Kaspa’s research team has released the first draft of the vProgs Yellow Paper, outlining a new protocol designed to push the boundaries of what decentralized applications can achieve on the Kaspa network. The goal is simple but ambitious: make applications more scalable, verifiable, and composable, while keeping the Kaspa L1 (Layer 1) fast and lightweight.
What Are vProgs?
“vProg” stands for Verifiable Program. These are applications that can run computations off-chain but still prove their correctness using zero-knowledge proofs (ZK proofs). This approach means apps don’t need to clog up the base layer with heavy computations. Instead, they can run their own logic independently while still being tied to Kaspa’s secure, high-throughput network.
Each vProg is like a self-sovereign mini-blockchain:
- It controls its own accounts and rules.
- It can read data from other vProgs but only write to its own state.
- It periodically commits proofs of its state back to Kaspa L1.
Why It Matters
One of the hardest problems in blockchain design is combining sovereignty (apps running independently) with composability (apps being able to talk to each other without friction). vProgs aim to solve this by introducing a clever system of commitments, proof stitching, and a Computation DAG (a graph of dependencies that ensures order and consistency).
In short:
- Apps remain independent, but
- They can still interact atomically and securely,
- Without overwhelming the base chain.
Key Features of the Proposal
- Proof Stitching
- Different proofs from multiple apps can be stitched together into one verifiable commitment on L1.
- This ensures cross-app transactions are valid without overloading the network.
- Conditional Proof Batches
- Transactions can be grouped together and proven in bulk, improving efficiency.
- Computation DAG
- A dynamic graph tracks dependencies between transactions across apps.
- It ensures data availability and prevents any single app from being overloaded.
- Resource Metering (Gas Models)
- Each vProg has its own gas model (called L2 gas).
- Kaspa L1 also meters “ScopeGas” to limit the cost of cross-program dependencies.
- This keeps the system balanced and resistant to spam or overload.
- Economic Model for Provers
- Independent provers (entities running computations and generating proofs) will be compensated.
- Provers can cooperate for efficiency (“optimistic path”) but also operate independently (“sovereign path”) if needed, ensuring liveness.
Why This Is Important for Kaspa
Kaspa’s L1 is known for speed and scalability due to its blockDAG architecture. But as more applications emerge, raw throughput isn’t enough — composability and scalability at the application layer become critical.
The vProg framework positions Kaspa as not just a fast base layer but as a verifiable execution environment, capable of supporting complex ecosystems of apps without losing performance.
Early Stage, But Promising
This Yellow Paper is labeled as Draft v0.0.1, meaning it’s still in the research and design phase. Many details — like account creation, pruning rules, and publication protocols for vProg code — are left for future revisions.
Still, the direction is clear: Kaspa is working to marry zero-knowledge technology with its unique L1 design to deliver a system that is both sovereign and composable, a balance that many blockchain projects have struggled to achieve.
