Kadena Nexus
Kadena mainnet stress test
How many transactions per second can Kadena actually handle today? We measured the ceiling from the network's own rules and live blocks, and we test it on mainnet in short, announced one-minute runs: 100 TPS first, then 200. Every number here can be checked on chain.
At a glance
| Value | |
|---|---|
| Traffic today (2-hour sample, Oct 29, 2026) | 0.06 TPS |
| How full blocks are today | 0.07% |
| Block size limit (node default / network maximum) | 150,000 / 180,000 gas |
| Gas for a simple KDA transfer (median of 55 mainnet transfers) | 258 gas |
| Simple transfers per block | about 580 / 700 |
| Chains, block time | 20 chains, one block every 30 s on each |
| Ceiling for simple transfers | about 390 TPS / 465 TPS |
Sample: 4,797 blocks on all 20 chains, 418 transactions in 2 hours. Ceiling = transfers per block × 20 chains ÷ 30 seconds. Heavier transactions (DEX swaps, contract calls) use more gas, so the ceiling for them is lower.
Results
The test plan
| Run | Rate | Length | Transactions | Share of each block | Fees, about |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 100 TPS | 60 s | 6,000 | ~30% | 0.02 KDA |
| 2 | 200 TPS | 60 s | 12,000 | ~60% | 0.03 KDA |
| 3, only if 1 and 2 go smoothly | 250 TPS | 60 s | 15,000 | ~74% | 0.04 KDA |
Share of each block counts the gas limit of each test transaction (the measured 258 gas plus a 15% margin), because that is what a miner reserves when it fills a block.
Ground rules
- Announced first: date, time and rate posted at least 48 hours ahead, with a heads-up to the community core developers.
- Short: one minute per run, then it stops by itself.
- Spread evenly over all 20 chains, so no single chain is crowded.
- Everyone else first: test transactions pay the minimum gas price. Miners take higher-paying transactions first, so normal users keep getting in.
- Our own money only: dedicated test accounts send tiny amounts of KDA to each other. Nobody else's funds are touched.
- Stop rule: the run is cut short if confirmations for other users slow down or any chain stalls.
- Never near the ceiling: we will not go above 250 TPS on mainnet, and the test program refuses any run that would reserve more than 80% of a block. Higher rates belong on a test network.
What about 480,000 TPS?
In August 2020, when Kadena went from 10 to 20 chains, Kadena LLC announced the network could reach 480,000 transactions per second. Coverage at the time did not say how the figure was produced, and it has never been shown on mainnet. Under today's rules it would need about 720,000 transfers per block on every chain, roughly a thousand times what a block can hold.
The design can scale in principle. Chainweb has three levers:
- More chains. Each chain adds its own blocks. Going from 20 to 40 chains would double the ceiling.
- Bigger blocks. A higher gas limit fits more transactions in each block.
- Faster blocks. A shorter block time means more blocks per minute.
Each lever is a network upgrade: the community developers would write it, and miners would have to adopt it. Each also asks more of every node: more storage, bandwidth and computing power, which makes running a node harder. None is scheduled today. Kadena's traffic is far below its ceiling, so capacity is not the bottleneck right now; usage is.
Check it yourself
- Network maximum block size:
_versionMaxBlockGasLimit= 180,000 in src/Chainweb/Version/Mainnet.hs, kda-community/chainweb-node. - Node default:
_configBlockGasLimit= 150,000 in src/Chainweb/Chainweb/Configuration.hs. Miners can raise it up to the network maximum. - Gas per transfer: the
gasfield of any simplecoin.transferresult, on any explorer. - Test transactions: every run lists its test accounts, so anyone can find each transaction on the explorer.
Sources
- JP Morgan blockchain spinoff hits 480,000 transactions per second, Decrypt, Aug 2020
- Kadena scales hybrid blockchain 480k TPS on 20 chains, Enterprise Times, Aug 21, 2020
More
Live network health: Network Monitor. Large KDA moves: Whale Watch. Network activity month by month: Kadena network reports.
Kadena Nexus is an independent community project and is not affiliated with Kadena LLC. It works alongside the kda-community developers and the community DAO. Figures are Kadena Nexus readings of public chain data and the node source code, Oct 29, 2026.