Check out recent ZK Knowledge updates and Covenant ++ resources. At the same time, real apps in gaming, education, markets, and commerce are launching, alongside steadily growing developer participation.
The Kaspa ecosystem is advancing! Spanning core protocol direction (Covenant++ toward zk execution and vProgs), major performance optimizations, new oracle research grounded in no-arbitrage price discovery, and early institutional settlement infrastructure via ISO 20022 bridging.
Kaspa’s 2026 introduced Testnet 12, which introduced KIP-17 covenants to expand base-layer programmability without sacrificing PoW decentralization, while core contributors outlined a long-term ZK vision centered on Cairo’s provable safety. Alongside renewed debate with Ethereum over the blockchain trilemma, growing external coverage, and Igra Labs’ mainnet preparations, these signals point to rising visibility and ecosystem maturity heading into 2026.
Thu Jan 01 2026
Jennifer GhelardiniThe Kaspian 2025 was defined by the Crescendo hard fork, which increased throughput to 10 blocks per second, and the release of the vProgs white paper to ensure shared liquidity across Kaspa L2s. With the base layer stabilized, the ecosystem shifted toward Layer 2s, applications, KRC20 tokens, NFTs, and expanded developer infrastructure.
Kaspa’s recent updates show real momentum, with an early DAGKnight prototype already running core consensus logic. Alongside this, we have a clearer direction on vProgs and an upcoming covenant hard fork. Moreover, early DeFi, oracle, and media applications are on their way!
This week, we cover Yonatan showcasing Kaspa’s vision at TOKENIZE: LDN. Binance’s snub of Kaspa leaders sparked a “Bye-Nance” wave even as Kaspa gained media coverage, new projects, and expanding community tools. Moreover, major technical breakthroughs and growing global momentum are accelerating Kaspa’s ecosystem.
Institutional support for crypto is accelerating, with major players like JP Morgan launching a stablecoin, Cash App enabling stablecoin payments, and Franklin Templeton backing stablecoins and RWAs. Companies are integrating digital assets into their economies, and even Harvard tripled its Bitcoin holdings, signaling growing institutional confidence.
Kaspa developers describe vProgs as tiny sovereign rollup-like structures, and argue that true sovereignty comes from Dapp-level privacy rather than Layer-2 rollups. Moreover, Kaspa Kii showed real energy pilots demonstrating Kaspa’s real-world industrial potential
In the news this week: Kaspa’s 4th Birthday; an update to the 1,000 node challenge; Yonatan delivered a mic drop moment after winning the Binance Blockchain Innovation Award; Igra Labs released its litepaper for their based rollup L2 built on Kapsa; and Kaspa at the Dii Desert Energy sparks new interest for Kaspa in the clean energy space.
Welcome to the new weekly series covering traditional finance on-chain DeFi news beyond Kaspa (but with a Kaspa twist). Last week, Trump was featured again at the American Business Forum and on CBS 60 Minutes. Balancer exploit drained over $128M from V2 Composable Stable Pools, a new crypto legislation is advancing in the UK, Canada, and Malaysia, and Africa is paving the way for a continental stablecoin network.
This week we discuss ecosystem updates, research upgrades, and traditional finance tokenizing the world via Kaspian settlement.
As Kaspa approaches its fourth birthday, the network is celebrating with in-person events in Dubai, London, Nigeria, and New York, alongside the 1,000 Node Initiative and a Flux x Nacho Kat NFT giveaway. Kaspa developer Ori Newman appeared on the XXIM Podcast to discuss oracles and his journey with Kaspa, while Kaspa Silver shared a thoughtful warning about Kaspa L2s.
