ZetaChain Investment Research Report: Using Omnichain cross-chain technology to integrate Layer 1 of distributed verification node network

Introduction to the project

The core advantage of the ZetaChain project lies in its cross-chain interoperability performance, which makes interoperability between different blockchains possible and solves the current problem of blockchain fragmentation and insufficient interoperability. ZetaChain is designed to enable full-chain dApps to interact natively directly with different blockchains without the need to wrap or bridge any assets. ZetaChain can support smart contract and non-smart contract blockchains such as Ethereum, Bitcoin, and Dogecoin. At the same time, the flexibility of smart contracts, the local use of multi-chain assets, and the convenient dApp development and design interface also provide basic support for its advantages.

Author

Elma Ruan, senior investment researcher of World Chain Investment Research, has a double master’s degree in marketing/finance from Ivy League universities, 5 years of WEB3 experience, good at DeFi, NFT and other tracks, before entering the crypto industry, he worked as an investment manager in a large securities company.

1. Research points

1.1 Core Investment Logic

Blockchain faces an impossible triangle that requires a balance between security, scalability, and decentralization. Every blockchain project needs to make trade-offs between these three, and cannot achieve the best of all three at the same time. This has led to a large number of Layer 1 solutions and tokens, but each project sacrifices some aspect of its features. In order to solve this problem, a multi-chain situation has emerged, which in turn brings problems such as inconvenient interoperability and expensive fees, which is also the background of this project. To address the shortcomings of Layer 1, we see the emergence of Layer 2 solutions. These solutions are actually built on top of the main blockchain, but they are able to significantly increase the processing power of the blockchain and reduce transaction fees. Layer 2 uses an independent architecture that does not change the state of the main blockchain, but can process applications and transactions at scale while maintaining a high level of security. However, the emergence of Layer 2 solutions has led to the fragmentation and fragmentation of the blockchain ecosystem, where developers and users may need to disperse their funds across different chains, which has led to a liquidity shortage on decentralized exchanges (DEXs) and an imbalance in the chain economy. As a result, one of the major challenges facing the blockchain industry is fragmentation and lack of interoperability between different blockchains, which prevents various ecosystems from communicating with each other, hindering the development of new use cases and applications. As a solution, Omnichain aims to solve the problem of asset transfer between different blockchains, providing users with the convenience of easily transferring assets between different blockchains. It removes barriers to cross-chain fund transfers using CEX or high-fee bridging protocols. ZetaChain, on the other hand, provides a solution for blockchain by providing a decentralized cross-blockchain smart contract that enables seamless transfer of value and data across different blockchains.

However, are there alternative solutions before ZetaChain or something similar? We can start with a brief recap. The mainstream products on the market to solve this problem are large, cross-chain bridge and multi-chain products can be divided into two categories, cross-chain bridge and multi-chain products. Cross-chain bridges are cross-chain methods implemented through locking and casting/destroying models, usually for profit through fees. Multichain, on the other hand, is a newer way to achieve multi-chain interaction by running multiple parallel blockchain networks simultaneously on a single platform. Multi-chain dApps can deploy multiple independent versions in different networks, with a variety of profit models. However, these models all have the sovereign constraints of multiple blockchains. The emergence of the full chain solves this problem well and takes a new step for “cross-chain”, realizing seamless link interaction on the basis of the full chain and better entering the world of Web3.

Returning to the ZetaChain project, ZetaChain is innovative in many ways. From a technical point of view, ZetaChain has innovated in implementing Omnichain cross-chain functionality. ZetaChain’s distributed network of validators, ZetaChain Omnichain accounts and TSS, and ZetaChain Omnichain smart contracts and communications technologies enable this innovation. The first is a distributed network of validators, ZetaChain uses a distributed network of validators to verify the validity and legitimacy of transactions. This verification mechanism utilizes multiple validating nodes within the network to reach consensus and ensure the correctness of transactions. In this way, ZetaChain can improve the security and trustworthiness of transactions, preventing problems such as malicious behavior and double spending, and the core part consists of two main modules: ZetaCore (similar to the CPU of the entire network, the main responsibility is to generate blocks) and ZetaClient (the core module responsible for cross-chain communication). In terms of verification mechanisms, ZetaChain plans to combine repeaters and multi-party authentication schemes, utilizing distributed verification node architecture within the network and threshold signature scheme TSS to ensure the verification security and efficiency of transactions. The second is Omnichain account and TSS technology, and ZetaChain’s Omnichain account and threshold signature scheme (TSS) is a key technology to achieve cross-chain functionality. Omnichain accounts can transfer assets between different blockchains to achieve full-chain cross-chain functionality. TSS allows multiple participants to cooperate to generate signatures without exposing the private key, protecting the security and privacy of transactions. The third is Omnichain smart contracts and communications, and ZetaChain’s Omnichain smart contracts and communication tools are key technologies to achieve universal multi-chain interoperability. These tools can make it possible to seamlessly transfer assets between different blockchains, providing users with greater flexibility and convenience. In addition, ZetaChain uses a hybrid transaction model called UTXO-Account, which combines UTXO and Account bookkeeping models. This hybrid model allows Omnichain smart contracts to interact directly with external chains, enabling cross-chain fund transfer and full-chain interoperability. In addition, ZetaChain has a common Gas asset that can be used to pay gas fees on multiple chains, which may simplify the payment process and reduce the complexity and risk of being attacked when using different assets on different chains. These innovations promise to unlock new use cases that were not possible before and drive the development of a more connected and efficient blockchain ecosystem.

Looking ahead, once ZetaChain is launched, based on its interoperability performance, users can expect it to drive more practical and practical applications. Developers can test full-chain dApps developed on ZetaChain Testnet, enabling them to interact directly with multiple blockchains without any asset wrapping or bridging. Doing so opens up new use cases and applications that were not possible before. For example, it can drive the development of decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, where a large number of financial transactions every day no longer need to be solved by methods such as cross-chain, and these Defi programs can directly interact with different blockchains, reducing transaction risks and providing users with a wider range of financial products and services. It also has the potential to support the development and on-chain of sophisticated applications such as real-world supply chain management that track the movement of goods across different blockchains to ensure transparency and accountability.

In addition, ZetaChain has the potential to promote interoperability between different blockchains, further promoting the application of blockchain technology. ZetaChain could be particularly advantageous for businesses looking to leverage blockchain technology to improve operations but are concerned about vendor lock-in and lack of interoperability. However, like all emerging technologies, it also faces risks and challenges that need to be addressed. For example, the project’s economic model is currently unknown and ZetaChain needs to ensure that its platform is secure, scalable, and user-friendly to attract developers and users, while at the same time, it needs to address regulatory and compliance issues to ensure that its platform complies with relevant laws and regulations.

