Kadena Ecosystem Developments in Mid-September 2025: Building Chainweb Architecture

The Kadena blockchain network saw several updates during the past week, including a partnership with ETHGlobal for developer prizes and the launch of a new block explorer called Kadscan. 

These moves build on Kadena's Chainweb architecture, which uses parallel proof-of-work chains to handle transactions at scale. Kadena, known for its EVM-compatible layer-1 design, continues to focus on tools for developers working with smart contracts and real-world assets.

ETHGlobal Partnership Targets EVM Developers

Kadena announced its sponsorship of the ETHGlobal New Delhi event, scheduled for September 26-28, 2025. The company committed $5,000 in prizes for projects built on its testnet. Participants can compete in categories such as tokenized assets, cross-chain bridges, and decentralized applications for enterprise use.

The event features sponsors like the Uniswap Foundation, which offers $10,000 in prizes, and the Ethereum Foundation, with $5,000. Kadena's involvement highlights its EVM compatibility, allowing Solidity developers to deploy contracts without modifications. Chainweb's structure supports up to 100,000 transactions per second in theory, using multiple braided chains to distribute workload and maintain proof-of-work security.

Kadena's founders, former JPMorgan blockchain engineers, designed the network for high throughput and low fees. This setup avoids the centralization issues commonly seen in some Layer 2 solutions. Developers at the event must use the testnet to qualify for prizes, with submissions due by the end of the event. The focus on real-world applications aligns with Kadena's emphasis on secure scaling for DeFi and asset tokenization.

Kadscan Block Explorer Goes Live

On September 15, 2025, Kadena introduced Kadscan, a block explorer developed by the team at @hackachain. The tool connects to the Kadindexer GraphQL API and provides real-time transaction tracking across Chainweb's multi-chain environment. It has indexed over 206 billion transactions to date.

Kadscan's interface displays analytics dashboards and supports queries for Chainweb's parallel chains. Users can access it at kadscan.io, where it handles data from the network's EVM testnet, now expanded to five chains. This expansion prepares for the mainnet rollout, which is expected in the fourth quarter of 2025.

The explorer simplifies on-chain analysis for proof-of-work transactions and Pact smart contracts. Pact, Kadena's native language, enables formal verification of code to reduce vulnerabilities. Kadscan's design draws comparisons to tools like Blockscout but tailors features to Kadena's braided chain model, which interleaves blocks for consensus without sharding.

Ongoing Developer Grants and Tool Updates

Kadena's $50 million builder grants program, which has been active since May 2025, supports projects in EVM integration, real-world assets, and AI applications. Recent grantees include $400,000 support for CurveBlock, a UK-based startup building tokenized real estate inside a regulated financial sandbox.

The program funds upgrades to Pact version 5 and the Wallet SDK, improving smart contract deployment and user interfaces. These tools enable developers to write gas-efficient code that runs seamlessly across multiple chains, eliminating performance bottlenecks.

Kadena's gas station network enables zero-fee transactions by subsidizing costs through off-chain mechanisms. This feature supports high-volume use cases, such as tokenized securities, where fees can accumulate rapidly.

Cross-Chain Bridges and Liquidity Plans

The Kinesis Bridge facilitates asset transfers between Kadena and networks including Ethereum, Polygon, and Arbitrum. Launched earlier this year, it uses wrapped tokens to maintain liquidity across ecosystems.

Kadena plans to enhance its decentralized exchange infrastructure in 2025, with a focus on deeper liquidity pools for $KDA pairs. The upcoming Real-World Asset Token Standard will standardize tokenization processes, ensuring compliance with regulatory frameworks for assets valued at $326 trillion globally.

These developments address interoperability challenges in proof-of-work networks. By integrating with Ethereum Virtual Machine standards, Kadena allows seamless migration of DeFi protocols while preserving native security.

Technical Underpinnings of Kadena's Design

Chainweb's Braided Structure for Scalability: Chainweb's parallel chains operate as a braided structure, where each chain produces blocks that are interleaved with those of others to achieve consensus. This method scales horizontally, adding chains to increase capacity without compromising proof-of-work integrity.

Pact Smart Contracts and EVM Compatibility: Pact smart contracts compile to WebAssembly for execution, supporting features such as keyset permissions and formal proofs. The EVM compatibility layer translates Solidity bytecode to run alongside native contracts, enabling hybrid applications.

Kadindexer API for Querying Data: Kadindexer, the backend for Kadscan, uses GraphQL for flexible queries, allowing developers to filter by chain ID or transaction hash. This API handles the network's 20-chain mainnet configuration, with plans to scale further.

Gas Stations for Fee Abstraction: Gas Stations abstract fee payments, routing them through relayers funded by $KDA reserves. This reduces barriers for end-users in high-frequency scenarios, such as micropayments in social platforms.

Cabinet Governance Module: The Cabinet governance module processes proposals on-chain, using quadratic voting to weigh stakeholder input. Rewards are derived from a 0.25% transaction fee allocation, which sustains validator incentives.

Looking Ahead

Kadena's updates demonstrate a commitment to the viability of proof-of-work in an EVM-dominated landscape. By prioritizing parallel processing, the network handles concurrent transactions without the downtime associated with some high-throughput alternatives.

The ETHGlobal sponsorship and Kadscan release provide concrete tools for verification and experimentation. Grants and bridges extend reach to Ethereum developers, while community campaigns build organic adoption. 

To conclude, Kadena's ecosystem capabilities center on scalable proof-of-work execution, EVM interoperability, and tools for asset tokenization and governance. As the protocol continues to expand its ecosystem with new features and partnerships, it is poised to become a hub for the development of practical applications in DeFi and RWAs. 

Sources: 

• Build on Kadena: https://www.kadena.io/build-on-kadena 
• Kadena Cabinet: https://www.kadena.io/cabinet 
• Kadena 2025 Roadmap: https://www.kadena.io/roadmap 
• Kadena Events: https://www.kadena.io/events 
• $50M Grant Announcement: https://www.kadena.io/perspectives/kadena-launches-50m-grant-for-chainweb-evm-ai-and-tokenization-projects