Kujira (KUJI)

Deprecated

Overview

Kujira was a blockchain and decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem built around a simple idea: financial tools should be open to ordinary users, not just people with large holdings or specialized trading software. Its native token, KUJI, supported network fees, staking, and governance. Kujira began on Terra, later ran as its own Cosmos-based blockchain, and then became part of Rujira, an application layer built on THORChain. The token that now represents the continuing ecosystem is RUJI. (medium.com)

That history matters when reading about KUJI. FIN, ORCA, and BLUE describe products developed for Kujira’s original network. Rujira carries forward the team’s approach to trading, liquidations, and connected DeFi tools, but uses a different token and network structure. The window for converting legacy KUJI into RUJI ended on April 5, 2026. (docs.kujira.app)

History & Team

From Terra to an independent chain

Kujira started on Terra in 2021. Its early product, ORCA, let users place bids for collateral from liquidated loans. The goal was to make a process often dominated by fast bots accessible through a public interface. After Terra halted in May 2022, the team chose to build an independent blockchain using the Cosmos SDK. Kujira’s mainnet launched in July 2022, giving the project its own place to run its growing set of applications. (assets-cms.kraken.com)

Kujira’s co-founders were Brett Meyer, Hans, and Dove. Their work covered the interface, software, and broader direction of the project. In 2024, the team announced a move toward THORChain. The resulting Rujira Alliance brought together Kujira, several Kujira ecosystem projects, and Levana. Rujira’s role became building DeFi applications on THORChain’s app layer, while THORChain supplied cross-chain infrastructure. (assets-cms.kraken.com)

Technology & How It Works

Kujira’s original network

Kujira was a proof-of-stake blockchain built with the Cosmos SDK. Validators checked transactions and agreed on new blocks. KUJI holders could delegate tokens to validators and take part in governance votes. The network supported CosmWasm smart contracts and used Inter-Blockchain Communication, or IBC, to connect with other compatible chains. (docs.kujira.app)

Kujira used a semi-permissioned approach to applications: a proposed smart contract needed approval through governance before it could launch. The chain also included tools such as a scheduler for automated contract actions and a token factory for creating native assets. These features helped developers build applications that could work together on one network. The governance process gave KUJI holders a direct role in deciding which contracts joined that network. (docs.kujira.app)

How the Rujira transition changed the design

Rujira’s applications run on THORChain’s app layer, which gained CosmWasm smart-contract support. THORChain connects assets across supported blockchains, and Rujira uses that infrastructure for products such as its on-chain order book. This changed the setting for the former Kujira ecosystem: instead of building solely around Kujira’s own chain, the team could design applications for assets connected through THORChain. KUJI and RUJI therefore have different roles, even though they share a development history. (blog.thorchain.org)

Tokenomics & Utility

KUJI’s economic model

KUJI had a total supply of about 122.4 million tokens. Its original 150 million-token supply was reduced after a January 2022 governance vote to burn tokens set aside for liquidity-pool rewards. The token was allocated across private and public sales, the team, advisers, operations, marketing, a treasury, and rewards. Its planned vesting schedule finished in November 2023. (docs.kujira.app)

On Kujira’s independent chain, KUJI paid network fees and helped secure proof-of-stake consensus through delegation. Holders could vote on proposals, including decisions about new applications. Fees from Kujira products also formed part of the rewards distributed to stakers. That model linked the token to activity across the ecosystem rather than relying only on newly issued tokens to fund rewards. (docs.kujira.app)

From KUJI to RUJI

RUJI has its own economic model and a capped supply of 100 million tokens. Its allocations included shares for holders from Kujira and merged ecosystem applications, Levana, an ecosystem fund, builder incentives, operations, and new investors. RUJI staking is designed to receive a share of fees from Rujira’s core applications after the portion assigned to THORChain’s base layer. RUJI and KUJI are separate tokens with separate supplies. The conversion program that connected them ran from April 5, 2025, to April 5, 2026; its conversion rate declined during that period. (docs.rujira.network)

Ecosystem & Use Cases

The Kujira product suite

Kujira’s applications were designed to fit together. FIN was an on-chain exchange where users placed buy and sell orders. BOW supplied liquidity to help FIN’s markets operate. BLUE was a central dashboard for tasks such as sending assets, swapping, staking, voting, and managing USK, Kujira’s collateral-backed stablecoin. FINDER let users inspect network transactions, addresses, and validators. (docs.kujira.app)

