What Is Zetachain (ZETA)?

Zetachain is an L1 blockchain that aims to solve the problem of blockchain fragmentation. According to its white paper, Zetachain’s goal is to develop a system with “inter-blockchain capability” that does not force external blockchains to adapt to divergent protocols and incompatible token standards.

Zetachain is an L1 blockchain that aims to solve the problem of blockchain fragmentation. According to its white paper, Zetachain’s goal is to develop a system with “inter-blockchain capability” that does not force external blockchains to adapt to divergent protocols and incompatible token standards.

Zetachain says that its L1 is connected to all other blockchain networks, allowing decentralized applications and users on Zetachain to interact with other blockchains without cross-chain bridges and wrapped tokens.

The L1 achieves “omnichannel interoperability” by using smart contracts to custody assets on external blockchains.

ZetaChain is built using the Cosmos Software Development Kit (SDK) and uses the Tendermint PBFT consensus engine.

Providing a smart contract layer for Bitcoin (BTC) is one of ZetaChain’s interoperability ambitions.

Zetachain’s mainnet launched on January 31, 2024.

The Zetachain team comprises Charlie Pyle and Ankur Nandwani, who co-founded the project in 2021.

Nandwani is also the co-founder of Basic Attention Token (BAT). According to BAT’s website, Nandwani has worked at Coinbase, Lookout, and Qualcomm.

In 2013, Nandwani worked as a software engineer in San Francisco and co-founded a Bitcoin micropayment tool called Bitmonet, PC World reported.

Meanwhile, Pyle’s LinkedIn profile shows that he co-founded payments platform Altro and crypto startup Hourglass.

In August 2023, ZetaChain raised $27 million from Jane Street Capital, Blockchain.com, GSR, Lingfeng Capital and others.

The key components of Zetachain are:

Layer 1 blockchain: Zetachain’s L1 is designed to connect to all other blockchain networks and enable omnichain interoperability.

Smart contracts: Zetachain uses smart contracts to custody assets on external blockchains and provide a smart contract layer for Bitcoin (BTC).

Tendermint PBFT consensus engine: ZetaChain is built using the Cosmos Software Development Kit (SDK) and uses the Tendermint PBFT consensus engine.

The ZETA token is the native token of the Zetachain. It is used for:

Chain governance: ZETA token holders can participate in on-chain governance and vote on proposals related to the Zetachain protocol and ecosystem.

Staking: ZETA tokens can be staked to secure the Zetachain network and earn rewards.

Next, let’s study the tokenomics and key market data of ZETA as of August 9, 2024:

ZETA tokens were distributed in the following manner: