Sir Knights,
On December 18th, 2022, Kaspa launched a Community Crowdfund to gather 70 million KAS for the development and implementation of the DAG KNIGHT protocol. Within just 12 days, on December 30th, 2022, the community successfully met the goal. But what exactly is the DAG KNIGHT protocol and why was the Kaspa community so eager to support it?
The DAG KNIGHT Protocol, a brainchild of Michael Sutton and Yonatan Sompolinsky, is a three-year project designed to upgrade Kaspa’s PHANTOM GHOSTDAG Protocol. Its main aim is to prevent 50% attacks, which occur when an entity takes over more than half of the network’s nodes, without needing to know network latency in advance.
Typically, blockchain protocols rely on pre-set network delay parameters that result in slower confirmation times to maintain security. However, if there’s a sudden spike in latency, this could make the blockchain more vulnerable to attacks.
Enter the DAG KNIGHT protocol, the white knight (or should we say green knight?) of the story. This protocol actively monitors and adjusts to network conditions, allowing for appropriate block confirmation times.
Once Kaspa completes its rewrite, DAG KNIGHT will be built on a network capable of pushing an impressive 32 blocks per second. This means that as internet speeds improve, Kaspa won’t be held back by outdated block times. Instead, it will be parameterless and fully adaptable.
DAG KNIGHT evaluates network conditions by analyzing groups of blocks called k-clusters. It selects the k-cluster with the most delay that also covers half the network and adjusts block confirmations accordingly. This continuous adjustment ensures the lowest latency valid k-cluster with 50% coverage.
Furthermore, DAG KNIGHT adds an extra layer of security to GHOSTDAG by finding valid k-clusters and referencing honest nodes for secure chain ordering. It’s the first proof-of-work protocol that is parameterless, scalable, self-stabilizing, and adaptive.
For more information on Kaspa and to join the community, visit KASPA.ORG or follow them on Discord, Telegram, Twitter, Reddit, Github, and Explorer.
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to reach out. You can also find me on the Kaspa discord as Bubblegum Lightning.
This report highlights “The DAG KNIGHT Protocol – Elevating Kaspa,” originally published on Kaspa.org.