Decentralized finance (DeFi) is a flourishing industry with roots in the Ethereum blockchain. The older smart contract network’s inability to meet growing industry demands has seen users seek alternatives.
The Kava blockchain is one of the top emerging crypto sub-space. The project integrates the adaptability and resourcefulness of Ethereum and Cosmos’s scalability and interoperability. Talk about a dual-core DeFi protocol.
This beginner’s guide will touch on everything the Kava blockchain is and its use cases. We will also explore the best way and platform to invest in its native token, KAVA.
Where to Buy Kava Network KAVA
This section is our top picks of where and how to buy the Kava Crypto token. We chose these based on our experience of using them and considered fees, security, payment options and reputation.
eToro: Our Top Pick & Easy to Use PlatformBinance: Largest Crypto Exchange with Low FeesCoinbase: Highly Regarded and Easy to Use for BeginnersKucoin: Highly Regarded and Easy to Use for Beginners
Visit The Top Pick
Visit eToro
eToro USA LLC; Investments are subject to market risk, including the possible loss of principal.
eToro: Easy to Use Platform
eToro is the one of the best exchanges to purchase crypto coins & tokens. It is one of the most popular social trading platforms in the investment space. This exchange gives traders and investors full access to trade over 78 crypto assets, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and many more.
The broker’s user-friendly interface and simple layout is appealing to investors with no prior knowledge of crypto trading. To begin a trading journey on eToro, investors have to create an account. With a minimum deposit of as little as $10, US and UK-based investors can purchase tokens and other crypto assets seamlessly.
Investors also enjoy zero fees on all USD deposits, including debit card deposits. However, there is a standard fee charge of $5 on all withdrawals, a 1% flat fee for every completed trade on the platform, and a $10 inactivity fee charged monthly after an investor fails to trade for a year.
The broker offers seamless deposit methods that range from bank transfer and direct crypto deposits to debit/credit card and payment processors like PayPal. Although all USD deposits are fee-free, all bank transfer deposits have a fixed minimum of $500.
Another major feature that makes eToro stand out is its impressive CopyTrader feature. This integration enables novice investors to find well-experienced traders on the platform and copy their trade strategies to earn when they earn.
In terms of security, eToro scales to the top as it features two-factor authentication (2FA) protocol, advanced encryption, and masking technologies to secure all users accounts. eToro accepts users in over 140 countries and is regulated by top financial authorities like the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), and the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CYSEC). The exchange is also registered with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).
Pros
Overall best social trading platform to buyUser-friendly interfaceCopyTrader and CopyPortfolioHighly regulated broker
Cons
Charges an inactivity feeCharges a withdrawal fee
Visit eToro
eToro USA LLC; Investments are subject to market risk, including the possible loss of principal.
Binance: Reputable Exchange with High Liquidity
Binance: Reputable Exchange with High LiquidityBinance is the largest cryptocurrency trading exchange in daily trade volumes. The exchange offers investors full access to trade over 600 crypto assets.
The renowned platform also features a well-detailed learning curve and advanced trading tools that support well-experienced traders and investors looking to learn how to buy different cryptos. Although Binance features a user-friendly interface that facilitates a great user experience, it is more suited for well-experienced traders.
Read: Our Full Binance Review Here
Binance has a minimum deposit of $10. This enables investors to kickstart their investing journey with low fees. Investors can also initiate deposits through seamless payment methods like wire transfers, credit/debit cards, peer-to-peer (P2P) payments, and other e-wallet solutions.
Binance deposits come with a fee that varies based on the payment method used. For instance, the global exchange charges a standard fee of up to 4.50% for all deposits made with a debit/credit card.
All investors enjoy very low fees when trading on Binance, as it charges a standard trading fee of 0.1%. For investors that buy using Binance token (BNB), a discount of 25% on trading fees will be applied.
In addition, investors can rest assured that their funds and data are well protected whenever they trade on Binance. The broker features top-notch security measures like two-factor authentication (2FA), cold storage to keep most coins, whitelisting, and advanced data encryption to protect funds and data. Binance functions effectively in over 100 countries and has a spin-off regulated platform (Binance.US) that tends to US-based traders and investors.
Pros
Trading fees at 0.01%High liquidityWide range of payment methods600+ crypto assets in library
Cons
Interface is suited for advanced tradersUS-based customers cannot trade most coins via its subsidiary
Coinbase: Simple & Easy to Use Exchange
Coinbase: Simple & Easy to Use ExchangeCoinbase is also a great option for investors looking for how to buy the crypto seamlessly. The US-based crypto trading platform enables users to buy, sell, and stake cryptocurrencies with zero complexity.
Coinbase integrates a user-friendly interface that simplifies crypto trading. The crypto trading platform supports well over 10,000 blockchain-based assets.