On the investment side, it’s a bear market, so ultra-high-financing projects like LayerZero may be more popular for the average user, especially considering factors such as airdrops. As interoperability protocols or public chains, they may be more advantageous. However, as an infrastructure new project, practicality is paramount. Only if it can be implemented can the project be sustainable. This can also be seen as an item in a bear market. If you can prepare before a bull market and keep innovating features or improving performance, then this project has a chance to shine during a bull market. Therefore, in the early stages of development of this project, we need to continue to observe its future development. This may not be the time to invest, and it can be put on a watch list.

Overall, the ZetaChain project has the potential to contribute to the development of the entire blockchain ecosystem by promoting interoperability and supporting the development of new use cases and applications. However, its success will ultimately depend on many factors such as landing, security, and scalability, and cannot be generalized.

1.2 Valuation

The valuation of the project has not yet been released, and there has been no response from the community.

! [ZetaChain Investment Research Report: Using Omnichain Cross-chain Technology to Integrate Layer 1 of Distributed Verification Node Network] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-0bdfe577ba-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)

2. Basic information about the project

2.1 Project Business Scope

ZetaChain is an L1 public blockchain that provides native cross-chain smart contract support, enabling full-chain dApps to interact directly natively without any asset wrapping or bridging.

2.2 Past development and roadmap

Figure 2! [ZetaChain Investment Research Report: Using Omnichain Cross-chain Technology to Integrate Layer 1 of Distributed Verification Node Network] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-b64f6fd021-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)

Future Development:

Vision: ZetaChain will be the future web3 Internet project, developers can build multiple networks, users can easily access assets and data without worrying about network switching problems. Zetachain will continue to support the interoperability of dApp ecosystems in various industries in the future, such as gamers can access accounts and NFTs across chains to securely send payments.

At present, in the testnet stage, the goal in the short term will be to launch the mainnet and issue to improve and release the token economic model.

! [ZetaChain Investment Research Report: Using Omnichain Cross-chain Technology to Integrate Layer 1 of Distributed Verification Node Network] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-802fb58a56-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)

2.3 Team Situation

2.3.1 Overall situation

! [ZetaChain Investment Research Report: Using Omnichain Cross-chain Technology to Integrate Layer 1 of Distributed Verification Node Network] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/resized-social/moments-69a80767fe-0b8fff0dd5-dd1a6f-69ad2a)

The ZetaChain team consists of 41 core members who specialize in multiple disciplines, including business administration, computer science, computer engineering, marketing, and more. And with a wide range of skills, they dabble in Java, blockchain, project management, social media, and more.

2.3.2 Founder

Ankur Nandwani, founder of ZetaChain, was an early employee of Coinbase and one of the creators of the token (BAT).

2.3.3 Core Members

! [ZetaChain Investment Research Report: Using Omnichain Cross-chain Technology to Integrate Layer 1 of Distributed Verification Node Network] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-e2c16cec91-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)

Lucas Janon Head of Product Engineering**

Lucas Janon currently serves as ZetaChain’s Head of Product Engineering. He has also worked at Designstripe as a co-founder and technical advisor, as well as as technical director, successfully recruiting and managing teams, and structuring multiple technology projects. In addition, he has held senior positions in the anonymous social network TuSecreto and fintech company Gueno. Lucas earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Open Source Society University through self-study in the world-renowned university curriculum of the MOOCs platform.

! [ZetaChain Investment Research Report: Using Omnichain Cross-chain Technology to Integrate Layer 1 of Distributed Verification Node Network] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-33d5341304-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)

Jonathan Covey Community Leader

He is one of the core contributors addressing blockchain interoperability issues, providing technology strategy consulting to F2000 enterprises worldwide at Talent Tech Labs and executive director of enterprise accounts at WorkMarket. He also works as a project manager at ConsenSys and holds a double bachelor’s degree in psychology and art history from Union College.

2.4 Financing

! [ZetaChain Investment Research Report: Using Omnichain Cross-chain Technology to Integrate Layer 1 of Distributed Verification Node Network] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-5d5c7a7be1-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)

3. Business analytics

3.1 Service Object

The target audience of the project mainly includes the following groups:

  1. Developers: ZetaChain provides developers with an innovative blockchain platform that enables them to develop full-chain dApps and implement native cross-chain smart contract support. These developers can use common programming languages and frameworks to trigger events on connected blockchains, implement programmability, and build cross-chain applications.

  2. dApp users: ZetaChain’s full-chain dApps can directly interact with different blockchains without any asset encapsulation or bridging, providing users with a more convenient and direct experience. These dApps cover payment, DeFi, art, gaming, social and other fields, bringing users rich and diverse functions and experiences.

  3. Blockchain ecosystem participants: ZetaChain attracts blockchain users’ attention and participation in the project ecosystem by providing a public blockchain that reduces trust assumptions, improves transparency, is fully verifiable, and is auditable. These participants may include investors, researchers, blockchain enthusiasts, and others who want to use the features of ZetaChain to participate in the development and innovation of the blockchain ecosystem.

3.2 Business Classification

The services provided by the ZetaChain project can be divided into the following businesses:

  1. Cross-chain smart contracts and messaging services:

ZetaChain allows developers to deploy smart contracts on top of it that can read and write with other connected blockchains for cross-chain interaction.

  1. Hyper-connect node:

ZetaChain’s node-observing nature allows you to monitor transactions on every connected blockchain. With the TSS architecture, the network can sign and verify transactions on each connected blockchain, providing developers with a seamlessly linked full-chain environment to build novel and powerful cross-chain applications.

  1. Cross-chain messaging:

Developers can pass messages (data and value) between different chains and layers through simple function calls. This messaging mechanism allows dApp developers to build powerful cross-chain applications by building existing smart contracts.

  1. Manage external assets:

ZetaChain’s network and dApps built on it can manage assets and vaults that are externally connected to the chain. This means that any on-chain asset can be managed like a smart contract on a single chain.

3.3 Business Details

3.3.1 Key Features

  1. Decentralization and publicity: ZetaChain is a public, decentralized blockchain network built on the Cosmos SDK and Tendermint consensus. Unlike many cross-chain solutions, these schemes tend to employ a variety of centralized trust models and are vulnerable to vulnerabilities and hacking. And ZetaChain ensures that all transactions and activities, even cross-chain transactions, are transparent, verifiable, and operate with minimal trust.

  2. Hyper-connected nodes: ZetaChain’s nodes have observer functionality that monitors transactions on each connected chain. With ZetaChain’s TSS architecture, the network is able to sign and verify transactions on each connected chain like a wallet. These hyper-connected nodes read and write connected chains in a secure, decentralized manner, providing developers with a seamless, full-chain environment to build novel and powerful cross-chain applications.

  3. Full-chain smart contracts: ZetaChain supports locally deployed smart contracts that can read and write connected chains. ZetaChain is a public blockchain that supports this feature, providing a new paradigm for application development.

  4. Cross-chain messaging: Developers can pass messages (data and value) between chains and layers with simple function calls. Through messaging, dApp developers can implement some functions in their existing smart contracts, allowing them to build powerful cross-chain applications.

