Convert between KAVA and US dollars at the live rate.
$9.12
−99.50% from current
$0.039678
+14.50% from current
Independent editorial ranking. Score is 0–10 across six criteria: Security, Fees, UX, Features, Support, Reputation.
US and EU users who prioritise a spotless security record — no major hack since 2011 — and want a serious pro-grade trading terminal.
Institutions and funds requiring an SEC-registered venue with segregated qualified custody and audited on-chain reserves.
Active spot traders chasing the deepest global liquidity and the widest listing catalogue outside the US perimeter.
Traders who mix spot and on-chain — the Web3 wallet, DEX aggregator and Ethereum L2 X Layer sit inside the same account as CEX pairs.
Long-horizon EU holders who want the oldest continuously-operating exchange (2011) with conservative listings and full MiCA licensing.
Derivatives-first traders who want tighter perp funding and a maker-friendly fee schedule; accept offshore regulatory footprint.
Top coins in the same category, ordered by market cap.
Kava (KAVA) is a Layer 1 blockchain that bolts an Ethereum execution environment onto a Cosmos-SDK chain and runs both under the same validator set. Brian Kerr, Ruaridh O’Donnell, and Scott Stuart founded the project in 2018, mainnet went live in October 2019, and the network sits in the smart-contract-platform category alongside Ethereum, Solana, and BNB Chain. Its early reputation came from DeFi primitives (lending, a CDP stablecoin), but the brand has shifted decisively toward EVM compatibility and AI-economy use cases since 2024.
KAVA is the native token used for staking, governance, and gas on the Cosmos side of the network. The supply was originally inflationary, with no fixed cap. After Kava Tokenomics 2.0 took effect in January 2024, emissions stopped completely and the network became disinflationary with a hard cap near 1.083 billion KAVA. Validators no longer earn freshly minted tokens; they earn transaction fees only. The architectural ancestor here is Cosmos, and the EVM side borrows directly from Ethereum.
KAVA trades on every Tier-1 venue against USD, USDT, BTC, and ETH. The KAVA/USD figure on this page is a volume-weighted aggregate from spot markets with the deepest order books, refreshed every 60 seconds.
What tends to move KAVA price in any given week:
The price card above streams live data; the analysis below uses the levels at page load.
The defining feature of the network is the co-chain design that landed with Kava 10 in August 2022. Instead of running a separate chain or a sidechain, Kava splits its execution into two parallel environments: a native Cosmos co-chain that uses CometBFT consensus and the Cosmos SDK, and an EVM co-chain that runs Ethereum-compatible smart contracts. Both co-chains share the same validators, the same security budget, and the same KAVA token.
The practical effect is that a developer can deploy a Solidity contract to Kava EVM, expose it to Cosmos liquidity through internal bridges, and pay gas in either KAVA or wrapped assets without leaving the network. Validators stake KAVA on the Cosmos side and produce blocks for both co-chains in lockstep, which is why the security guarantee is the same on both halves.
This is the Kava co-chain story in a sentence: one validator set, two execution layers, and the same KAVA token underwriting both.
Kava Tokenomics 2.0 went live in January 2024 and is the single biggest change to KAVA’s monetary policy since launch. The previous model was inflationary, with new tokens minted to pay validators and to fund ecosystem incentives. The new model stops emissions entirely and locks the maximum supply near 1.083 billion KAVA.
The trade-off is straightforward. Stakers lose the inflation-funded base APR they used to earn, and the network becomes more dependent on actual transaction volume to keep validators profitable. Holders who do not stake stop being diluted at all, which is the side most observers focused on at the time of the change.
Before the EVM co-chain and the AI pivot, Kava was best known for two native products built on the Cosmos side: Mint (which issues USDX) and Hard (a money market). Both still operate, but their relative weight in the ecosystem has dropped sharply since Kava Tokenomics 2.0.
The honest read is that Kava’s native DeFi stack has been deprioritised. Mint still issues USDX, Hard still books loans, but the strategic centre of gravity moved to the EVM co-chain and to the Tether-led vault initiatives.
Kava EVM is where the project chose to compete in the broader smart-contract market. By offering an Ethereum-compatible environment with sub-second finality from CometBFT and noticeably lower fees than mainnet, Kava attracted a working set of well-known DeFi primitives.
The structural question is whether liquidity sticks. EVM L1 competition has been brutal since 2022, and Kava EVM is fighting for attention against Arbitrum, Base, BNB Chain, and dozens of others. The cross-chain integrations are real, but they also make it easy for liquidity to leave when incentives elsewhere look better. The Tether-on-Kava strategic vault is the clearest attempt to anchor durable liquidity that does not migrate on a yield rotation.
KAVA is widely listed, so the buying side is straightforward. The decisions that matter for long-term holders happen after the buy: whether to stake, where to self-custody, and which co-chain the token sits on.
Send a small test transaction whenever moving size, especially when bridging between the Cosmos and EVM co-chains. KAVA exists in two formats inside the network, and a misrouted transfer to the wrong format can take time to recover.
KAVA does not carry the same risk profile as a top-five L1. Three issues sit above generic price volatility: it competes inside an already crowded Cosmos-and-EVM landscape, it carries reputational baggage from USDX’s 2022 peg history, and the recent narrative pivot to AI puts a lot of weight on a thesis that is still unproven.
For longer-term scenarios on KAVA specifically, see our Kava price forecast.
This page is information, not financial advice. Talk to someone licensed before allocating real capital.
Analysis last updated:
Kava (KAVA) trades at $0.045431 with a 24-hour volume of $7.91M and a market capitalization of $49.2M. The asset is currently ranked #433 among all tracked cryptocurrencies.
In the last 24 hours, the KAVA price has fallen +0.23%. On a seven-day window, Kava has climbed +0.61%, showing mixed signals between the short and medium term. Short-term moves are often amplified by liquidity, news flow, and derivatives positioning, so confirm signals across multiple indicators before acting.
Kava's all-time high of $9.12 was set on August 30, 2021. The current price sits +99.50% below that peak. Distance from the all-time high is a common reference point when evaluating long recoveries and macro support or resistance.
Buying Kava (KAVA) is a five-step routine once you have picked the right venue and pair. The steps below mirror what most investors do today.
You can also use the Kava converter above to estimate how much KAVA you would get for a given dollar amount before placing the order.
Whether Kava is a good investment depends on your goals, time horizon, and tolerance for volatility. Like all cryptocurrencies, KAVA carries real market risk: prices can rise or fall sharply in a day, and past performance is not a reliable indicator of future returns.
This page provides data and analysis for educational purposes only. It is not financial advice. Always do your own research, diversify, and never invest more than you can afford to lose.
