Technologies (AFT) conference, marking a significant milestone.
GHOSTDAG, thus, stands as a monumental solution to POW’s scalability puzzle, enhancing the network’s capacity for handling a multitude of transactions, all while steadfastly preserving security and decentralization. It’s a narrative of technology meeting innovation, of opening new horizons in the blockchain saga.
// Chapter II: KASPA & SILVER, Redefining Speed in Crypto
In ancient Aramaic, ‘KASPA’ means ‘SILVER’, a metal historically overshadowed by gold, yet more common in daily transactions. This analogy aptly reflects Kaspa’s role in the digital realm.
Kaspa’s story began in 2018 with the formation of DAGlabs, led by Yonatan Sompolinsky and supported by an $8 million investment from a crypto venture capitalist. This significant financial boost accelerated research and development activities. The team’s creativity and technical prowess led to the integration of cutting-edge components into a blockDAG architecture. Their objective was to mirror Bitcoin’s foundational elements — Proof of Work (PoW), blocks, UTXOs, and transaction fees — all while being driven by the revolutionary GHOSTDAG protocol.
Come November 2021, Kaspa’s mainnet was unveiled, untainted by pre-mine, pre-sales, or coin allocations, marking a new chapter. Following the dissolution of DAGlabs, its alumni pivoted to nurture Kaspa, driven by community engagement and grants. Embracing Bitcoin’s ethos, Kaspa thrives without a fixed team or roadmap — a testament to its enduring commitment to decentralization.
A significant breakthrough occurred on the 14th anniversary of Bitcoin’s whitepaper in October 2022. Yonatan and Michael Sutton introduced the DAGKNIGHT protocol, a revolutionary consensus mechanism poised to dramatically accelerate transaction speeds and confirmations. This innovation established Kaspa as a top Layer 1 PoW coin.
Kaspa, the first-ever blockDAG, is transforming blockchain technology. It shatters conventional limits, offering unparalleled speed, scalability, and security while steadfastly maintaining decentralization. Operating at an impressive 1 BPS (Blocks Per Second) and 300 TPS (Transactions Per Second), the advent of DAGKNIGHT promises to catapult these figures to 100 BPS and 30,000 TPS. Kaspa is on track to become the ‘silver of crypto’, challenging and potentially surpassing traditional fiat transaction speeds, and redefining the future of digital transactions.
// Chapter III: ASIC & KASPA, Real-World Assets Backed
In 2020, Yonatan reshaped the PoW mining landscape with his innovative approach to ASICs. He envisioned ASICs as more than just hardware; he saw them as crucial stabilizers within the mining ecosystem. In his view, owning an ASIC was akin to buying a home in a city — it transformed miners from mere passersby to integral, committed members of the community. This shift in perspective elevated the role of ASICs in forging a more stable and robust mining environment.
November 2021 heralded the start of Kaspa’s GPU and FPGA mining era, witnessing its hash rate skyrocket from zero to over 1 PH in just 18 months. But June 2023 was a game-changer, ushering in the ASIC epoch. ICERIVER, an emerging name, unveiled their 12-nanometer miners, boasting a staggering 2T hash rate, and kickstarting a hash rate revolution in Kaspa’s history.
Kaspa’s hash rate story unfolds with exhilarating milestones: reaching 3 PH in July, escalating to 15 PH by August, and achieving a remarkable leap to 30 PH in September, marked by the launch of Bitmain’s KS3 units with 8.3TH and 9.4TH capabilities. October saw the addition of another player, TheWindMiner, further boosting the hash rate past 50 PH. The narrative continued in November when ICERIVER’s custodial service propelled the hash rate to a staggering 100 PH, as more miners entrusted their operations to these seasoned experts.
This journey transcends mere numbers. It symbolizes Kaspa’s commitment to decentralization and democratizing blockchain wealth. ICERIVER’s KS0 miner stands as a testament to this decentralization. Shai Wyborksi’s calculations indicate that with a total network hash rate of 100 PH, a KS0 with 100G hash power can achieve block generation in just 36 hours — a time now even shorter for the 200G KS0 Pro. This implies a significantly lowered barrier to entry for miners (with the KS0 priced at only a few hundred dollars), and it also signifies the decentralization of Kaspa’s mining community.
Within just two years, Kaspa’s rise to become the second most profitable mining coin, outpacing LTC and trailing only behind BTC, is a narrative of success. This triumph isn’t just about Kaspa’s growth; it represents the global mining community’s faith in its potential, mirroring the collective strength and trust in Kaspa’s future.