• Kadena has shut down all business operations, but its blockchain will keep running through miners and nodes.
• The KDA token fell by over 60% after the shutdown news, and trading volume spiked across major exchanges.
• Kadena plans to leave the network to the community as it moves away from all active development and support.

Kadena has officially ended all business operations and active development of its blockchain. On October 21, the announcement was made as a post on X. The organization mentioned continued market pains as the major cause of the decision. Before using the system, Kadena had been running a proof-of-work Layer-1 network. It was founded by former JPMorgan executives. The shutdown ends almost ten years of blockchain development.

All staff have been released, except a small internal team. That group will manage the transition process. Kadena also promised that the network will not stop its operations. This is because it is a decentralized system that is reliant on miners and node operators. Once the team has left, a new binary will be released that supports the protocol. 

Token Activity Remains Despite Shutdown

Despite the operational shutdown, the Kadena token remains active. Over 566 million KDA will still be mined until the year 2139. There are 83.7 million more tokens that will be unlocked until November 2029. The organization mentioned that there are talks about changing the governance to the community.

The market responded to the announcement negatively. The KDA token price dropped by nearly 60% within hours. It now trades at around $0.0872, down more than 99% from its 2021 high. The token had once peaked at $27.64. Daily trading volume surged over 1,290% to nearly $99 million as holders rushed to sell.

Community Confirms Authenticity Amid Chaos

Initial confusion surrounded the announcement. Many users suspected the official X account had been hacked. However, Kadena later confirmed the message through its official Discord server. The post rapidly gained more than three million views. There was concern and disbelief among members of the community when the news came in.

Kadena was previously considered a solid Ethereum rival. It promised scalable, enterprise-grade solutions. Nevertheless, it was indicated that ecosystem data had been on the decline long before the shutdown. The highest total value locked is $9 million at the start of 2022. Based on the statistics given by DeFiLlama, it fell to just $170,000 by the end of 2025.

Exchange Data Shows Selling Pressure

Most of the recent trading activity occurred on Binance. The exchange handled over $24 million of the total $70 million volume. Kadena had been backed by Binance Labs and was listed on the platform. 

This led to heavy sell-offs from Binance users. Earlier this year, Binance Labs rebranded to YZi Labs. Though the organization has exited, the Kadena chain remains functional. Miners will continue to secure the network. The future of the protocol now depends on its decentralized community.