Kadena Announces Shutdown: A 77% Price Drop and Rapid Cash Burn Ends a Promising Project

Kadena, previously recognized as a promising blockchain initiative, has stated that it will cease operations after depleting its funds. Although the decentralized blockchain network will remain active, the team behind it has confirmed that they will stop all business activities and ongoing maintenance.

Key Takeaways

Kadena has officially announced its shutdown due to financial difficulties, with its token plummeting 77% within a month.
While the Kadena blockchain itself will continue to operate, the organization will no longer provide maintenance or business support.
The value of Kadena's token (KDA) has dramatically fallen, leading to delistings on various exchanges.
The project’s decline highlights the challenges of achieving sustained adoption in a competitive Layer-1 blockchain environment.

Kadena's Public Announcement

Kadena released a public statement confirming their inability to maintain operations:

"We regret to announce that the Kadena organization is no longer able to continue business operations and will be ceasing all business activity and active maintenance of the Kadena blockchain immediately."

"We are tremendously grateful to everybody who…”
— Kadena (@kadena_io) October 21, 2025

The organization explained that the decision was driven by market conditions that made it impossible to sustain operations or encourage adoption, particularly as the value of its native token had fallen by 77% over the last month. A small group of employees will remain to help with the transition and wind down activities.

Kadena Token Plummets: Exchanges Begin Delisting

Following the announcement, the Kadena token (KDA) experienced significant losses. By Tuesday, KDA was trading at approximately $0.12, reflecting a decline of over 47% in just 24 hours, a whopping 77% over the past month, and more than 99% from its peak value of $27.64 in 2021, according to CoinGecko data.

Source:CoinGecko

Kadena's mainnet launched in January 2020, touting the combination of Bitcoin-level security and high throughput through a framework known as “braided chains.” At its height in 2021, the token's market capitalization neared $4 billion, bolstered by a robust community and a $100 million grant initiative for Web3 developers. However, the network struggled to secure lasting user adoption.

Recent statistics from DeFiLlama indicate that Kadena's total value locked (TVL) in decentralized finance (DeFi) has plummeted to just $128,000—down 71% in the last 24 hours and a far cry from its peak of $11 million in August 2022.

Source:DeFiLlama

Most DeFi protocols within the Kadena ecosystem have faced drastic reductions in liquidity. Kadena Cabinet, a governance platform, saw a drop of over 70% in TVL in a single day, while decentralized exchanges like KDSwap and Mercatus experienced declines of 83% and 64%, respectively.

Source:DeFiLlama

In response to these changes, trading exchanges have begun to delist the token. OKX revealed plans to remove KDA trading pairs (KDA/USDT and KDA/USD) by October 29, citing non-compliance with listing standards. Deposits were suspended on October 22, with withdrawals expected to cease on January 22, 2026. Similarly, Bybit announced the termination of perpetual contracts on KDA, effective from October 2, and halted all lending and borrowing services related to KDA.

Blockchain to Continue Operating, Despite Company Closure

Kadena clarified that while the organization is closing down, the blockchain itself will continue to operate autonomously as a proof-of-work network maintained by miners and governed by smart contract developers on-chain. The team plans to release a new binary to ensure continuous functionality and encourages all node operators to perform upgrades.

Source:Kadena Blog

The project’s token and protocol will also persist, with 566 million KDA available to be mined until the year 2139. Additionally, around 83.7 million KDA are set to be released from lockup by November 2029. The Kadena team mentions plans to engage with the community as they transition towards complete community governance and maintenance.

Investor Backlash and Calls for Support

The shutdown marks a disappointing conclusion for a project that began with ambitious aspirations. Founded by former JPMorgan engineers Stuart Popejoy and William Martino, Kadena was aimed at creating a scalable proof-of-work blockchain tailored for enterprise applications. The founders had previously assisted the bank with blockchain initiatives before embarking on their own venture.

The situation has left many investors disheartened. One long-term holder, Le Phu, expressed on X that he had lost over 90% of his investment, labeling the project as a “scam” due to the team continuing to make updates right before announcing the shutdown.

"$KDA officially stopped operating.
After 9 years, we must announce the cessation of all business and development activities, due to running out of money and lacking the capacity to continue.
My journey with KDA also ends here."
— Le Phu (@lephuX) October 22, 2025

Some industry leaders have shown sympathy for the Kadena community. Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson publicly reached out after the announcement, suggesting potential support or collaboration.

"Anyone from the Kadena ecosystem want to reach out?”
— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) October 22, 2025

The shutdown has reignited discussions regarding the long-term viability of Layer-1 blockchains.

Kadena's Closure: A Cautionary Lesson in a Competitive Landscape

Analysts have noted that, despite Kadena's technological innovations, the project struggled to gain traction in a saturated market dominated by Ethereum, Solana, and an ever-expanding range of Layer-2 networks.

"My first blockchain interaction was on Kadena during the NFT boom, and I just ended up there because it seemed like an opportunity at the start of my career."
— Noveleader 🏰 (@0xnoveleader) October 22, 2025

Crypto researcher Noveleader pointed out that Kadena "always struggled with token price dynamics and ecosystem projects," and stated that the community had been actively seeking engagement with the team as interest waned.

Data from DeFiLlama reveals a landscape rife with over 100 rollups and more than 200 independent blockchains, most of which receive fewer than 2,000 daily users.

Source:DeFiLlama

The downfall of Kadena serves as a cautionary tale about how many projects, driven by technological aspirations, fail to achieve meaningful adoption. Even established on the promise of scalable proof-of-work innovations, Kadena was once viewed as "the blockchain for business." However, as user engagement and liquidity gravitated towards networks with stronger community effects, Kadena's vision began to diminish.