Kaia (KAIA): how it works, supply and reviews
In short
- Type
- Public, EVM-compatible layer-1 blockchain based on BFT consensus
- Issuance
- 9.6 KAIA minted per block, about 300 million KAIA a year (about 5.2%); changeable by governance
- Risks and caveats
- Block production is limited to Governance Council members, a permissioned set of organisations with at least 5 million KAIA staked.
- Checked
- 31 October 2026
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Key facts
- Ticker
- KAIA
- Official site
- kaia.io
Key facts checked on 31 October 2026 against official sources.
What is Kaia
Kaia is an EVM-compatible layer-1 blockchain formed in 2024 when the Klaytn and Finschia chains merged through governance votes on both chains. It runs on the former Klaytn mainnet with an optimised Istanbul BFT consensus and one-second blocks. KLAY balances became KAIA, and FNSA holders swap to KAIA at a fixed rate.
Network and consensus
| Parameter | Details |
|---|---|
| Type | Public, EVM-compatible layer-1 blockchain based on BFT consensus |
| Consensus | Optimised Istanbul BFT; a VRF-selected committee of Governance Council nodes signs each block |
| Block time | About 1 second, with immediate finality |
| Smart contracts | Kaia Virtual Machine based on the EVM; Solidity and Ethereum tools supported |
| Launched | Kaia transition hard fork activated on mainnet on 29 August 2024 (UTC+9) |
| Chain | Kaia continues on the former Klaytn mainnet |
Supply and issuance
| Parameter | Details |
|---|---|
| Issuance | 9.6 KAIA minted per block, about 300 million KAIA a year (about 5.2%); changeable by governance |
| Distribution of rewards | 50% validators and community, 25% Kaia Ecosystem Fund, 25% Kaia Infrastructure Fund |
| Merger effect | At the merger, total supply went from about 6.005 billion to 5.805 billion KAIA; circulating from about 3.804 billion to 5.805 billion |
| Swap rate | FNSA:KAIA = 1:148.079656 via Kaiabridge |
What KAIA is used for
- Paying transaction fees and smart-contract execution
- Staking by Governance Council members (minimum 5 million KAIA)
- On-chain governance voting, directly or by delegation
Who develops and governs Kaia
- Governance
- Kaia Governance Council of companies, DAOs and protocol teams votes on-chain; 1 vote per 5M staked KAIA, capped
- Foundation
- Kaia Foundation supports the Council and executes its decisions
- Legal entity
- Kaia DLT Foundation (named in the docs copyright)
- Open source
- Yes; official Go implementation in the kaiachain/kaia repository
History
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 22 December 2022 | Finschia launches as a Cosmos SDK chain that migrated the state of LINE Blockchain Mainnet. |
| — | Klaytn's KGP-25 and Finschia's FGP-23 proposals approve integration of the two chains. |
| 29 August 2024 | The Kaia transition hard fork activates on mainnet; KLAY balances become KAIA. |
| — | The former Klaytn GitHub repository is parked in favour of the kaiachain projects. |
| 17 July 2025 | The Prague hard fork (Kaia v2.0.2) activates on mainnet. |
Security and audits
- Validator keys are separated from reward keys, and block proposers are chosen at random with a VRF.
- Blocks need signatures from more than two-thirds of the committee.
Security incidents
| Date | What happened | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 30 January 2024 | Hack: The official Klaytn (now Kaia) X account said on 30 January 2024 that the project's official Discord server had been compromised, asked users not to click links or interact with posts, and said the team was removing malicious bots to regain control. No loss of funds is stated in the post. Funds returned: not stated | x.com |
Further incidents are reported by third parties (press, incident databases) but are not confirmed in the company’s own channels, so they are not listed here.
Risks and caveats
- Block production is limited to Governance Council members, a permissioned set of organisations with at least 5 million KAIA staked.
- Issuance of 9.6 KAIA per block adds roughly 5.2% to supply a year unless governance changes it.
Official links
- Website: www.kaia.io
- Docs: docs.kaia.io
- Source code: github.com/kaiachain/kaia
- Transition FAQ: docs.kaia.io/misc/kaia-transition/faq-chain-transition
- Governance: docs.kaia.io/learn/governance
Questions and answers
What is Kaia?
Kaia is an EVM-compatible layer-1 blockchain formed in 2024 by merging the Klaytn and Finschia chains. Its native coin is KAIA.
What happened to KLAY?
KAIA is a rebrand of KLAY: balances were converted automatically and no user action was needed.
How do I convert FNSA to KAIA?
FNSA holders swap through Kaiabridge on the Kaia Portal at a fixed rate of 1 FNSA to 148.079656 KAIA.
How is Kaia governed?
The Kaia Governance Council votes on-chain with 1 vote per 5 million staked KAIA, and the Kaia Foundation executes its decisions.
Sources
- Kaia Docs — Overview
- Kaia Docs — Consensus mechanism
- Kaia Docs — KAIA native coin
- Kaia Docs — Token economy
- Kaia Docs — Governance
- Kaia Docs — Kaia hard fork history
- Kaia Docs — Chain transition FAQ
- Kaia Docs — Finschia
- Klaytn GitHub README (parked)
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