Read: Our Full Coinbase Review Here
The exchange’s signup and verification process take less than 10 minutes. For traders looking to invest easily, Coinbase is a great alternative to Binance.
Coinbase has a minimum deposit of $2, the lowest minimum deposit in the market presently This exchange also offers a wide range of deposit methods like automated clearing house (ACH), Wire transfer, debit card, and e-wallet solutions, as well as cashouts in local currencies like USD, GBP, and EUR. Coinbase charges up to 3.99% for debit card deposits.
Investors enjoy a 4% cash back reward whenever a Coinbase debit card is used for crypto purchases.
For fees, Coinbase charges a competitive fee of 0.5% – 4.5% depending on the payment method, cryptocurrency type, and transaction sizes.
Coinbase has evolved from a traditional exchange to a versatile platform with great services dedicated to retail and institutional investors, such as an in-built exchange wallet, self-issued cash back visa card, staking, derivatives, asset hubs, ventures, and many more.
Furthermore, Coinbase has in-built security practices like 2FA verification as an added security layer to investors’ usernames and passwords, crime insurance that secures digital assets from theft and fraud, and many more.
Also, Coinbase is licensed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and regulated by top financial authorities like Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Financial Crimes and Enforcement Network (FinCEN), and the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYSDFS).
Pros
Beginner-focusedLicensed and reputable platformInsurance in case of hacksLow minimum deposit
Cons
High fee compared to competitorsNo credit card deposits for US customers
KuCoin: Exchange With Lots of Listings
KuCoin: Exchange With Lots of ListingsKuCoin is one of the world’s oldest and most popular crypto exchanges. The Seychelles-based broker is one of the most notable names in the market for traders who desire access to derivatives products to speculate in the market.
Currently, KuCoin provides access to over 600 cryptocurrencies. Besides trading and investing, the exchange allows investors to save, stake crypto, and even participate in Initial Exchange Offerings. With KuCoin, investors have an all-encompassing crypto hub.
Read: Our Full Kucoin Review Here
Like many brokers in its class, KuCoin could appear too overwhelming for beginners. The exchange is more suited for advanced traders who want to speculate and trade sophisticated products. So beginners might have some difficulty making use of it.
Despite this, investors could gain many benefits from trading with KuCoin. The broker has a low minimum balance of $5, with deposits available via major fiat currencies, peer-to-peer (P2P) transfers, and a few credit card options.
As for trading fees, KuCoin users pay 0.1% in fees. But the fees could decrease based on an investor’s 30-day trading volume and ownership of the company’s KCS token.
Security on KuCoin is also impressive. The system uses bank-level encryption and security infrastructures to protect users’ coins and data. KuCoin also has a specialized risk control department to enforce strict data usage policies.
Pros
Discounts available on trading feesExtensive staking functionalitiesQuick P2P trading systemAnonymous trading availableLow minimum balance
Cons
What is Kava Crypto?
Kava crypto is the network token for the Kava protocol.
Launched in 2020, KAVA performs several functions in the next-generation DeFi platform, including fees, governance, collateralisation, and staking.
The digital asset rallied to an all-time high (ATH) value of $9.19 in September 2021 while recording a 516% increase from its previous year’s performance. About 250.8 million KAVA tokens are in circulation, and the project boasts a $468 million market valuation.
In deciding whether to invest in the digital asset, the smart step is to learn what the Kava blockchain is all about.
Info About The Project
Kava is a layer-1 blockchain network built by Kava Labs that runs on a co-chain architecture and takes the best of Ethereum and the Cosmos blockchain.
The platform comes with cross-chain capabilities as it adopts the adaptability and robustness of the Ethereum network with the scalability of the Cosmos blockchain. In its build-up, the Kava development team relies on the highly regarded proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism rather than the proof-of-work (PoW) protocol. This offers users faster transaction speed, lower costs for accessing DeFi-enabled loans, and lower energy demands.
It bills itself as the chief pioneer for “DeFi for Crypto’ as it allows users to access collateralised loans based on several cryptocurrencies.
But its very nature, Kava, is quite similar in operation to the hugely popular MakerDAO protocol. However, both projects differ in some ways. While MakerDAO only supports the collateralisation of Ether and other ERC-20 tokens, Kava allows users to leverage any crypto asset to access much-needed loans.
Aside from the KAVA token, the protocol relies on the USDX stablecoin for its operations. The fiat-backed stablecoin allows users to receive rewards for creating collateralised debt positions (CDPs). These stablecoins are then burnt once the debt is repaid or if the collateral becomes liquidated from a significant value drop.
