Tl;dr: 

• Kaspa’s 4th Birthday!

• Update to 1,000 node challenge

• Yonatan won the Binance Blockchain Innovation Award and delivered a mic drop moment

• Igra Labs released the litepaper for their based rollup L2 built on Kapsa

• Kaspa at the Dii Desert Energy sparks new interest for Kaspa in the energy space

Yonatan On Base-layer Privacy 

When asked if Kaspa should adopt Zcash-style shielded transactions at the Layer-1 level to enhance privacy, Yonatan Sompolinsky responded with characteristic depth and pragmatism:

“Privacy for any cryptocurrency is obviously a must, but it should not be a Kaspa L1 feature, in my opinion.”

Instead of integrating complex cryptographic privacy systems into the base layer, Yonatan proposed starting with a CoinJoin implementation. This simpler, collaborative transaction-mixing method preserves user anonymity without sacrificing Kaspa’s performance or increasing base layer complexity. He outlined how such a system could be bootstrapped using a stateless lobby server, similar to a Lichess-style game room, possibly via @KasiaMessaging, where users can anonymously find peers and coordinate CoinJoin sessions.

​He stated, “Ideally, privacy/mixing would become a Kaspa wallet default for any transaction.”

While acknowledging potential Sybil-style vulnerabilities—where an attacker could flood the mixer with fake UTXOs—Yonatan emphasized that even in this scenario, overall privacy would still improve compared to today’s fully transparent ledger.

​He also encouraged wallet developers to make privacy the default for future Kaspa transactions, noting that enforcing address splits for later spends may already be possible with current tools.

​Yonatan’s vision reflects Kaspa’s cypherpunk ethos: advancing privacy not through top-down complexity, but through open, decentralized tools that anyone can adopt and improve. Moreover, if Kaspa is to function as a digital-commodity-like asset, it’s important to favor base layer transparency over privacy.  

Happy 4th Birthday Kaspa!

On November 7th, the Kaspa community celebrated its fourth birthday with parties across the globe. In London, Kaspaians gathered at Wolfy’s Bar for good food, great company, and a 20% discount on purchases with KAS via Kastle Wallet. The Rock the Kaspa brothers, Chris and Tom, joined in the festivities.

In Dubai, @KaspaIntern hosted a lively bowling birthday event, while in Liverpool, NY, @FundingKaspa organized a multi-day bash at the Kaspa Community Center.

Nigeria hosted a well-attended meetup, sponsored by the Kaspa Ecosystem Foundation (@Kaspa_KEF) and Kastle Wallet, which featured talks and giveaways for the local community.

Be sure to read our previous Kaspa Birthday piece from last year, “Kaspa’s Third Anniversary: What it Means for the Cypherpunks Movement.” 

Yonatan Wins Binance Blockchain Influencer Award and Declines 

Binance has announced the winners of its Blockchain 100 Awards, honoring individuals advancing the industry through research, education, and advocacy. Dr. Yonatan Sompolinsky, founder of Kaspa and a blockDAG research pioneer, claimed first place in the Independent Researcher category after public nominations and community voting, recognized for his groundbreaking contributions to blockchain science.

​Michael Sutton also received recognition, earning third place in the Industry Advocate category for his work advancing Web3 development and ecosystem growth. These achievements underscore the Kaspa community's growing influence and leadership within the global blockchain space. Congratulations to Yonatan and Michael.

True to cypherpunk principles, however, Yonatan declined the award—sparking widespread attention online. Within a day, his post garnered over 1.5 million views and ignited discussions across the crypto sphere. His response was philosophical and unapologetically critical, highlighting what he sees as a growing disconnect between blockchain’s roots and its current trajectory.

“Crypto has turned from a euphoric cypherpunk project to a house-friendly casino. You may not be the culprit, but as a top player you hold the lion’s share of responsibility to correct this, and the October crash your USDe oracle glitch helped trigger adds to what needs to be addressed.”

​Yonatan directly challenged Binance’s listing practices, questioning CEO Changpeng Zhao’s (CZ) definition of “strong projects.” He criticized the platform for promoting meme tokens while overlooking fair-launched, technically innovative projects like Kaspa.