  5. Manage external assets: ZetaChain’s network and dApps built on it are able to manage assets and vaults from external connected chains. This allows any asset on the chain to be managed like a smart contract on a single chain. As a result, dApps on ZetaChain can orchestrate and introduce smart contract logic onto any connected chain. This feature applies to all chains, including non-smart contract blockchains.

3.3.2 Project Product Architecture

3.3.2.1 Overall framework

ZetaChain’s architectural design is based on Cosmos SDK and Tendermint PBFT consensus engine Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchain technology. This gives ZetaChain fast block generation times (about 5 seconds) and instant transaction certainty without waiting for confirmation and without reordering transactions. The Tendermint PBFT consensus engine has been scalable in production, supporting approximately 300 nodes. In the future, with the upgrade of BLS threshold signatures, this number may increase to more than 1,000. The efficient Tendermint consensus protocol allows ZetaChain to potentially achieve a throughput of 100 transactions per second.

The overall architecture of ZetaChain is a distributed network of nodes, which are often referred to as validators. Validators act as decentralized observers, working together to reach consensus on external state and events, while updating the state of external chains through a distributed key signing mechanism. ZetaChain implements these functions in a decentralized manner, avoiding single points of failure, eliminating trust and access permissions, maintaining transparency and efficiency.

Each validator node contains two important components, ZetaCore and ZetaClient. ZetaCore is responsible for generating the blockchain and maintaining the Replication State Machine (RSM), while ZetaClient is responsible for observing events on external chains and signing outbound transactions.

The two components, ZetaCore and ZetaClient, are bundled together and run by node operators. Anyone with enough collateral can become a node operator and participate in the verification process.

! [ZetaChain Investment Research Report: Using Omnichain Cross-chain Technology to Integrate Layer 1 of Distributed Verification Node Network] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-90662a9ff8-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)

3.3.2.2 Subdivide roles Validator

In ZetaChain, verifiers are divided into three different roles: basic verifier, observer (Observers), and TSS signer. These validators serve the system by processing transactions and maintaining network security, and in return, they receive transaction fees and rewards. Observers and TSS signers differ in size from basic verifiers because they have different security and reward requirements.

  1. Basic verifier

ZetaChain uses the Tendermint consensus protocol, a partially synchronized Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) consensus algorithm. Each validator node can vote on block proposals in proportion to its staked/delegated stake tokens (ZETA). Each validator is identified by its consensus public key. Validators need to stay online and ready to participate in the growing number of block generation. In return for the service, validators will receive block rewards and transaction fees.

  1. Observer

In ZetaChain’s consensus process, there is also a group of important players, known as observers. They are responsible for reaching consensus on the events and state of the external chain. Observers achieve this by monitoring full nodes on externally connected chains for specific related transactions, events, and status at specific addresses. The role of the observer falls into two categories: sequencer and verifier. The sequencer discovers transactions, events, and states related to the external chain and then reports this information to the validator. Validators validate ZetaChain and vote to reach consensus. This system requires at least one sequencer and multiple validators. While the sequencer does not need to be fully trusted, at least an honest sequencer is needed to ensure the proper functioning of the system.

  1. TSS signatory

ZetaChain co-holds standard ECDSA/EdDSA keys for authentication when authenticating with external chains. These keys are spread across multiple signers, and only more than half of the signers can sign on behalf of ZetaChain. This design is very important to ensure that at any time, no single entity or a small number of nodes can sign messages on the external chain on behalf of ZetaChain alone. To ensure economic security, the ZetaChain system employs staking stakes and positive/negative incentives.

3.3.2.3 Technical Model

1) Crosschain Crosschain Model

The task of the cross-chain model is to track transactions between different blockchains (CCTX).

The main role in interacting with cross-chain modules is the observer verifier, also known as the “observer”. The observer runs an off-chain program called ZetaClient, and the observer is responsible for monitoring the connected blockchain in order to grab transactions to enter the current blockchain and keep an eye on transactions that need to be processed outside the current blockchain. At the same time, they also monitor outbound transactions on other connected blockchains.

Observers participate in the voting process after observing inbound or off-site transactions.

“Inbound” and “outbound” refer to the flow of cross-chain transactions

“Pit Stop”: Refers to a transaction from another blockchain that enters the current blockchain, also known as a “Pit Stop” transaction.

“Outbound”: Refers to transactions that leave from the current blockchain and are sent to other blockchains.

Vote

When an observer submits a vote on a transaction, a ballot is created if it hasn’t been created before. They can vote and associate their vote with that ballot. According to the BallotThreshold, once a sufficient number of votes are reached, the ballot is considered “final.”

The final vote moves the ballot to the “final confirmation” status, triggers the transaction execution and pays the GAS fee for cross-chain transactions.

Any votes submitted after the ballot is finally confirmed will be discarded.

Pit Stop

Pit stop transactions are observed cross-chain transactions from connected other chains. To vote on a pit trade, an observer broadcasts a MsgVoteOnObservedInboundTx message.

The last vote moves the ballot to the “final confirmation” state, triggering cross-chain transaction execution.

If the target chain is ZetaChain and CCTX does not contain any messages, ZRC20 tokens are deposited into an account on ZetaChain.

If the target chain is ZetaChain and CCTX contains messages, ZRC20 tokens are deposited and the contract on ZetaChain is invoked. The message contains the contract address and the parameters required to invoke the contract.

If the target chain is not ZetaChain, the transaction status is changed to “Pending Off-Site” and CCTX is processed as an offsite transaction.

Outbound transactions

Pending Outbound

Observers monitor pending off-site transactions on ZetaChain. To process these pending outbound transactions, observers participate in TSS key signing to sign the transaction, and then broadcast the signed transaction to other connected blockchains.

Observers monitor other connected blockchains for broadcast outbound transactions. Once a transaction is “confirmed” (or “on-chain”) on other connected blockchains, observers vote on ZetaChain by sending a VoteOnObservedOutboundTx message. After the vote passes the threshold, the vote is finally confirmed and the transaction status changes to final confirmation.

Message Information

MsgVoteOnObservedOutboundTx

VoteOnObservedOutboundTx is the operation of voting on outbound transactions that have been broadcast and finally confirmed on the connected chain. If this is the first vote, a new ballot will be created. When the vote reaches the threshold, the ballot will be finally confirmed. Once the ballot is finally confirmed, outbound transactions are processed.

If the observation is successful, the bank module will mint the difference between the amount of tokens consumed (ZETA) and the amount generated, and deposit it into the module account. If the observation is unsuccessful, the logic is executed according to the previous state.

If the previous status is Pending Outbound, a new rollback transaction is created. To cover the rollback transaction fee, a UniswapV2 contract instance on ZetaChain will be used to exchange the number of tokens in the committed CCTX with the ZRC20 of the GAS token of the receiving chain. These ZRC20 tokens are then burned. Update Nonce at the same time. If all goes well, the status of CCTX will change to Pending Rollback.

