Gate integrates Kasplex Layer 2 to bring smart contracts to Kaspa’s KAS

Gate has integrated Kasplex Layer 2 on Kaspa, opening a direct bridge for users to move $KAS onto an EVM‑compatible DeFi environment.

Gate has officially integrated the Kasplex Layer 2 network, allowing users to move Kaspa’s native token $KAS between the Kaspa Layer 1 chain and Kasplex L2 directly through the exchange. According to Gate, customers can now “transfer $KAS from Kaspa L1 to the Kasplex L2 wallet,” a step the platform says will “significantly” reduce entry barriers while “enhancing asset circulation and on‑chain interaction” for $KAS holders.

Kasplex is a Layer 2 solution built on top of Kaspa’s BlockDAG‑based Layer 1 and is designed to add Ethereum‑style smart contract functionality to a network that, like Bitcoin, uses a UTXO model and has no native contract layer. In technical documentation, Kasplex describes itself as “a lightweight Rollup solution based on Kaspa,” embedding EVM bytecode into Kaspa L1 transactions and executing it off‑chain to update Layer 2 state while using Kaspa for ordering and data availability.

Kasplex’s $KAS‑only gas model and DeFi goals

In posts on X, the Kasplex team has stressed that the network uses bridged $KAS as its only gas token, rather than introducing a separate L2 asset, in order to “preserve economic alignment and keep value within the Kaspa ecosystem.” The project offers a two‑way bridge for moving $KAS between L1 and L2 and says smart‑contract deployment is “as simple as redirecting RPC endpoints,” with the aim of making it easy for developers familiar with EVM tooling to launch applications on Kasplex.

Kasplex’s architecture is pitched as a way to unlock DeFi, NFTs and other dApps on Kaspa by combining the base chain’s high‑throughput BlockDAG design with EVM‑compatible execution. Kasplex notes that by using Kaspa L1 for canonical transaction ordering and data, its Rollup‑style design can support automated market makers, lending and borrowing markets, stablecoins and other composable protocols that “cannot be realized on the primary chain” alone.

Kaspa itself has become one of the more actively traded mid‑cap layer‑1 tokens, with a live price of about $0.0345, a 24‑hour trading range between roughly $0.0340 and $0.0353, and a recent 24‑hour volume near $26.4 million. CoinMarketCap data puts Kaspa’s all‑time high at $0.2075, meaning $KAS currently trades more than 80% below its peak, a gap backers hope additional L2 utility can help narrow over time.

Kaspa community posts have framed Kasplex as “a huge milestone ahead of imminent mainnet,” highlighting growing momentum around node decentralization, liquidity pools and wallet integrations, including tutorials on bridging $KAS and adding the L2 network to Kasware and MetaMask. By wiring Kasplex directly into its deposit and withdrawal rails, Gate is betting that a smoother path onto L2 will translate into more $KAS moving into smart contracts, and more activity across Kaspa’s expanding DeFi stack.