​“When Binance lists a green frog three weeks post its ‘launch’ but skips a fair-launched Nakamoto-Consensus, 100 ms-upgrade, top-20 project—this is not merely rational calculation; it is Binance molding the market in a way misaligned with the roots of the movement.”

​He also condemned high listing fees, arguing that they disadvantage projects without pre-mines or founder funds—such as Zcash (ZEC) and Kaspa—which were both created to embody the original principles of decentralization and fairness.

​“Money is a classic chicken-and-egg product. It is a scam up until one moment before the tipping point. Considering your resources and influence, I think it’s safe to say you can serve as both the egg and the chicken, and make it worth your while to push sound attempts towards tipping point.”

​Yonatan’s message culminated in a powerful statement that perfectly encapsulates the resilience of the cypherpunk ethos:

"We are here through bull and bear, ICOs, NFTs, XYZs, and we are the source of confidence that restores faith and capital inflow post meme-induced or CEX-induced crashes."

​Yonatan’s stand against Binance was about more than a single listing decision—it was a call for the industry to return to its roots. In an era where centralized exchanges wield enormous influence over prices, narratives, and visibility, his message reminds us that blockchain’s original purpose was sovereignty, not speculation.

Igra Labs Litepaper Released 

Kaspa’s second Layer-2, Igra Labs, released its litepaper on November 3, 2025, unveiling a “decentralized, EVM-compatible programmability layer” built directly on Kaspa’s blockDAG. “Igra,” meaning roof in Aramaic, introduces a based rollup design, where all transactions are sequenced on the Kaspa base layer—allowing Igra to inherit Kaspa’s security, scalability, and decentralization while contributing back to miner revenue.

The paper also introduces Accepted Transaction Archival Nodes (ATANs)—a modular data-storage system that minimizes trusted validation requirements and rewards node operators through a stakeable IGRA coin. Three bridging models are proposed: an interim community bridge, a future ZK bridge if Kaspa adds zero-knowledge opcodes, and an MPC bridge using threshold signatures.

By leveraging Kaspa for sequencing, data availability, and gas settlement, Igra enables trust-minimized smart contracts without altering Kaspa's L1, positioning it as a major step toward scalable, decentralized programmability within the Kaspa ecosystem. Congrats to the Igra Labs team for this achievement! 

Kaspa On Ledger 

Starting November 4, 2025, you can seamlessly purchase and manage KAS directly in your Ledger wallet. Ledger, a trusted cold storage solution established in 2014 in Paris, France, previously supported KAS only through a workaround using the Ledger Live app and https://kasvault.io. Now, managing KAS is fully integrated and direct within Ledger—no more extra steps required.

​One user, @Bgdkdaddy1, commented under the official @Ledger account: “When Ledger starts supporting a crypto, within a few weeks it gets posted on big exchanges—that’s a buy signal for me.” While we can't verify this pattern, we appreciate the enthusiasm.

To learn more about Ledger and Kaspa wallets, check out our comprehensive KASmedia wallet guide. 

Kastle Wallet Update

The Kastle Wallet team rolled out several important updates this week. The release of Kastle Mobile v1.7.0 introduced three key improvements designed to enhance security and reliability. The update resolved the wallet deletion bug, ensured all Kaspa-based tokens display correctly, and overhauled the underlying wallet logic for greater performance and stability.

Additionally, Kastle Extension v2.39 was launched with full NFT (ERC-721) functionality on Kasplex Layer 2 networks. Users can now seamlessly view and transfer their NFTs directly within the extension.

15th Dii Desert Energy Leadership Summit 

The 15th Dii Desert Energy Leadership Summit took place on November 6–7, 2025, at the W Dubai – The Palm, held under the patronage of the UAE Ministry of Energy & Infrastructure. This flagship three-day event brought together key decision-makers from the Middle East and Europe to showcase advancements in renewable energy, hydrogen, and energy storage.

