Kaspa Timeline: 2021 - 2024

2021

2021-03-17 Yonatan First Proposed 100 BPS PoW on X

Links:

2021-09-02 PHANTOM GHOSTDAG Paper Released

Tips

PHANTOM GHOSTDAG is the protocol used when the Kaspa mainnet launched.

2021-11-07 Kaspa Mainnet Launch

2021-11-07 First Block Mined

First mined block:


(1) Genesis Block

Content of Kaspa's Genesis Block:

"Whatever seems good to you and your brothers to do with the rest of the silver and gold, you may do, according to the will of your God." Ezra 7:18

  • Chinese translation: "Whatever seems good to you and your brothers to do with the rest of the silver and gold, you may do, according to the will of your God."

  • From the Book of Ezra, Chapter 7, Verse 18 in the Old Testament of the Bible.

  • Historical context: The Persian King authorized Ezra and his compatriots ("your brothers") to independently decide how to dispose of the remaining silver and gold brought back from Babylon to Jerusalem.

  • This verse embodies the power given to faith communities to make judgments and decisions on specific matters under the guidance of faith principles.

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  • Below is Bitcoin's genesis block:

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Content of the block:

The Times, January 3, 2009, front page headline: "Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks"

(2) Checkpoint Block

https://github.com/kaspagang/kaspad-py-explorer/blob/main/src/genesis_proof.ipynb

Background:

  • About two weeks after the Kaspa mainnet launch (November 2021), a serious bug caused a network split.

  • After fixing the bug, the network needed to restart. Developers selected a block (called a checkpoint block, with a specific hash and timestamp) that was generally recognized by community nodes before the crash as a new starting point.

  • The new version of the node software was hardcoded with a new hardwired genesis block, whose UTXO set was set to be exactly the same as the UTXO set of the selected checkpoint block.

  • Relying only on the data of the node software itself, it is only possible to verify the integrity of the chain starting from the hardwired genesis block, but it is impossible to prove that the UTXO set of the hardwired genesis block actually matches the UTXO set of the checkpoint block (i.e., it cannot be proven that there was no cheating during the restart).

This article details how the Kaspa project, through a rigorous, multi-step cryptographic verification process, combined with community-provided data and the Bitcoin blockchain timestamp service, proved the integrity of the Kaspa blockchain starting from an empty UTXO set, and ruled out the possibility of pre-mining or state tampering during the restart process. The core is to use externally verifiable data to fill the verification gap of the node software itself, and cleverly use Bitcoin to anchor time.

2021-11-26 Mainnet Bug

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2021-11-28 Black Hole Address Created and 11M KAS Burned

Due to a serious bug, the mainnet had to undergo an online fix. During this period, all miners stopped mining, and only Shai continued mining as required to maintain system operation. The corresponding mining rewards were finally placed in a black hole address for burning after community voting and discussion.

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2022

2022-05-24 First Exchange Listing (TXBIT)

2022-09-16 Listed on MEXC

2022-10-31 DagKnight Paper Released

Note:

  • October 31 is also the release date of the Bitcoin whitepaper (October 31, 2008).

2023

2023-03-21 Gate.io Lists Kaspa

2024

2024-06-26 MARA Starts Mining Kaspa

  • Famous publicly traded mining company MARA officially announced starting to mine Kaspa.

  • Before this, MARA only mined Bitcoin.

  • MARA official statement: https://ir.mara.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/1360/marathon-digital-holdings-announces-kaspa-mining-operations

  • Marathon Digital Holdings (Ticker: MARA) is one of the largest and most important Bitcoin mining companies in the United States. The company focuses on the blockchain ecosystem, especially generating Bitcoin through operating large-scale data centers to "mine".

  • MARA operates multiple large mining farms globally (mainly in the United States), with tens of thousands of mining machines, and its hash rate occupies a significant share in the global Bitcoin network. The company typically does not immediately sell all the Bitcoin it mines, but holds most of the Bitcoin as asset reserves on its balance sheet. This means its financial condition is highly correlated with the market price of Bitcoin.

2024-09-15 KRC20 Launch

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