If the previous status is Pending Rollback, CCTX will be aborted.

! [ZetaChain Investment Research Report: Using Omnichain Cross-chain Technology to Integrate Layer 1 of Distributed Verification Node Network] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-d06b66d885-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)

MsgVoteOnObservedInboundTx

VoteOnObservedInboundTx is the operation of voting on inbound transactions observed on the connected chain. When the first vote is taken, a new ballot is generated. Once the number of votes reaches the threshold, the ballot will be finally confirmed. Once the ballot is finally confirmed, a new CCTX will be created.

If the receive chain is ZetaChain, HandleEVMDeposit will be called. If the deposited tokens are ZETA, MintZetaToEVMAccount will be called and the corresponding amount of tokens will be minted in the receiving account on ZetaChain. If the deposited token is GAS tokens or ERC20 tokens connected to the chain, ZRC20’s deposit method will be invoked and the tokens will be deposited into the receiving account on ZetaChain. If the message is not empty, the depositAndCall method of the system contract is also called, and the full-chain contract on ZetaChain is executed. The address and parameters of the full-chain contract are passed as part of the message. If all goes well, the status of CCTX will change to OutboundMined.

If the receive chain is a connected chain, the FinalizeBound method is called, ready to process the CCTX as an outbound transaction. To pay for outbound transactions, a Uniswap V2 contract instance on ZetaChain will be used to exchange the required number of tokens in the submitted CCTX with ZRC20 of the GAS token of the receiving chain. These ZRC20 tokens are then burned. Update Nonce at the same time. If all goes well, the status of CCTX will change to PendingOutbound.

! [ZetaChain Investment Research Report: Using Omnichain Cross-chain Technology to Integrate Layer 1 of Distributed Verification Node Network] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-90c6119694-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)

2) Emissions Module Emissions Model

The role of the emissions module is to coordinate the distribution of rewards to observers, validators, and TSS signers. Currently, it only distributes rewards to validators per block. Unallocated reward amounts will remain in the respective prize pools of TSS and Observer. The distribution of rewards is implemented at the beginning of block processing.

3) Fungible Module Interchangeability Module

The fungibility module simplifies the process of deploying fungible tokens (or “external tokens”) on other blockchains connected to the ZetaChain. (On ZetaChain, these external tokens are represented as ZRC20 tokens.) When an external token is deployed on ZetaChain, the system automatically creates a ZRC20 contract, establishes the corresponding pool, and injects liquidity into the pool. The external token will then be added to the list of external tokens in the state of the module. )

**4) Observer Module Observer Model

The observer module is responsible for tracking voting options, mapping between chains and observer accounts, list of connected chains, core parameters (contract address, outbound transaction plan interval, etc.), observer parameters (vote threshold, minimum observer delegation, etc.), and management strategy parameters.

Voting options are used to vote on inbound and outbound transactions, and the observer module provides the ability to create, read, update, and delete (CRUD) voting options, as well as auxiliary functions to determine whether a ballot has been finalized. Other modules, such as cross-chain modules, use the voting system when observers/validators vote on transactions.

Observers/validators are validators that run ZetaClient and run in parallel with ZetaCored (blockchain nodes) with voting authority to vote on inbound and outbound cross-chain transactions.

The mapping between the chain and the observer account is set at the time of creation and is used to determine in the cross-chain module whether the observer/validator is authorized to vote on transactions on a particular connected chain.

3.3.3 Operation Procedure

3.3.3.1 Developers

1) Start building

ZetaChain offers two ways to develop dApps: full-chain contracts and cross-chain messaging.

ZetaChain is a proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain built using the Cosmos SDK and the Tendermint Core consensus engine. This allows ZetaChain to have fast block generation times and instant transaction certainty.

ZetaChain provides an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible execution layer called zEVM. In addition to supporting all EVM functions and standard interactions such as contract creation, contract interaction, and contract combination, zEVM has the following unique features:

  1. Contracts on zEVM can be called by external chains.

  2. Contracts on zEVM can generate outbound transactions on external chains.

These two unique features allow zEVM to act as a general-purpose programmable platform that supports cross-chain transactions, with the ability to modify state on different chains in a single step.

When developing on ZetaChain, developers need to create zEVM contracts. While zEVM contracts can be any standard Solidity contract, in order to take full advantage of ZetaChain’s capabilities, these contracts must follow a specific interface. These interfaces are unique to ZetaChain and enable interaction with externally connected blockchains.

2) Smart Contract Template

ZetaChain comes with a smart contract template that makes it easy for developers to start building dApps. Both the full-chain tutorial and the cross-chain messaging tutorial use this template, such as:

  1. Generate random wallets

  2. Check the token balance

  3. Collect tokens from the faucet

  4. Create a full-chain contract

  5. Create a cross-chain message contract

  6. Track cross-chain transactions

  7. Verify the contract

  8. Send tokens

  9. Query cross-chain fees

3) Tokens on ZETA

The ZetaChain Athens 3 testnet testnet is a different type of token.

• Native ZETA tokens on ZetaChain

ZetaChain’s native token is called ZETA. It is a stake token that is used to pay transaction fees. ZetaChain nodes are built on top of the Cosmos SDK framework.

• Packaged ZETA on ZetaChain

ZETA can exist on the ZetaChain in the form of WETH9 (contracts that encapsulate WETH) tokens (WZETA). WZETA is primarily used as a liquidity pool within ZetaChain, paired with connected blockchain-native GAS tokens (e.g., gETH/WZETA pairing).

To encapsulate the local ZETA as WZETA and send it to the ZetaToken contract on the ZetaChain.

• External tokens on ZetaChain

Local GAS tokens (such as gETH, tMATIC, tBNB, and tBTC) on the connected blockchain are presented as ZRC-20 tokens on ZetaChain. ZRC-20 is an extension of the ERC-20 token that allows tokens to be deposited into ZetaChain and withdrawn from them. To deposit tokens into ZetaChain, simply send them to a TSS address on the chain. To withdraw native GAS tokens from ZetaChain, you need to call the ZRC-20 contract’s extraction method.

4) Omnichain Contracts

A full-chain smart contract is a contract deployed on ZetaChain that can use and orchestrate connected chains as well as assets on ZetaChain. With a full-chain smart contract, the state of assets and data can be maintained across all connected chains. The full chain smart contract is deployed on ZetaChain and can be invoked from any connected chain.

To invoke a full-chain smart contract, the only thing a user needs to do is send a transaction to the connected chain’s TSS address. The transaction amount will be available to the sender on ZetaChain as ZRC-20 tokens, and a byte array of data (containing the full-chain smart contract address and message) is used to call the full-chain smart contract by address and pass parameters from the message.

