Kadena is one of the newest Layer-1 tokens that first made itself known in 2020. The project was among the era’s biggest gainers, rising from a March 2020 low of $0.065 to peak at $27.64 at its November 2021 all-time high.

Since then, Kadena has largely cooled off—but its potential for a major resurgence is still well within the cards. Much of its potential lies in its novel hybrid blockchain architecture. Kadena uses the traditional proof-of-work consensus and upgrades the hashing algorithm to create a faster, more scalable, and safer blockchain solution than any other PoW-based blockchain.

This guide will give you the complete rundown on Kadena and its native $KDA token.

What is Kadena?

The vision behind Kadena was to create a scalable, developer-friendly open blockchain with a similar level of security as Bitcoin. In line with this, Kadena introduced a new proof-of-work based consensus method it calls Chainweb, and a new smart contract language dubbed Pact. Its goal is to optimize the base layer for enhanced transaction throughput and wider developer adoption without requiring Layer-2 scalability solutions that complicate the application development process. Kadena’s robust toolkit was designed for maximum developer-friendliness. Based on Kadena’s internal testing, the blockchain has no limits on the number of transactions it can process.

The platform uses its own native smart contract language called Pact. The idea behind Pact is to improve common flaws inherent in Ethereum’s own Solidity smart contract language—particularly when it comes to the latter’s lack of formal verification and proneness to unbounded loops. With Pact, smart contracts can be upgraded anytime without needing to undergo a hard fork.

A brief history of Kadena

Kadena was launched in 2016 by former JPMorgan blockchain development head Stuart Popejoy and former SEC Crypto Steering committee tech lead Will Martino. Popejoy and Martino had earlier collaborated on JPMorgan’s first blockchain project called JPM Coin. The Kadena advisory council also includes its co-inventor, Dr. Stuart Haber, who was frequently cited in the famous 2008 Bitcoin whitepaper by the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto.

Since its launch, Popejoy and Martino have positioned Kadena as a solution to the hurdles and pain points of Bitcoin and Ethereum. Kadena notably raised $2.25 million in pre-series A financing back in January 2018 led by Kilowatt Capital, Metastable, Multicoin Capital, and Coinfund. This was followed by Kadena raising $12 million during the second funding round, hastening the development of Chainweb. By November 2019, the Kadena mainnet was made available for public mining, followed by a listing of 21. Million $KDA tokens on CoinList.

2020 saw Kadena’s blockchain expand from 10 to 20 chains, massively boosting its throughput and scalability. Later that year, Kadena launched the first multi-chain decentralized exchange (DEX) on the network called Kadenaswap. On its way to its November 2021 all-time high, Kadena began listing on major exchanges, and broke into the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization at its peak.

What are the key features of Kadena?

Kadena differentiates itself in the Layer-1 sector with the following key features:

Hybrid blockchain architecture. Kadena features a hybrid, high-performance proof-of-work consensus mechanism enhanced by Chainweb protocol that boosts its transaction throughput immensely.
Parallel chain operation. Kadena features several blockchains operating simultaneously, interacting with each other to form a plexus wherein global consensus is attained. To increase the throughput on Kadena, the only thing needed is to add additional blockchains. In theory, Kadena can support an endless number of transactions per second without requiring an L2 scalability solution. Bitcoin, in contrast, only features one blockchain, which severely limits its potential.
Pact. Kadena smart contracts are written in the network’s own Pact language, which introduces improvements to address Ethereum’s Solidity smart contract language. Pact features a readable open source code that can be verified, allowing developers of all skill levels to build on the platform.

What are the use cases of Kadena?

Kadena’s robust core infrastructure provides a comprehensive foundation for a wide array of use cases, especially when it comes to decentralized finance. Here are some of Kadena’s use cases for organizations who wish to build on the blockchain.

Tokenization. Kadena supports the issuance, management, and distribution of tokenized financial assets. The platform’s limitless throughput allows organizations to leverage faster settlement times, significantly lower operational costs, adequate liquidity, and high security. It also enables easier cross-border financial transactions, while opening up novel revenue opportunities such as fractional ownership of tokenized assets on the blockchain.
Stablecoins. Stablecoins are the lifeblood of decentralized finance. By pegging the US Dollar to a digital currency, stablecoins bridge the gap between traditional finance and DeFi, serving as on-ramps and off-ramps from fiat to crypto and vice versa. Stablecoins provide the compliance and stability of fiat, while offering the same operational efficiencies and transparency of digital currencies.
RWA (real world asset) tokenization. Tokenization isn’t only for financial assets and applications—it’s also for tangible, physical “Real World Assets,” which includes real estate, art, or any other similar asset. Paired with fractional ownership, RWA tokenization makes investing in high-value assets that would otherwise be out of reach for the majority of market participants possible.
Lending and borrowing operations. Kadena greatly increases the speed, efficiency, security and overall accessibility of lending. Loans can be approved in a matter of minutes rather than weeks or months, and Pact smart contracts provide an automatic, tamper-resistant mechanism for executing the terms of those loans — all with significantly reduced operational costs.
Robust decentralized finance functionality. Kadena, in theory, is built specifically to meet the demands and throughput required by global TradFi.

