Kadena considers itself an architectural solution for fusing together multiple PoW-facilitated (Bitcoin-like) chains. The aim is to achieve higher levels of speed, scale and security.

Kadena’s Chainweb “braids” multiple independently mined blockchains capable of processing transactions in parallel, Messari explained. This framework is said to provide Kadena with unrivaled throughput while maintaining the security inherent in PoW systems. Each individual chain within the Kadena ecosystem possesses the same capabilities as its peers, in contrast to scalability-focused sidechain infrastructures, such as Polkadot’s parachains. In theory, the KDA project will continue to increase in throughput as more chains are added to its underlying architecture.

According to documentation, Kadena’s multi-chain configuration also enables the protocol to facilitate low-cost transactions. Furthermore, the protocol’s innovative “crypto gas stations” allow users to inexpensively transfer token between chains.

In addition to this public multi-chain network, Kadena offers Kadena Kubo, a Byzantine Fault Tolerant private blockchain optimized for enterprise-grade use cases. 

To strengthen its growing ecosystem, Kadena has released a novel smart contract language, Pact, designed to address the flaws inherent in Ethereum’s native language, Solidity. Billed as the first “truly human readable smart contract language,” Pact helps to streamline the application development process by automatically detecting bugs contained within a given contract’s code.  

In April of 2022, Kadena unveiled KadenaEco, a strategic growth initiative bringing together top industry thinkers and investors in an effort to fuel the protocol’s underlying ecosystem of projects spanning the metaverse, NFT, Web3 and DeFi sectors. The launch of KadenaEco coincided with the announcement of a $100 million grant program designed to help bolster projects building on the protocol.

When was KDA created and how much was it worth?

Launched in 2016, Kadena is the brainchild of blockchain developers Stuart Popejoy and Will Martino. Prior to their work the Kadena, the pair cut their teeth at JP Morgan Chase. Popejoy led the bank’s emerging blockchain group and Martino was lead engineer of the bank’s blockchain prototype, Juno. Per CoinMarketCap, Martino also has prior experience working with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) where he led the regulator’s cryptocurrency steering committee.

Moreover, Kadena has received developmental expertise from Dr. Stuart Haber, widely regarded as a co-creator of blockchain technology.    

To date, Kadena has managed to raise over $15 million in funds from a series of backers including CoinFund and Multicoin Capital.

Kadena’s native token, KDA, was first released to the public via a November 2019 token sale on launchpad platform CoinList. KDA was initially offered at a price of $1.00.

Data from CoinGecko shows that KDA traded sideways for roughly two years following its public distribution before rallying to an all-time high of $27.64 in November of 2021. Following this price appreciation, KDAs price subsequently lost nearly 80% of its value. The token has since been further impacted by growing market uncertainty.

How is the price of KDA determined?

KDA’s price is partially a factor of its deflationary nature. Only 1 billion KDA tokens will ever exist. Some 198 million KDAs were currently in circulation as of third quarter of 2022. In terms of tokenomics, some 70% of KDA’s supply is set to be distributed as mining rewards; another 20% is allocated to the platform’s reserves. Some 7% of supply went to the project’s early investors, while the remaining 3% was granted to Kadena’s core contributors, as a Medium post explained.

Why does KDA have value?

KDA value is derived from its deflationary nature, in part, but will also connect with Kadena’s ability to operate at scale, presuming, as well, that it is at the same time able to deliver on security superiority promises. Likewise, developers will find KDA value if only because of the platform’s streamlined, bug-resistant smart contract language, Pact. Take-up and use cases in the traditional financial system likely will garner some headlines but macro headwinds and general crypto market conditions i.e., downside volatility could always supersede.

Is KDA secure?

Kadena’s scalable multi-chain architecture is backed by PoW consensus, an approach to decentralization that is generally regarded as robust from the standpoint of security (and notoriously inefficient in terms of energy use).

Furthermore, KDA is actively supported by a number of cryptocurrency wallets and exchange-based storage solutions.

What are the main benefits of KDA?

• Kadena’s multi-chain architecture is capable of operating at scale while maintaining the security benefits inherent in PoW ledgers.
• Kadena Pact is the world’s first “truly human readable smart contract language.”
• Kadena’s $100 million development fund is poised to bolster the platform’s growing ecosystem of decentralized applications (dApps).

What do critics say about KDA?

That its quest to become the next leading smart contracts platform faces daunting competition i.e. Ethereum and a slew of so-called “Ethereum killers” such as Solana and Cardano, to name but a few.