•ZetaEVM(zEVM)

ZetaEVM is an Ethereum-compatible virtual machine. Users can deploy and run full-chain smart contracts on ZetaChain’s core blockchain. These contracts connect to ZetaChain’s interoperability layer and can coordinate assets on external chains as if they were on the same chain.

! [ZetaChain Investment Research Report: Using Omnichain Cross-chain Technology to Integrate Layer 1 of Distributed Verification Node Network] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-a4e67ef107-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)

• ZRC-20 token standard

The ZRC-20 token standard has been integrated into ZetaChain’s full-chain smart contract platform. With ZRC-20, developers can build dApps that coordinate connections to on-chain local assets, which makes it very simple to build full-chain DeFi protocols and dApps such as full-chain decentralized exchanges (DEXs), full-chain lending, full-chain portfolio management, etc., as if they were all on a single chain.

! [ZetaChain Investment Research Report: Using Omnichain Cross-chain Technology to Integrate Layer 1 of Distributed Verification Node Network] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-b60117b369-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)

Liquidity Pools

Liquidity pools help facilitate ZetaChain’s key features and improve the user experience (lower fees, smoother transactions, more diversified financial applications) for the benefit of the entire cryptocurrency ecosystem. Liquidity pools in a ZetaChain environment can be divided into three main categories: core ZETA pools, additional zEVM pools, and external ZETA pools.

Core ZETA pool

[ZETA] / [Gas ZRC-20]'s Uniswap pool (on zEVM) is the core pool required by ZetaChain to write outgoing transactions to the chain. Whenever support for a chain is added, a pool is created between the corresponding ZETA and the chain’s local gas assets.

! [ZetaChain Investment Research Report: Using Omnichain Cross-chain Technology to Integrate Layer 1 of Distributed Verification Node Network] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-610c1c9903-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)

For example, you can see how cross-chain messaging can use these core pools that pair native gas (ZRC-20) with ZETA to pay for outbound transactions:

! [ZetaChain Investment Research Report: Using Omnichain Cross-chain Technology to Integrate Layer 1 of Distributed Verification Node Network] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-a491b49a03-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)

Attach the zEVM pool

Any liquidity pool can be created on zEVM, and users can deploy plain ERC-20 tokens onto ZetaChain, integrate tokens from external chains via ZRC-20, and create any liquidity pool combination required for their application, just like on a single-chain EVM. For example, you can create useful ones [ZETA] [Gas] / [Stablecoin] or / [Stablecoin] pool, allowing users to trade different assets more freely.

! [ZetaChain Investment Research Report: Using Omnichain Cross-chain Technology to Integrate Layer 1 of Distributed Verification Node Network] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-c6997ed764-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)

External ZETA pool

ZETA is a full-chain token that exists both on ZetaChain and on any connected chain, as it is used both for smart contract gas fees and for cross-chain messaging. Some pools on each chain (eg[ZETA] [Gas] / will help applications facilitate cross-chain value transfer through messaging. Developers also need mining pools on external chains to get ZETA in order to use it for messaging.

• Gas fee

When interacting with ZetaChain’s smart contracts, users are required to pay gas fees for specific transactions.

Gas is required for the deployment and invocation of smart contracts. It is possible to interact with the zEVM (ZetaChain Virtual Machine) contract on an external chain via ZRC-20 deposits. This can include embedding contract calls in messages. Alternatively, users can connect directly to ZetaChain and interact with contracts already deployed on zEVM.

The GAS market mechanism of the ZetaEVM smart contract is similar to Ethermint and uses a GAS fee structure similar to Ethereum EIP 1559. The system is designed to stop spam attacks on the web.

Full chain smart contract fee

deposit

When tokens are deposited into ZetaChain, fees for the chain’s native Gas tokens are paid by sending them to the TSS (Threshold Signature Scheme) address. For example, if ETH is deposited from Ethereum into ZetaChain, the required fees will be paid in ETH and are comparable to regular token transfer fees on the Ethereum network.

Withdrawals

When withdrawing ZRC-20 tokens to a connected external chain, a “withdrawal gas fee” will be charged.

Current full chain fees

These fees are benchmarked against native Gas tokens (the chain from which the ZRC-20 tokens are extracted) on the target chain. The fee is calculated based on a gas limit of 500,000.

  1. Cross-Chain Messaging Cross-chain messaging

CCM (Cross-Chain Communication) contracts are deployed on two or more interconnected blockchains. ZetaChain acts as a relay and is responsible for passing information between these blockchains.

To send a message, the user needs to call an execution function, and ZetaChain receives the message and sends it to the target chain. The message is then passed to a CCM contract and passed to the onZetaMessage function.

A typical use case for CCM is when an application simply calls a contract on a different chain or sends value to an address on a different chain. Once the message is received and processed on the target chain, ideally the application does not need to broadcast anything to synchronize the state, and the sender does not need to care about the outcome.

Cross-chain messaging can be used to build a variety of applications and basic features, such as:

  1. OmniChain NFTs, which can be sent between different chains without knowing the state of other on-chain collections.

  2. “Simple” exchange or bridging applications that leverage liquidity pools on existing chains.

  3. Prove ownership of NFTs or simple operation calls to different chains.

Connector connector

The ZetaChain connector allows users to send cross-chain messages (data and value) between any connected blockchain.

Gas fee

Users (wallets, contracts) must pay fees to transfer data and value between different chains via ZetaChain. User payment is achieved by sending ZETA (and message data) to the connector contract on the connection chain. These ZETAs are used to pay validators/stakers/ecosystem pools, as well as gas fees on the target chain. For users, these operations are packaged in a single transaction.

When sending cross-chain messages, users need to pay two types of fees:

Outbound Gas Fee: Dynamically calculated based on the gas price of the target chain, the gas limit provided by the user, and the token price in the liquidity pool on ZetaChain.

Protocol Fee: Currently a fixed value defined in the ZetaChain source code.

These fees are in ZETA tokens and are calculated against the target chain (the chain to which the message is sent). The fee is calculated based on a gas limit of 500,000.

! [ZetaChain Investment Research Report: Using Omnichain Cross-chain Technology to Integrate Layer 1 of Distributed Verification Node Network] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-cedb5fe5bb-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)

3.3.3.2 Validators

Verifier responsibilities require users who need to use the Linux operating system and command line interface to manage the resources of ZetaChain nodes more efficiently. Validators need to set limits on the maximum number of file descriptors and the maximum number of processes to maximize resource usage. Second, validators need to focus on node resources in real-world application environments, including CPU load, memory, disk utilization, and disk I/O, to ensure stable system performance. The validator then enables Prometheus to generate metrics that are available to the Prometheus collector.