How to store $KDA tokens?

$KDA is the native token for the Kadena network and broader blockchain ecosystem. In order to interact with the Kadena ecosystem’s decentralized apps and protocols, you need to have a crypto wallet. To store your $KDA tokens, consider using the following wallets that support Kadena.

Chainweaver. Chainweaver is the official Kadena wallet. Designed for advanced crypto users and developers, Chainweaver features an integrated signing API enabling users to sign transactions from Kadena dapps that use the API directly from the wallet interface.
Linx Wallet. Linx Wallet is the first chainless wallet on Kadena, enabling users to interact with DeFi protocols and NFTs on the most scalable blockchain.
Koala Wallet. Koala Wallet is a Kadena wallet available both as a browser extension and mobile app. Its simple interface allows users to easily buy, sell, swap, send, and receive $KDN tokens.
Zelcore. Zelcore is a convenient, light, and mobile multi-chain wallet for storing and trading cryptocurrencies and a signing API to interact with Kadena dapps.

What dapps can you use with Kadena?

Kadena’s theoretically limitless throughput offers a wide array of dapps. Some of the most popular dapps on Kadena include the following:

KadenAI. KadenAI is an all-in-one NFT minting platform built on Kadena. KadenAI features a variety of tools to facilitate the creation and trading of Kadena-native NFT collections.
Wizards Arena. Wizards Arena is a play-to-earn game on the Kadena network. In the game, 1024 Wizard NFTs will be up for grabs. Players can level up their Wizards, engage in battles and tournaments, and earn $WIZA tokens for staking their NFTs on the platform.
Hypercent Launchpad. Hypercent Launchpad helps incubate and launch verified projects on the only hybrid, scalable POW blockchain.
Swarms Finance. Organizations that wish to create decentralized autonomous organizations and manage assets and participate in governance altogether on Kadena can do so with Swarms Finance.

What are the future prospects of Kadena?

Since its initial inception in 2016, Kadena has consistently been at the forefront of innovation. As the first and only L1 blockchain to address the question of blockchain scalability using the proof-of-work consensus mechanism, Kadena is the first L1 platform to have solved the long-standing problem of the Blockchain Trilemma.

Kadena has gone on to launch its Kadeno Eco grant program, its own gas-free decentralized exchange and its wrapped $KDA token for the Ethereum blockchain, as its native token $KDA has listed on major exchanges. Despite the highs and the lows, Kadena has continued building out its core infrastructure and ecosystem. Moreover, Kadena is available at a significant 98% discount from its November 2021 all-time highs, making Kadena a solid “buy-low” opportunity.

Kadena has since gone on to build out a thriving ecosystem featuring blockchain gaming, metaverse, NFTs, Web3, DeFi, and DAOs, and is well-poised to go on a solid run in 2025 and beyond.

How to buy $KDN on Houdini Swap

Want to add $KDN to your portfolio? You can swap Kadena tokens directly on the leading privacy-focused liquidity aggregator Houdini Swap. Houdini Swap enables users to buy, sell, swap, or bridge over 8 million crypto pairs at the highest deree of privacy and the lowest possible transaction fees on one robust DeFi protocol. Here’s how to buy $KDN on Houdini Swap:

Go to the Houdini Swap homepage. Navigate to the official Houdini Swap homepage.
Choose your crypto pair. Select the type of token to send (“from”) and the type of token you wish to receive (“to”). In this case, you’ll need to have existing crypto to swap directly for $KDN.
Enter your desired amount of $KDN tokens to receive. Enter the amount of $KDA you wish to receive. Houdini Swap will then pull prices from its decentralized exchange partners and deliver results highlighting the best fees.
Enter the receiving wallet address. Enter the wallet address you want to receive the $KDN tokens in and make sure that the wallet address and the network used are correct.
Swap and confirm the transaction. Click on “Swap” to confirm your transaction. You could either connect your wallet directly to Houdini Swap or swap for $KDN without connecting your wallet. If you opt to swap without connecting your wallet, send the specified amount of crypto to the wallet address that Houdini Swap provides. If you choose to connect your wallet, you’ll receive a prompt to sign and confirm the transaction.
Track the status of your transaction. Standard swaps take up to 5 minutes to complete, while the private swap option may take up to 30 minutes to complete. Standard swaps are faster and offer a reasonable equilibrium between speed and improved privacy, while private swaps may take longer due to the top-notch level of security they afford. Once the swap is completed, the $KDN tokens will appear on your wallet balance.

Kadena ($KDA) is available on Houdini Swap.