Toccata put covenants and zero-knowledge verification on Kaspa mainnet ahead of vProgs.

Kaspa's Toccata hard fork went live on mainnet on June 30, 2026, marking a significant step in the network's push toward base-layer programmability. The upgrade makes Kaspa UTXOs expressive enough to carry real application state, and it activated at DAA score 474,165,565.

What Toccata Actually Changes

Covenants are recursive spending rules that restrict who and how coins can be spent, opening the way to vaults, smart wallets, native assets, and ZK-assisted constructions. Under Toccata, a UTXO can now require its spend to create a valid successor, effectively letting a native Kaspa UTXO hold and enforce application state across transactions.

Key protocol elements include extended script-engine opcode support forming the backbone of covenant functionality (KIP-17), covenant IDs that enable lineage tracking and management (KIP-20), and ZK verification opcodes that enable proof verification directly on Layer 1 (KIP-16).

The upgrade introduces two core features: native Layer 1 covenant programming via the Silverscript compiler, and based zero-knowledge application infrastructure. Silverscript is the primary higher-level covenant language, and Kaspa's official docs describe it as the recommended covenant authoring direction. The compiler produces native Kaspa Script that runs directly on L1, with no VM or interpreter required, validated instead by Kaspa's consensus-level script engine.

Core developer @michaelsuttonil described Toccata as a step toward "synchronously composable verifiable programs," framing it as the infrastructure layer that precedes a more ambitious programmability model.

vProgs: The Next Stage

Toccata is explicitly a precursor to vProgs, short for verifiable programs. vProgs are sovereign verifiable programs with off-chain execution and on-chain ZK proof verification. The model would allow application logic to run off-chain, with a zero-knowledge proof posted to base-layer nodes for verification, keeping L1 lean while enabling more complex computation.

vProgs is described in Kaspa's docs as an evolving Rust runtime for based computation and RISC Zero proving, with its repo considered a source of patterns rather than a stable external developer API. Researchers have clarified that the full vProgs architecture for synchronously composable applications will arrive in later development stages.

The base monetary layer stays lean and focused, with programmability designed to enhance rather than complicate the core ledger. The next major protocol upgrade on Kaspa's roadmap after vProgs is DAGKnight, targeting adaptive consensus and higher throughput.

Sources:
Kaspa Official Docs: Toccata Dev Guide
Michael Sutton: Kaspa Covenants++ Toccata Hard-Fork Outlook (Medium)
KaspaHub: Kaspa Toccata Hard Fork Overview