Why We Built a New Wallet
When we started building Kaspa Wallet, several wallet options already existed for the Kaspa network. Most were ports or forks of tools designed for linear blockchains — Bitcoin forks, Ethereum-derived codebases — adapted after the fact to handle Kaspa's blockDAG. The adaptations worked, but they left rough edges: confirmation displays that didn't reflect Kaspa's actual finality model, performance assumptions built for networks that produce one block every several seconds rather than ten blocks per second, and user interfaces designed around a mental model of cryptocurrency that predated blockDAG architecture.
We wanted a wallet that was built for Kaspa the way Kaspa was built for proof of work — from a clean design, with the specific properties of the network as primary constraints rather than afterthoughts. That meant making deliberate decisions at every layer of the stack, from key derivation to how transaction status is presented in the UI.
The Non-Negotiables We Started With
Non-custodial by design
The wallet would never transmit private keys, seed phrases, or any key material to any server. Key generation happens entirely on the user's device. There is no backend, no account registration, and no user data collected or stored remotely. If the servers behind the website went offline tomorrow, every existing Kaspa Wallet installation would continue to function without interruption.
AES-256 encryption with PBKDF2
Wallet files are encrypted at rest using AES-256, a standard that is used in everything from government communications to financial services infrastructure. The encryption key is derived from the user's password using PBKDF2 with a high iteration count, which means brute-forcing a wallet file requires substantial computational effort even if an attacker obtains the file. A weak password is still a vulnerability, which is why we document password recommendations clearly — but the cryptographic layer is as strong as current standards allow.
BIP39 seed phrases
Wallet recovery uses the BIP39 standard — the same 12 or 24-word seed phrase format used by Bitcoin, Ethereum, and most major hardware wallets. This means your Kaspa Wallet recovery phrase follows a well-understood, widely-audited standard. It also means that if Kaspa Wallet ever ceased to exist, users could recover their funds through any other BIP39-compatible tool that supports Kaspa's key derivation path.
No telemetry, no analytics
Kaspa Wallet does not collect usage data, crash reports, or any other telemetry. The wallet does not phone home. When the application is running, the only network traffic it generates is communication with the Kaspa node network — transactions and balance queries. There is no hidden data collection, and the open-source codebase can be audited to verify this.
What Shipped in v1.0
The initial release focused on getting the core wallet experience right rather than shipping a large feature surface. The v1.0 feature set:
- Create and import wallets using BIP39 seed phrases, with optional passphrase support.
- Send and receive KAS, with real-time balance updates reflecting the 10 BPS block cadence.
- Encrypted wallet file stored locally, portable between devices.
- Seed phrase backup flow with a verification step to confirm the user has written down their phrase correctly before the wallet activates.
- Transaction history with confirmations displayed in a way that corresponds to Kaspa's actual finality model rather than a generic block-count UI.
- Native builds for Windows, macOS (Intel and Apple Silicon), and Linux (AppImage).
The build pipeline publishes SHA256 checksums alongside every release so users can verify the integrity of their downloaded installer before running it.
Engineering for 10 Blocks Per Second
Building a wallet for a 10 BPS network required rethinking several assumptions that wallet codebases normally make. At typical blockchain speeds, polling for balance updates every few seconds is unobtrusive — blocks arrive slowly enough that there is rarely new information. At Kaspa's block rate, that approach produces excessive network traffic and a UI that flickers with constant state changes.
Kaspa Wallet uses an event-driven connection to a Kaspa node that receives push notifications when the DAG state relevant to the wallet's addresses changes, rather than polling on a timer. This keeps the UI responsive and current without generating unnecessary load. The confirmation display batches updates intelligently so that the progression from zero to fully confirmed reads cleanly rather than flickering through each individual block increment.
We also tuned the transaction construction logic to account for Kaspa's UTXO model at high throughput, ensuring that transaction inputs are selected in a way that avoids creating problematic UTXO fragmentation for users who send frequently.
What v1.4 Improved
The subsequent v1.4 release focused on stability and UX refinement rather than new features. Key improvements included faster initial sync time for wallets with long transaction histories, improved error messaging for failed transactions with actionable guidance, a redesigned transaction detail view with clearer confirmation status, and fixes for edge cases in UTXO selection that could cause transaction failures for certain balance configurations. The checksum verification documentation was also expanded with step-by-step instructions for all three supported platforms.
What Is Coming Next
The roadmap for Kaspa Wallet is driven by the same principles that governed v1.0: security first, then usability, then expanded feature coverage. The features we are actively working toward:
- Ledger hardware wallet integration, for users who want a hardware signing layer without giving up the Kaspa Wallet interface.
- An address book for saving frequently used recipient addresses with labels.
- Mobile builds for iOS and Android, following the same non-custodial, no-backend architecture as the desktop releases.
- Multi-wallet support, allowing users to manage multiple isolated wallets within a single application instance.
Each of these will ship when it meets the same quality bar as the existing features — not on a fixed schedule. Kaspa Wallet is an open-source community project, and contributions toward any of these goals are welcome on GitHub.
Download v1.0 Today
Kaspa Wallet is available now for Windows, macOS, and Linux. The wallet is free, open source, and requires no account or registration to use. Download from the link below and verify the SHA256 checksum before running the installer.