ι = 0 is the substrate.
κ-Chain is an interest-free Layer-1 where the convergence intensity κ is agreed in consensus and read in the EVM as block.kappa — replacing the interest rate r at the substrate, not as an application feature.
What κ-Chain is
A Cosmos-EVM Layer-1 whose single monetary primitive is κ, a market-measured rate of real convergence. κ is agreed in consensus — every block — and surfaced in the EVM as block.kappa, as native as block.timestamp. It replaces the interest rate r at the substrate. Interest isn't discouraged by policy; it is absent from the base layer by construction.
Why it exists
For the fifty years since the first modern Islamic bank opened in 1975, "Islamic" instruments were priced off the interest rate buried in the math — riba removed in name, retained in the formula. κ-Chain removes r from the substrate by construction (ι=0): zero inflationary issuance, κ-basis funding, and κ-priced native instruments. Riba is absent by construction, not patched over.
The research
The program rests on 17 papers and 1 whitepaper. The pricing builds on Ackerer–Hugonnier–Jermann (2025, Mathematical Finance). On that foundation the program adds the κ↔λ Separation Theorem, the κ-yield curve (Paper 2a), takaful, credit and sukuk pricing, a DSGE determinacy result, and a validator-liveness analysis.
What runs today
kappad-v10, single-node devnet
The chain runs today. A distinct per-market κ is agreed in consensus every block across 18 markets in three channels (perp · credit · loss), with zero inflationary issuance.
Seven EVM precompiles
block.kappa (0x…0900), takaful (0x…0901), credit (0x…0902), sukuk (0x…0903), the κ-yield curve (0x…0904), the Shariah board (0x…0905), and the κ-ladder (0x…0906) — κ read in the EVM like block.timestamp.
Board-activatable gates
The ι=0 permissioned-EVM gate and the R1–R4 product gates are built and wired, but default OFF — activation is a deliberate board action, not a code change.
The honest boundary
We are precise about what is and isn't settled. Four lines we draw ourselves:
- →It runs on a single-node devnet — not yet multi-validator or mainnet. The Byzantine-fault-tolerance is by design, not yet exercised.
- →Riba is removed at the pricing layer only. Gharar, maysir and qabd are reserved to the Shariah board, not claimed as settled here.
- →The cash-settled perpetual remains explicitly open — the SBR-5 question — pending a board ruling on its permissibility independent of interest.
- →κ magnitudes are still calibrated from interest-priced markets today. The structure is riba-free by construction (ι=0); the decontamination of the measured numbers is prospective.
The relationship to Baraka
κ-Chain is the substrate beneath Baraka, the Shariah-compliant perpetual DEX. The chain produces the one consensus κ; Baraka is the venue that trades off it.
The team
Built by Shehzad Ahmed and Dr. Rafiqul Bhuyan — a Fulbright Scholar with 80+ peer-reviewed papers.
Read the work, or see it live.
The brief we'd put in front of a Shariah board, the whitepaper this chain implements, and the venue that trades off the consensus κ.