Configuration requirements:

  1. Node specifications

! [ZetaChain Investment Research Report: Using Omnichain Cross-chain Technology to Integrate Layer 1 of Distributed Verification Node Network] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-06e119a9b4-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)

  1. Public port

! [ZetaChain Investment Research Report: Using Omnichain Cross-chain Technology to Integrate Layer 1 of Distributed Verification Node Network] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-6592b6bf7a-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)

  1. RPC/API/archive nodes

! [ZetaChain Investment Research Report: Using Omnichain Cross-chain Technology to Integrate Layer 1 of Distributed Verification Node Network] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-1ce9d62241-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)

3.4 Ecosystem

Currently, ZetaChain has about 151 partners, of which BTC, BNB, ETH, Polygon has been launched on the testnet.

! [ZetaChain Investment Research Report: Using Omnichain Cross-chain Technology to Integrate Layer 1 of Distributed Verification Node Network] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-2c8388c3b5-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)

In addition, ZetaChain has reached partnerships with a number of major projects and agreements involving different fields, hoping to help these projects through its main Omnichain cross-chain technology, unlock more cross-chain use cases and realize the transfer of data and assets that can cover the whole chain. According to ZetaChain, the Omnichain DApps identified to be deployed on ZetaChain include DEX, Identity Infrastructure (Galxe), Social Protocol (CyberConnect), DAO (STP) and others.

3.5 Project Use Cases

ZetaChain showcases its multifaceted specific uses, covering the following key areas:

• Smart contracts manage external assets

Smart contracts to manage external assets is one of the powerful features of ZetaChain, which allows smart contracts to hold and use any assets that a normal account can hold, and receive and spend these assets according to programmatic logic. ZetaChain’s cross-chain smart contract function can directly hold and use assets on the external chain, so it is possible to manage multiple assets on ZetaChain, such as ETH, ERC20, Algorand ASAs, etc. In addition, cross-chain dApps can be easily built through ZetaChain’s messaging.

• Cross-chain automated market making (AMM) decentralized exchange

ZetaChain enables a true cross-chain automated market maker (AMM) decentralized exchange, built using smart contracts. There are two ways to build AMM DEXs on ZetaChain: messaging and native ZetaChain smart contracts. The difference is whether the pool is managed by an external smart contract or a ZetaChain local smart contract. In the messaging method, the pool of funds is managed by an external chain smart contract, paired with the ZETA coin. In the local ZetaChain smart contract method, ZetaChain’s TSS account holds all native assets on the external chain and is directly managed by the ZetaChain smart contract. These smart contracts implement the AMM logic, including pricing, exchange, liquidity providers, and fees.

 Cross-chain messaging with value/data

ZetaChain’s ability to reliably and securely deliver messages from one chain to another enables powerful cross-chain applications, even without native ZetaChain smart contracts. The messaging functionality includes all communication endpoints on the external chain, with ZetaChain’s validators acting as Byzantine fault-tolerant notaries for proving the validity of events/transactions on Chain A and acting as a relay for messages. Chain B’s smart contract only needs to whitelist ZetaChain’s TSS address to trust that ZetaChain has verified the events on Chain A.

• Multi-chain NFTs

In the multi-chain NFT world, the same set of NFTs can exist on multiple blockchains at the same time, such as Ethereum, Flow, and Solana. Transferring an NFT from one chain to another is a challenge because it is necessary to know where this NFT is now and who is its current owner. The ZetaChain smart contract solves the transfer of ownership of NFTs on different chains. Specifically, each chain will have an escrow smart contract controlled by a ZetaChain key. To transfer an NFT to another chain, simply place the NFT into an escrow contract, pay ZETA tokens as a transaction fee, and ZetaChain will create the corresponding NFT on the target chain. Smart contracts on ZetaChain can track the owner of an NFT and the blockchain on which the NFT resides.

• Common identities and assets

ZetaChain provides a universal identity system, name service, and Soul Bound Tokens that can serve as a universal identity for all chains. It has full chain capability to allow users’ identities to interact with other chains, and is future-proof because ZetaChain can support more blockchains.

Instead of having to have a separate identity or domain name on each chain, users can manage and use their assets across all chains, be it game items, collectibles, or tokens, from a unified platform.

• Multi-chain, multi-signature vaults

This means that users can securely keep and manage assets on multiple chains through accounts and/or messages involving multiple chains, a process that requires confirmation of multiple signatures.

• Full chain account abstract or smart contract wallet

ZetaChain offers smart contract wallets that can manage transactions with all chains. It allows transactions without gas, handles operations such as complex or multi-chain transactions, similar to EIP-4337, but with full chain functionality.

• Full chain DeFi

On ZetaChain, users can use decentralized exchanges (DEXs), lending/borrowing, contracts and other functions to achieve seamless one-step transactions and cross-chain unified liquidity transactions. With ZetaChain smart contracts, users can significantly reduce common problems in market transactions, such as slippage, race conditions, MEV, etc. Users can build financial applications across multiple chains as if they were on a single chain.

• Full-chain DAOs

Full-chain DAOs are decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) and governance tools that allow people to coordinate activities, govern, and manage assets in a way that is not tied to a particular blockchain.

3.6 Industry Space and Potential

3.6.1 Classification

*Background

Bitcoin, as the pioneer of blockchain, introduced the concept of a decentralized, cryptography-based public ledger. It adopts a proof-of-work mechanism and solves the core mechanism of distributed consensus. However, Bitcoin’s design limitation is that it cannot achieve extensive programmability and can only support limited scripting capabilities, mainly for creating cryptocurrencies. This design has led to the characteristics of a closed blockchain system that can only be transacted within the Bitcoin network.

In order to expand the capabilities of the blockchain, Ethereum came into being. Ethereum introduced smart contracts and the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), making the blockchain Turing-complete programmable. This innovation opens up new possibilities for blockchain technology, allowing developers to create complex smart contracts and distributed applications (dApps). Ethereum’s success has attracted the emergence of more blockchains, such as Polkadot, Solana, Avalanche, and Cosmos, which also support Turing-complete smart contracts.

However, with the emergence and diversification of different blockchains, the need for multi-chain communication and interaction has emerged. Currently, blockchains are still closed systems that cannot directly and reliably share information or interact between different chains. Cross-chain transactions must rely on centralized exchanges or trusted third parties (Oracle), which leads to security and trust issues. Therefore, in order to achieve multi-chain communication and interaction, it is necessary to find reliable solutions that enable different blockchains to achieve trusted and secure cross-chain transactions and data exchanges without third-party trust.

In addition, in recent years, the cryptocurrency space has developed rapidly, and dApps have also sprung up in large numbers. For developers, supporting multiple networks means maintaining their applications on each network, which has its own challenges and limitations, adding complexity. For users who want to get the best benefits between different applications, they need to use different bridges to cross different networks, each with its own unique token and trust mechanism, resulting in decentralized liquidity, poor user experience, and even some confusion and unnecessary fees.

While many projects are working to achieve interoperability between different networks, the entire cryptocurrency ecosystem is becoming increasingly fragmented and less uniform. Therefore, in order to achieve multi-chain communication and interaction, it is necessary to find reliable solutions that enable different blockchains to achieve trusted and secure cross-chain transactions and data exchanges without third-party trust, which has become a must in the cryptocurrency field.