Dr. Olaf Berlien, President and CEO of INNIO Group, commented on the summit's impact:

"Our participation in the Dii Desert Energy Platform strengthens our network within the hydrogen industry across the Middle East and Europe. Events like this promote cross-sector collaboration and effective decision-making."

The 2024 edition in Vienna attracted over 200 participants, including more than 30 CEOs and 60 C-suite speakers, representing 24 countries, with nearly half of the attendees at an executive level or higher.

This year's summit features an impressive lineup of confirmed speakers, including:

• H.E. Eng. Sharif Salim Al-Olama – Undersecretary for Energy and Petroleum Affairs, Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure, UAE

• H.E. Lucie Berger – Ambassador of the European Union to the United Arab Emirates

• Nadja Håkansson – Member of the Executive Board / COO, thyssenkrupp Decarbon Technologies & CEO, thyssenkrupp Uhde

• Tarik Ameziane Moufaddal – President and CEO, Masen

• Dr. Olaf Berlien – President and CEO, INNIO Group

• Ahmed Mulla – Deputy CEO, Infinity Power

• Harry Boyd-Carpenter – Managing Director, Sustainable Infrastructure Group, EBRD

• Eng. Abdulaziz Said Al Shidhani – Managing Director, Hydrom

• Gauri Singh – Deputy Director General, IRENA

• Mohammad Abdelqader El Ramahi – Chief Green Hydrogen Officer, Masdar

In alignment with the summit's focus on innovation and clean energy, the Kaspa Kii team will also be present to discuss the role of Kaspa x Energy in shaping decentralized energy infrastructure. Kaspa Kii, founded by energy pioneer Paul van Son, merges decades of expertise in renewable systems with Kaspa's scalable blockchain architecture. Van Son, who also serves as President and CEO of Dii Desert Energy, is expected to spotlight the growing intersection between blockchain and sustainable energy.

Kaspa's participation among these global energy leaders underscores its potential to become a foundational technology in the energy transition.

To continue with this momentum, Kaspa Kii posted about Kaspa: 

"Just a reminder that the energy industry is pretty good at building wholesale commodity exchanges. Once the tokenization of our industry's assets and commodities is underway, we will see what happens to those quaint legacy crypto exchanges. Tokens backed by real multibillion assets that actually have 'utility' and generate revenues for decades."

Rory O’Neil Talks about Dii

CryptoPumpz shared a talk by Rory O’Neil, board member of the Kaspa Industrial Initiative (Kii), delivered on November 6, 2025, at the Dii Desert Energy Summit.

“We chose Kaspa because it functions like a generational utility layer—open, neutral, auditable, and fast enough to support real markets,” O’Neil said. “After speaking with 30 to 40 business leaders, it’s astonishing how much resonance Kaspa has with them. It delivers on reliability, transparency, and performance, all while honoring decentralization and fair launch.”

Of all the leaders they spoke to, the most common question was “Where can we buy Kaspa?”

O’Neil emphasized that these conversations aren’t about price speculation—but about Kaspa’s utility and its ability to power a new class of markets across energy, carbon, storage, materials, and food provenance.

“Crypto was never meant for casinos—it was built for freedom, proof, and integrity,” he said.

During the Dii presentation, “Kaspa: A New 21st-Century Utility,” Kii showcased minted micro-renewable energy certificates on Kaspa, demonstrating how its technology could support trillion-dollar energy markets. Among key partners discussed were Piston Group, one of Germany’s largest industrial conglomerates, and the State Grid Corporation of China—the world’s largest utility company—which is driving the Global Energy Interconnection (GEI) project to connect energy grids worldwide, covering 88% of China’s network.

Zealous Swap Introduces Spy Mode 

Zealous Swap introduced Spy Mode, a premium feature that allows users to monitor live on-chain activity—including open positions, Infinity Pools, farms, swaps, and portfolio structures—in real-time. Available exclusively to Zealous Members, Spy Mode enhances the value of membership and provides an unparalleled view into on-chain strategies.

Spy Mode is fully read-only and designed for analysis, not interaction. By entering a wallet address, users can instantly access that wallet’s complete portfolio, including liquidity positions, Infinity Pool stakes, farming allocations, and recent swaps.

