ZED Champions Isn't Just a Game, It's a Live Economy

ZED Champions isn’t just a game, it’s a live, evolving economy where every transaction, race result, and breeding decision shapes the system

ZED Champions, the NFT horse racing game developed by Virtually Human Studio (VHS) and running on Base, is showcasing a unique model for a live, persistent token economy in Web3.

At a moment when many Web3 games are struggling to find sustainable models, ZED Champions offers something different: utility-first token design, measurable player performance, and a composable infrastructure that goes beyond speculation.

It’s a next-gen evolution of ZED RUN, one of Web3’s earliest gaming successes. While ZED RUN, also developed by VHS, popularized NFT horse racing and was powered by the $ZED token, this new title embeds that token into a more dynamic, performance-based economic loop.

Races in ZED Champions are run every 80 seconds and every horse carries an internal $ZED balance that rises or falls based on race outcomes. When players breed horses, $ZED isn’t just spent, it’s split. A portion goes to the new foal’s racing balance, while the rest feeds the player treasury, the Stud owner, and the broader ecosystem. The system rewards performance, not presence.

Since launching on Base in April 2025, ZED Champions has run tens of thousands of races onchain, with over 42 million $ZED circulating inside the Racing Pool and 47 million $ZED held in the player treasury. These balances reflect active gameplay, with top-performing stables earning significant rewards through consistent race outcomes. One stable has accumulated over 267,000 $ZED through racing, and several horses have reached over 160,000 $ZED in net performance gains, all tracked transparently onchain as part of the game’s real-time economy.

That level of activity is a testament to building on the right infrastructure. The decision to migrate to Base was strategic. VHS wanted speed, scalability, and a pathway to broader adoption. Base provides the low-cost, fast-finality environment needed to support live, persistent token economies and positions ZED Champions for deeper integration with the Coinbase ecosystem.

That move is already driving results. In the first week after launch, players added over 2.7 million $ZED to the Racing Pool. It’s a level of in-game token velocity rarely seen in Web3 titles, signaling strong early traction and deep player engagement.

This kind of live token activity is also part of a bigger design: the ZED Suite. At the center is ZED Champions, the core game where skill, speed, and token management combine to decide who rises in the stables.

Around it, VHS is building modular layers to expand access and engagement. ZED Picks brings in spectators through a mobile-friendly, wallet-free prediction experience. ZED Partners opens the infrastructure to third-party developers with APIs, race data, and predictive feeds.

Each product taps into the same racing engine, but with different entry points, from competitive gameplay to casual prediction to external integrations. It’s one ecosystem, with multiple ways to play.

Crucially, it’s also a system designed for circulation, not speculation. As of May 2025, more than 95 million $ZED is held in players game wallets, the racing pool and in reZED balance (over a quarter of the circulating supply on base). With in-game usage growing each week, the system shows how utility-driven design can power a more sustainable Web3 economy.

ZED Champions isn’t promising shortcuts or passive rewards. It’s a live environment where token flow is tied to player decisions, strategic gameplay, and a dynamic leaderboard. For players, that means meaningful competition. For developers, it’s infrastructure that’s composable, open, and actively used in production. For Web3? It might just be the blueprint for what comes next.