The Kava project team have pointed to the limited option in accessing collateralised loans in the emerging crypto market and believes its solution is a major response to that response. To power its operations, the Kava protocol is split into three different services:
Kava Mint dApp
This allows users to lock up their digital assets and mint or create an equivalent value of USDX stablecoin from the underlying digital asset. The Kava Mint works similarly to MakerDAO’s Dai stablecoin; however, the platform comes with lower transaction fees and strong cross-chain capability.
The dApp enables the creation of CDP, allowing users to lock up any of the supported cryptocurrencies in a smart contract and use the funds to meet their needs.
Kava Lend
Launched in 2020, Kava Lend is the world’s first cross-chain money market that allows users to earn more from their digital assets. With this service, users can put their crypto to work by lending, and borrowing, while simultaneously earning from multiple cryptocurrencies. The HARD token powers Kava Lend. Much like KAVA crypto, HARD is used for network governance, staking, and transaction settlement on the platform.
Kava Swap
The third and final service is the Kava Swap platform. This operates as an automated market maker (AMM) system wherein users can easily exchange digital assets without sanction from a centralised entity. The Kava Swap provides lower fees and high efficiency and allows liquidity providers to its smart contract pools to earn sizable returns on their digital assets. SWP coins power the service.
Use Cases
The Kava blockchain has a lot of promise, but what are the use cases for its token, and what problems does it hope to solve?
Governance
The blockchain ecosystem relies on a separate governance model from the traditional system. Instead of allowing only a select number of individuals (stakeholders) to have a say in how a company runs, crypto projects enable participation from a broader community. On the Kava blockchain, the KAVA token functions as a voting mechanism.
Holders of the digital asset have a say on the critical parameters that define the Kava network. This includes the number of supported assets for all its dApp services, debt limits, assets to be used as collateral for loans, collateral ratio, fees, and savings rate.
KAVA is also useful in determining how much treasury funds would be allocated to the Kava Network’s insurance protocol and reward payouts.
Security
Kava Network runs on the Cosmos blockchain’s Tendermint Byzantine Fault Tolerant engine, essentially a PoS consensus algorithm. Given the lack of competitive mining, PoS blockchains require users to pledge their assets to secure the network. Here, the KAVA token is used to protect the DeFi-facing protocol from a potential 51% malicious attack, where an external entity gains more than 50% of the computing resources to roll back transactions on the network.
The Kava Network is often secured by top 100 validator nodes who lock up many KAVA tokens. In return for staking their assets, the Kava protocol allows them to earn block rewards in order to encourage honest work. To disincentivise a malicious attack, the Kava Network slashes their token if they fail to ensure high uptime, and there are instances of double signing off on transactions.
How Does Kava Crypto Work?
KAVA token works in step with the CDP process to collateralise loan assets.
The first step is that the user gets to deposit their crypto asset on the Kava platform and locks it in a smart contract. Once this is done, the platform issues a proportionate amount of USDX stablecoin to the user, who is expected to repay at the expiration of the loan with a stability fee to unlock their collateral.
Once the loan is repaid, the system automatically burns the issued USDX stablecoin, and the process begins again.
Is Kava A Good Investment?
KAVA crypto may be a largely unknown DeFi player, but it is an outlier project due to the following reasons:
Access to Dual Ecosystems
Ethereum boasts one of the most robust DeFi architectures in the entire crypto market. With access to over 4000 dApps, no other protocol comes close. Cosmos blockchain is also seeing significant adoption of its services, and its high-speed, low fee and interoperable nature make it a huge attraction for developers. Kava unifies the best of both worlds, intricately serving as a bridge to access Ethereum and Cosmos blockchain.
More Possibilities
Built-in the image of Ethereum’s MakerDAO, Kava has gone on to blaze an entirely new trail. Instead of being round-pegged to Ether and ERC-20 tokens only, Kava opens the entire DeFi ecosystem to anyone anywhere. Now, with any DeFi-enabled cryptocurrency, users can seamlessly access loans, earn rewards, and swap their assets for pennies.
Separate Tokens for Separate Services
Kava blockchain runs a multi-architecture system. Each of its services has a governance token to maintain seamless operation. Mint has USDX stablecoin, Lend has HARD, and Swap has SWP. This fosters diversity and growth.
Partnerships
Kava Labs has been one of the most fundamentally-rich DeFi services in the emerging industry. The protocol has partnered with the likes of famous cross-border payment solutions, Ripple and Commum, as well as the popular AMM protocol, SushiSwap. With top industry players within its fold, the KAVA crypto is one of the rare crypto gems currently going for a discount.
Consensus
Kava Network runs on PoS, an improved consensus algorithm to PoW. Allowing select validators to confirm transactions instead of making it open-ended in return for slower transaction speed and higher fees, the PoS protocol comes with higher scalability, lower energy demands, and lower fees. With climate change issues picking up steam, Kava Network is properly positioned to continue seeing growth due to its environmentally-sustainable mechanism.
