Kadena Shuts Down – How a 77% Crash and Cash Burn Ended One of Crypto’s Most Ambitious Projects

Kadena, once hailed as one of the most promising blockchain ventures, has announced that it is shutting down operations after running out of ￰2￱ the blockchain network will remain online due to its decentralized nature, the organization behind it said it will cease all business activity and active ￰3￱ PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT 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 ￰4￱ are tremendously grateful to everybody who… — Kadena (@kadena_io) October 21, 2025 Kaneda’s announcement added that the decision came after market conditions made it impossible to sustain operations or promote the project’s adoption, as its native token dropped 77% over a month’s ￰5￱ team said it would retain a small group of employees to oversee the transition process and assist with winding down ￰6￱ announcement quickly rippled through the market, and the impact was ￰7￱ Crashes 99% as Project Shuts Down, Exchanges Begin Delisting KDA The announcement sent the Kadena token (KDA) into a steep ￰8￱ of Tuesday, KDA was trading around $0.12, down more than 47% in the past 24 hours, 77% in a month, and more than 99% from its all-time high of $27.64 set in 2021, according to CoinGecko data .) by October 29, citing failure to meet listing ￰9￱ have already been suspended as of October 22, with withdrawals set to close on January 22, 2026.

Additionally, Bybit announced the end of perpetual contracts on KDA, effective October 2nd, and has ceased all lending and borrowing services related to KDA at the ￰10￱ Company Closure, Kadena Blockchain to Operate Uninterrupted Kaneda said that while it is stepping away, the blockchain will continue to function independently as a proof-of-work network maintained by miners and governed by on-chain smart contract ￰11￱ company said it would soon release a new binary to ensure uninterrupted operation and encouraged all node operators to upgrade.) October 22, 2025 “My journey with KDA also ends here,” he said. “All my investments have lost value, and so has my faith in crypto.” Some industry figures have responded with sympathy and possible ￰12￱ founder Charles Hoskinson publicly offered to connect with the Kadena community following the announcement, hinting at potential collaboration or ￰13￱ from the Kadena ecosystem want to reach out? ￰0￱ — Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) October 22, 2025 The shutdown has also reignited debate about the long-term sustainability of Layer-1 blockchains.

Kadena’s Shutdown Becomes a Cautionary Tale in Overcrowded Layer-1 Market Analysts pointed out that despite Kadena’s technical innovations, the project struggled to attract users in a crowded market dominated by Ethereum, Solana, and their growing ecosystem of rollups and Layer-2 ￰14￱ first ever blockchain interaction was on Kadena during the NFT boom, and I just ended up there because that's where I found the opportunity as I was starting my career. I follow a lot of Kadena community members, and honestly, the idea behind the chain was intriguing at… ￰1￱ — Noveleader (@0xnoveleader) October 22, 2025 Crypto researcher Noveleader noted that Kadena “always struggled with the price action of their token and the ecosystem projects,” saying the community had been trying to engage with the team for years as momentum ￰15￱ from DeFiLlama shows that over 100 rollups and more than 200 independent blockchains are currently active, yet most have fewer than 2,000 daily users.