Kadena Workshop I C J Freeman

Thu, Oct 2, 2025, 12:00 AM

C.J Freeman from Kadena Developer Relations delivers a complete workshop at ETHDenver, designed for both beginners and experienced EVM developers. The session provides a step-by-step walkthrough of deploying smart contracts on Kadena’s new EVM-compatible chains using the Scaffold framework, enabling developers to spin up local environments, deploy contracts, and connect frontends in just 20 minutes. The workshop begins with an overview from Kadena’s co-founder Stuart Popejoy and CTO John Wiggley, who explain the benefits of Kadena’s Chainweb architecture. Unlike traditional scaling solutions that rely on rollups or L2s, Chainweb uses a network of parallel proof-of-work chains that scale linearly with adoption while preserving decentralization and security. This architecture allows seamless cross-chain validation and effortless burn-and-mint bridging between chains. Following the technical background, C.J demonstrates how to use Kadena’s Scaffold to set up a local development environment, deploy Solidity contracts, connect a Next.js frontend, and interact with contracts via MetaMask. The tutorial then extends to Kadena’s testnet, showing how to safely configure private keys, deploy verified contracts, and view them on the block explorer. For developers, this workshop offers both the conceptual understanding of Kadena’s unique scaling model and the practical tools to start building dApps today on an EVM-compatible, parallel-chain L1 environment. 00:11 Introduction by CJ Freeman 00:30 Kadena founders overview: Stuart Popejoy & John Wiggley 01:24 Scaling EVM with parallel proof-of-work chains 03:44 Challenges of L2 scaling: complexity & centralization 06:13 Chainweb explained: parallel chains & expander graph 07:51 Proof-of-work efficiency & security 08:27 Five years of production experience 09:06 Pact smart contract language & cross-chain bridging 10:34 Announcing Chainweb EVM at ETHDenver 11:24 Parallel EVM chains & developer preview 13:31 Parallel execution vs parallel chains distinction 14:01 Scaffold tutorial setup & dependencies 14:55 Running local multi-chain environment 16:09 Deploying contracts with Hardhat 17:34 Setting up Next.js frontend 18:34 Debugging deployed contracts 19:56 Interacting with contracts via MetaMask 22:22 Testing greetings & variables 22:47 Moving from localhost to testnet 23:31 Configuring .env & private keys safely 25:20 Switching frontend from localhost to testnet 26:28 Deploying contracts to testnet 28:24 Verified contracts on block explorer 29:03 Live interaction with testnet contract 30:24 Viewing transactions & final demo 30:49 Closing notes & developer resources _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇮🇳 *ETHGlobal New Delhi* This workshop is specifically for ETHGlobal New Delhi, a 3-day hackathon held September 19-21 at the India International Convention & Expo Centre, bringing together the most skilled web3 developers, designers and product builders from all around the globe for a weekend-long adventure to advance the Ethereum ecosystem! Watch the full ETHGlobal New Delhi 2025 playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXzKMXK2aHh7zCFW3hBqatZ18rQaYeEJL _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow Kadena* X: https://x.com/kadena_io ✅ *Follow ETHGlobal* X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Warpcast: https://warpcast.com/ethglobal Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ETHGlobal _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship?_ 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city