*Classify

Interoperability cross-chain networks can be classified according to different characteristics and technologies, the following are different classifications:

  1. Technical implementation:

Relay Chains: Some cross-chain networks use relay chains as bridges to enable communication and asset transfer between different blockchains.

Sidechains: Sidechains are auxiliary chains connected to the main blockchain, allowing assets and data to flow freely between the main chain and the sidechain.

WrApped Tokens: Enables cross-chain asset transfer by creating encapsulated tokens on different blockchains.

  1. Cross-chain communication methods:

Notary Schemes: Verification and confirmation of cross-chain transactions based on some trusted third parties or notaries.

Atomic Swaps: Transactions on two different chains occur simultaneously at the atomic level, guaranteeing that transactions either all succeed or all fail.

Pegged Tokens: By locking the main chain assets, the corresponding anchor tokens are issued to achieve asset crossings on the target chain.

  1. Security and Trust Model:

Trustless: The system does not rely on a single entity, ensuring that no specific party needs to be trusted in cross-chain interactions.

Trustful: Cross-chain interactions require trust in specific nodes, institutions, or smart contracts.

  1. Blockchain network structure:

Single blockchain cross-chain: Cross-chain interaction based on a single blockchain network, such as through sidechains or relay chains.

Multi-blockchain joint cross-chain: Enables cross-chain communication between multiple independent blockchain networks, such as through atomic swaps or anchored tokens.

These classifications can help understand and compare different cross-chain solutions to choose the right one-chain technology for your specific needs. In fact, cross-chain technology and classification continue to develop and evolve, and the commonly used ones on the market can be summarized into the following two categories:

At present, there are two common cross-chain bridge fund transfer methods on the market:

One is by locking or burning funds and then minting new tokens on the target chain

The other is through liquidity swaps. These methods use different techniques to enable cross-chain communication, one of which is one-party or multi-party authentication, and the other is a combination of repeaters and light clients

However, these existing cross-chain bridge methods have some limitations:

• The lock+mint scheme requires cross-chain transfer using packaged assets that replace the original asset.

• Liquidity swap schemes do not support assets that are not available within non-smart contract platforms and linked networks.

•Unilateral/multi-party verification has certain problems in centralization.

•Repeater + light client is expensive to deploy.

3.6.2 Market Size

At present, according to DefiLlama’s data, as of October 9, 2023, the current Bridge category ranked fourth in lock-up volume, with a total of 9.177B ($9.177 billion), while according to Coingecko data, cross-chain sector tokens ranked 41st in market capitalization, with a total market capitalization of about $955 million, and a trading volume of about 73.51 million in the past 24 hours.

! [ZetaChain Investment Research Report: Using Omnichain Cross-chain Technology to Integrate Layer 1 of Distributed Verification Node Network] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-fbe9171fff-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)

! [ZetaChain Investment Research Report: Using Omnichain Cross-chain Technology to Integrate Layer 1 of Distributed Verification Node Network] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-53dc8de869-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)

3.7 Business Data

• Operational data

Testnet 2

According to the official data panel, in the case of the testnet, the total number of zEVM transactions in testnet 2 is 1.291 million, and 15,000 distributed application contracts have been successfully created. In addition, the median gas price was 1.50 aZETA, and the number of unique zEVM addresses reached 358,900. The current block height is 4,994,802.

! [ZetaChain Investment Research Report: Using Omnichain Cross-chain Technology to Integrate Layer 1 of Distributed Verification Node Network] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-745739ac50-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)

Testnet 3

According to the official data panel, under the testnet 3, the total number of zEVM transactions so far is 20,134,900, and 31,000 distributed application contracts have been successfully created. In addition, the median gas price is 0 aZETA (lower than the testnet GAS fee). The number of cross-chain transactions was about 14.47 million, and the number of unique zEVM addresses reached 512,800. The current block height is 1,946,981. This shows that the testnet 3 to 2 has made significant progress in terms of transaction volume, number of smart contracts, and address activity, laying a solid foundation for future development.

! [ZetaChain Investment Research Report: Using Omnichain Cross-chain Technology to Integrate Layer 1 of Distributed Verification Node Network] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-19830c9b24-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)

• Social media data

! [ZetaChain Investment Research Report: Using Omnichain Cross-chain Technology to Integrate Layer 1 of Distributed Verification Node Network] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-52d69c18ee-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)

Twitter: 806,000 followers

Discord: 849,300 followers, about 21,000 daily active

Telegram: 81,800 followers, about 3K people live every day

Judging by the amount of attention on social media platforms, the project has a sizable following base on Twitter, Discord, and Telegram. Compared with the general project, this is a relatively large amount of attention.

3.8 Project Competitive Landscape

3.8.1 Project Introduction

ZetaChain is a decentralized smart contract platform (Layer 1) that supports cross-chain transfer and cross-chain communication of Omnichain funds. At the same time, Cosmos and Polkadot are also targets of multi-chain networks and are used as comparators. Although Layerzero is not an independent blockchain, as a full-chain interoperability protocol, it also participates in this comparison considering its financing scale and high valuation.

Cosmos

Cosmos is a decentralized network of independent parallel blockchains powered by BFT consensus algorithms such as the Tendermint consensus algorithm. In other words, Cosmos is a blockchain ecosystem that can scale and interoperate with each other. Cosmos’ vision is to make it easy for developers to build blockchains and remove barriers between blockchains by allowing them to transact with each other. The ultimate goal is to create a blockchain internet, that is, a blockchain network that can communicate with each other in a decentralized way. It fulfills this vision through a suite of open-source tools such as Tendermint, the Cosmos SDK, and IBC, designed to enable people to quickly build customized, secure, scalable, and interoperable blockchain applications.

Palkadot

Polkadot is a sharded multi-chain network that connects multiple private blockchains into a unified network, which means it can process many transactions on multiple chains in parallel, eliminating the bottleneck that occurs when processing transactions one by one on traditional networks. This parallel processing capability significantly improves scalability and creates the right conditions for increased adoption and future growth. The shard chains connected to Polkadot are called “parachains” because they run in parallel on the network.

By building a Substrate development framework on Polkadot, each blockchain can have novel designs optimized for specific use cases, providing better services, while also improving efficiency and security by omitting unnecessary code.

LayerZero

LayerZero is a blockchain interoperability protocol that unifies decentralized applications (dApps) onto different blockchains and enables light node and mid-chain security through ultra-light nodes on the chain, making it cost-effective. By dividing responsibilities between Oracle and Relayer, LayerZero leverages the security features of established oracles such as Chainlink and Band and adds a layer of security through an open relay system. LayerZero implements cross-chain state sharing, bridging, lending, exchange, and governance functions.

3.8.2 Project comparison

When it comes to dealing with cross-chain bridging and messaging, existing approaches can be broadly divided into two types. The first method is achieved by reaching a consensus, validating and forwarding messages on an intermediate chain. The second method is to run lightweight nodes on the chain to achieve this.