Key benefits include:

• Researching top traders’ strategies

• Observing portfolio movements as they happen

• Studying the market directly through live on-chain data

Spy Mode empowers Zealous Swap users to learn from top-performing traders and gain deeper insights into the Kaspa DeFi landscape—directly from the source.

Kurncy Wallet Updates 

Kurncy Wallet has launched a major update on Google Play, featuring a completely redesigned transaction layout and a faster, smoother experience powered by Rusty Kaspa. Built from the ground up, this overhaul offers instant live estimations and ultra-fast transactions, setting a new benchmark for Kaspa-based wallets.

The update also resolves an issue that affected new users when creating or importing wallets, streamlining the onboarding process for Android. Meanwhile, iOS users can now join the beta release, which has been live since November 6, 2026, and experience the new, frictionless interface firsthand.

Kurncy now serves over 2,000 users, with more than 150 daily active users, and has maintained this growth without any security or reliability incidents—a testament to its stability and engineering quality.

Looking ahead, the team plans to introduce KNS domains with primary-name settings, KsprBot KRC-721 NFT support, a KaspaCom Marketplace, and new privacy tools, including a change-address (mixer) selection and manual UTXO controls.  

Designed to support Igra Labs’ L2, Kurncy continues to grow as a cornerstone of the Kaspa ecosystem, seamlessly combining speed, flexibility, and innovation in one platform.

Kaspa Coming to Dymension 

Kaspa will go live on Dymension this November as part of the Beyond Upgrade, unlocking powerful new opportunities for liquidity, token launches, and Layer-2 expansion.

Dymension is a rollup launcher and multi-chain token platform where users can create tokens, bootstrap liquidity, and build projects into full Layer-2 networks. With Kaspa’s integration, you’ll soon be able to trade KAS/USDC, earn yield through KAS-based liquidity pools, and launch Kaspa-native tokens that can grow into full-featured Kaspa EVM rollups.

The integration is powered by a validator bridge that links Kaspa and Dymension. Validators monitor KAS deposits and wrapped KAS (wKAS) burns on both networks, signing secure attestations to mint or unlock assets, enabling the seamless movement of KAS between ecosystems.

Kaspa rollups on Dymension will use KAS as their gas token, with all transaction data posted back to the Kaspa blockchain for availability. This setup increases demand for Kaspa blockspace and miner fees, while enabling smart contracts without changing Kaspa’s L1 protocol.

In essence, Dymension transforms KAS into both fuel and funding for innovation: projects can raise liquidity, build DeFi protocols, create KAS-backed assets, and rapidly expand Kaspa’s ecosystem across multiple rollups.

Rock the Kaspa Holiday Merch 

Chris and Tom, the talented duo behind Rock the Kaspa, launched new holiday merchandise.  Their festive designs include "Merry KASmas" and "Happy HODLdays," alongside their classic favorites like "Trilemma solved," "HODL:", "Degen," and "Rock the Kaspa."

Kaspa Taking Over London 

Kaspa will be a gold sponsor at TOKENIZE: LDN, December 2–3 at ExCeL London. Join 5,000+ attendees, 100+ exhibitors, and 140+ speakers at this major blockchain event. Visit the Kaspa Ecosystem Foundation at booth G50, alongside sponsors such as the Bank of London and Hewlett Packard.

Choose a free general admission ticket or upgrade to an all-access pass for £599 + VAT.

Don’t miss the Kaspa after party at Wolfy’s Bar on December 2, from 6–10pm—network with fellow Kaspa enthusiasts and enjoy gourmet food. 

Michael Sutton to Speak at Web3 Devs Underground

Mark your calendars! On Monday, November 17th, from 6–9pm GMT+2 at Mindspace 5 in Tel Aviv, Michael Sutton will be speaking at the Web3 Devs Underground Meetup, sponsored by Masterkey and Starkware. He’ll be joined by Starknet Apps Group Manager nagmoon (@nagmo13). Sutton will dive into the “why and how” of Kaspa’s revolutionary vProg architecture. Don’t miss it! We’ll keep an eye out for a recording.