How to Buy Kava Crypto on Binance
Not sure how to buy Kava crypto? Investors can buy the digital asset on the world’s largest crypto exchange Binance. Here’s a detailed guide on how to buy KAVA for low fees.
Register on Binance
The first step is to sign up on the Binance exchange before buying KAVA. To do this, visit the Binance official website to register an account. This should take less than 2 minutes.
Verify Account
New users must upload the required documentation to get their accounts validated on Binance. After completing the face verification process, select the “Verify” button and upload a driver’s licence image or passport.
Deposit
Choose the “Deposit” button by clicking on the “Wallet” symbol. Select a payment method and a deposit type from “Fiat/Crypto” after that. Select “Deposit” and enter the required deposit amount to finish the transaction. Consider purchasing a stablecoin like USDT or BUSD first for better coin compatibility, and then use that coin to buy Kava (KAVA)
Buy Kava
Once the deposit has been made, type “KAVA” into the search field and choose “Spot” trading. Once you are prepared to buy, enter the desired amount and select “Buy KAVA.”
Kava Wallets
Software Wallet
Hot wallets, also called software wallets, are one of the most popular cryptocurrency storage options. They are always online, hence the affiliation with the ‘hot’ tag. Investors can easily get a hot wallet once they open an account with a crypto exchange. This allows them to store and manage their private keys, which prove their ownership of their assets to the blockchain network. Hot wallets are usually more convenient for everyday crypto transactions and can be custodial or non-custodial.
A custody wallet is responsible for storing assets to an exchange or a third-party platform. The user only places an order for a transfer or receipt, and the exchange signs off on the transaction, much like the traditional banking system. Meanwhile, a non-custodial or self-custody wallet gives the full responsibility to the end-user.
Hot wallets are usually free, but they are largely considered less secure due to their constant internet connectivity. An instance of a hot wallet is the Binance Wallet.
Hardware Wallet
A Hardware wallet is a device which has been created to provide an extra layer of security when interacting with your various cryptocurrency wallets.
Normally you would use your private key to move funds, the problem is though, if your computer has been compromised with malware or a virus, it is possible for your private keys to be captured and used to steal your funds.
With a hardware wallet, the private keys are stored on the device and never exposed to your computer, which means even if you are infected with such a program your private keys will remain safe. These options are safest way to store your crypto if you have more than a small amount.
Popular examples of cold storage offerings are the Ledger and Trezor line of hardware wallet solutions, read our reviews:
Mobile wallet
A mobile wallet is essentially a hot wallet on a smartphone device. They offer users an even more convenient way to use their coins for daily activities. Mobile wallets store and manage users’ private keys while enabling them to pay for things they love with their digital assets.
These wallets are usually free and always online for transactions to be processed. Popular mobile wallets are eToro Money Wallet and Coinbase Wallet.
Desktop wallet
A desktop wallet is a PC version of a hot wallet. It is essentially software that an investor downloads into their personal computer or laptop for easy interaction with their digital coins. They also offer a browser extension which allows users to interact using an extension instead of downloading the entire software. Desktop wallets are also hack-prone due to their online nature. A popular example is the Exodus Wallet.
Paper Wallet
The paper wallet is arguably the oldest form of crypto wallet. They are no longer common in the modern crypto industry. It contains users’ public and private keys. The paper wallet is the least secure type of wallet as it can easily be lost, stolen, or torched.
Conclusion
With Kava’s integration of Ethereum and Cosmo’s scalability and interoperability, users will experience faster transaction speed, lower costs for accessing DeFi-enabled loans, and lower energy demands.
For investors seeking to buy kava, we recommend binance for its low fees, quick transactions and high liquidity. Get started today!
Kava FAQs
Can I buy KAVA on Coinbase?
Coinbase currently doesn’t support KAVA. However, the digital asset can be purchased through the Coinbase self-custodial wallet. Also, note that specific cryptocurrencies, like Kava, can only be purchased with another cryptocurrency on decentralised exchanges. Therefore, users must first buy another crypto like Ethereum (ETH) before they can use it to purchase Kava.
What Exchange is KAVA On?
There are several crypto exchanges that users can use to purchase KAVA. While we have not mentioned all of them, the popular platforms are Binance, eToro, Capital.com, Crypto.com and Kraken. We highly recommend getting started with binance as they offer low fees and high liquidity.
Can I buy KAVA on Binance us?
Binance.us does not support buying or selling KAVA.
How do you get KAVA on Binance?
To get KAVA on Binance, users have to register an account with the exchange. Next, deposit through the preferred payment method. Using the search bar, select the crypto and pay the desired amount for the digital asset.
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