3.8.1 Technology

! [ZetaChain Investment Research Report: Using Omnichain Cross-chain Technology to Integrate Layer 1 of Distributed Verification Node Network] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-be7b22665e-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)

3.8.2 Miscellaneous

! [ZetaChain Investment Research Report: Using Omnichain Cross-chain Technology to Integrate Layer 1 of Distributed Verification Node Network] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-65f439b4bf-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)

Since ZetaChain has not yet been officially implemented, direct comparison of technical indicators cannot be made. But then through a series of technological breakthroughs in decentralization, distributed computing, cryptography, and protocol communication, the potential advantages and feasibility of each project can be evaluated.

3.9 Token Model Analysis

3.9.1 Total and distribution of tokens

Token name: $ZETA

Release date: Expected in the fourth quarter of 2023

Total issuance: 2.1 billion (officially not officially announced, but according to information released by CoinList, 4,200,000 ZETA was airdropped, accounting for 0.2% of the total token supply, and the total issuance is estimated to be 2.1 billion)

! [ZetaChain Investment Research Report: Using Omnichain Cross-chain Technology to Integrate Layer 1 of Distributed Verification Node Network] (https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-69a80767fe-e4aea0bc93-dd1a6f-69ad2a.webp)

3.9.2 Token Model Value Capture

• Uses of ZETA tokens:

  1. Used to pay the Gas fee of the ZetaChain smart contract

  2. Used to ensure the security of the ZetaChain blockchain (through staking/staking/reduction)

  3. Used to achieve cross-chain transfer, exchange, messaging and security

• Cross-chain mechanism of ZETA tokens:

One-way anchoring mechanism, by burning tokens on one chain and then minting the same number of tokens on another chain

• Uniqueness and advantages of the ZETA token:

  1. Cross-chain payment: ZETA tokens are universal fuel assets across multiple blockchains and can be used to pay for cross-chain transactions, which makes cross-chain transactions more convenient and efficient.

  2. Consensus mechanism: ZETA tokens are collateral for participating in ZetaChain’s consensus mechanism (DPoS), which helps ensure the security and stability of the network.

  3. Smart Contracts: ZETA tokens can be used as payment currency to deploy and run smart contracts on ZetaChain, which makes the deployment and operation of smart contracts more convenient and efficient.

  4. Asset transfer: ZETA tokens can be used as a payment currency for trading and transferring assets on ZetaChain, which makes asset transfers more convenient and efficient.

  5. Multi-chain connection: ZETA tokens are a bridge connecting ZetaChain and other blockchains, enabling interoperability between multiple chains, which helps promote interconnection between blockchains.

In conclusion, ZETA tokens have uniqueness and advantages such as cross-chain payments, consensus mechanisms, smart contracts, asset transfers, and multi-chain connections, which make the ZetaChain ecosystem more complete and efficient.

4. Preliminary valuation

4.1 Core Issues

**Does the project have a solid competitive advantage? Where does this competitive advantage come from? **

  1. Cross-chain interoperability benefits:

Advantages: Realize interoperability between different blockchains, overcoming the current problem of fragmentation and non-interoperability of blockchains.

Implementation: ZetaChain implements cross-chain smart contracts, allowing dApps to interact directly and natively with different blockchains without the need to encapsulate or bridge assets.

2) Smart contracts support arbitrary logic

Advantages: ZetaChain smart contracts can perform corresponding actions based on events that occur on the external chain, and then update the state of the external chain through TSS signature transactions.

  1. Local use of multi-chain assets:

Advantages: Supports direct management and use of multiple native assets of external chains on ZetaChain, including Bitcoin, ETH, ERC20, Algorand ASA, etc.

Implementation: ZetaChain allows the use of assets on external chains directly on its platform, such as managing and operating blockchain assets such as Bitcoin on ZetaChain through smart contracts.

  1. Convenient dApp development and flexibility:

Advantages: Provides a simple dApp development and design interface, centralizes the logic and state of the dApp on ZetaChain, and realizes the simplicity and flexibility of development.

Implementation: ZetaChain provides a unified interface for dApp developers, allowing logic and state to be centralized on ZetaChain, simplifying the development process and increasing flexibility.

**What are the main variables in the operation of the project? Is this factor easy to quantify and measure? **

The main variables in the operation of the ZetaChain project refer to important quantitative indicators or factors that can affect the operation and development of the project. These variables can be used to assess the success and growth of the project and help shape strategies and decisions.

**1) Number of interops with external chains: **

Features: Refers to the number of external blockchains that are interoperable with ZetaChain.

Quantification method: Quantification is done by counting the number of external chains that have been integrated into the ZetaChain platform.

  1. Number of dApps built on the platform: **

Features: Refers to the number of decentralized applications (dApps) developed and run on the ZetaChain platform.

Quantification method: Count the number of active dApps running on ZetaChain.

**3) Amount of assets managed by ZetaChain smart contracts:

Feature: Refers to the total value or quantity of assets managed by ZetaChain smart contracts.

Quantification method: Quantification is done by measuring the total value or number of assets held in custody in a smart contract.

  1. Number of developers using ZetaChain:

Features: Refers to the number of developers who have registered, used or participated in the ZetaChain platform.

Quantification method: Quantification is done by counting the number of people registered, active, or participating in the ZetaChain developer community.

These variables are quantifiable, but the exact quantification method may vary depending on the context of the measurement, project phase, and goals. For example, the number of interops of external chains can be measured in terms of the number of chains integrated by the platform, while the quantification of assets can be measured by the total value or quantity of assets. It is important to select the appropriate indicators based on the operation and objectives of the project, and ensure that these indicators reflect the operational status and development trend of the project.

4.2 Key Risks

  1. External chain security risks: The external chain connected by ZetaChain may be attacked, which can lead to double-spending, censorship, regression, hard fork, chain split, etc.

  2. Node Software Vulnerability Risk: Software bugs or vulnerabilities in ZetaChain node software that attackers can exploit to redirect legitimate minting from other users to their wallets. However, the impact of this vulnerability is likely to be contained, as attackers can only steal information from active users at certain times, and the system stops as soon as it is noticed by users.

  3. Economic model risk: The economic model is unknown, and the possible impact needs to be continuously observed and evaluated

5. Resources

  1. Official website

  2. ZataChain documentation

  3. ZetaChain white paper

  4. Palkadot Blog

  5. CoinMarketCap

  6. ZetaChain blog

  7. The future of OmniChain

  8. DefiLlama

  9. Cosmos website

  10. Palkadot website

View Original
This page may contain third-party content, which is provided for information purposes only (not representations/warranties) and should not be considered as an endorsement of its views by Gate, nor as financial or professional advice. See Disclaimer for details.
  • Reward
  • Comment
  • Repost
  • Share
Comment
Add a comment
Add a comment
No comments
  • Pin