ORCA served a different purpose. Users could place bids for collateral when loans were liquidated, choosing the discount at which they wanted to buy. GHOST provided lending and borrowing markets, while USK could be created against eligible collateral and used in other Kujira applications. Together, these products showed Kujira’s main design choice: trading, lending, stablecoin use, and liquidations were linked parts of one DeFi system. (docs.kujira.app)

Products built from that foundation

Rujira has developed related tools on THORChain. RUJI Trade is an on-chain order-book exchange. RUJI Pools provides liquidity strategies for that exchange, and Rujira’s lending tools connect borrowing with liquidation bids. The move also brought other teams’ work under the Rujira name, including products from Levana and Kujira ecosystem projects. These are Rujira products rather than functions of the former KUJI token. (blog.thorchain.org)

Advantages & Challenges

Kujira’s main strength was the way its applications worked together. A user could trade on FIN, borrow through GHOST, or bid through ORCA within a shared ecosystem. Public liquidation bidding made a technical activity easier to access. Its Cosmos-based chain also gave the team control over network features, while IBC helped connect it to other chains. (docs.kujira.app)

The same design involved trade-offs. Requiring a governance vote before a smart contract could launch gave token holders oversight, but added a step for developers. Kujira also had to build enough activity across several connected products for its fee-based model to serve the ecosystem. Its later move to THORChain addressed a broader need for cross-chain infrastructure, while creating a new task for users and builders: moving from familiar KUJI-era tools to Rujira’s applications and RUJI token. (docs.kujira.app)

Where to Buy & Wallets

KUJI was available on Kraken before Kraken ended its KUJI markets on June 16, 2025, and arranged a migration for eligible customer balances. RUJI is available on Kraken, MEXC, and Bitrue, as well as through Rujira’s on-chain trading tools. These platforms offer access to the continuing Rujira token, rather than a new conversion route for KUJI. (support.kraken.com)

Keplr is a wallet supported in Rujira’s own getting-started guide. A wallet connects users to Rujira’s portfolio and applications so they can manage supported assets and use its products on-chain. Earlier Kujira materials also describe wallets and interfaces for the independent Cosmos chain; the wallet and network used for an asset need to match that asset’s location. (rujira.network)

Regulatory & Compliance

Crypto rules generally apply to the businesses and activities surrounding a token, including exchange services and promotion. In the United States, FinCEN distinguishes ordinary virtual-currency users from businesses that exchange or transmit value, which can have money-transmission obligations. The IRS treats digital assets as property for federal tax purposes and requires reporting of relevant sales and exchanges. KUJI’s former exchange listing and its move to RUJI do not, by themselves, create a single legal classification that applies everywhere. (fincen.gov)

In the European Union, MiCA sets authorization requirements for firms providing covered crypto-asset services. In the United Kingdom, firms marketing qualifying cryptoassets to consumers must follow the financial-promotion regime. Those frameworks concern how services are offered in each jurisdiction, alongside any rules that apply to a particular product or activity. (esma.europa.eu)

Shariah compliance raises a separate question about the financial activity itself. Islamic finance principles prohibit interest-based lending, known as riba, as well as excessive uncertainty and gambling. Kujira’s GHOST markets paid lenders variable interest collected from borrowers. That interest-based feature does not align with the prohibition on riba; it is a concrete consideration when assessing the former ecosystem and activities connected to it. (ifsb.org)

Future Outlook

Kujira’s continuing development takes place under the Rujira name. The team’s work has focused on connecting trading, liquidity, lending, and liquidations through THORChain. It has also outlined further work on its applications and user experience. The lasting question for the project is how well those connected tools serve users and builders on the new app layer. For KUJI itself, the defining future event has already passed: its token-conversion period closed on April 5, 2026. (blog.thorchain.org)

Summary

Kujira began with a public liquidation-bidding tool and grew into a Cosmos-based DeFi ecosystem supported by KUJI. Its linked products gave users ways to trade, lend, borrow, and take part in governance. The project’s next chapter is Rujira on THORChain, with RUJI as the token for that continuing ecosystem. Understanding both stages makes KUJI’s original purpose—and its place in today’s DeFi landscape—clearer. (docs.kujira.app)