With the flourishing of the Solana ecosystem, the introduction of BTC into Solana’s DeFi has emerged. As one of the stellar performers, Zeus has taken the top spot in the voting list on Jupiter’s launch platform, but what makes it so popular?
Zeus Introduction
Zeus is a cross-chain communication network designed to facilitate permissionless communication between the Solana and Bitcoin ecosystems. The ecosystem primarily consists of two DeFi suites, Apollo and Artemis, with Apollo being responsible for bringing BTC into Solana.
Apollo facilitates the influx of BTC liquidity into Solana by issuing the 1:1 pegged zBTC. Liquidity providers on Chain A do not return their liquidity to Chain B, as the assets are locked and protected by the protocol. The APOLLO framework includes bi-directional hooks (2WP), liquidity management, and revenue management. APOLLO serves as an integrator for decentralized liquidity management and acts as the custodian for zBTC.
Through a flexible hot/cold reserve design to facilitate the management of the 1:1 peg, where the circulating supply of zBTC is closely linked to the total locked value (TVL) of SOL and LSD-SOL. Apollo will also launch its own token in the future.
After integration, zBTC can be utilized on platforms such as Solend, marginfi, Kamino Finance for activities like lending, making BTC a yield-generating asset. Users who participated in Jupiter’s launchpad voting for Zeus will have priority access to the Apollo testnet.
According to official data, as of March 24th, the total TVL of Zeus has exceeded $13 million.
Zeus Architecture
The Zeus architecture primarily includes four main suites: validators, nodes, consensus mechanisms, and security mechanisms. The validation process is executed on a decentralized and permissionless group model. To become a validator, individuals must run a node.
The Zeus node system consists of multiple components, including peer-to-peer, broadcast, signatures (with signature aggregation), and dual-function registry services that can be executed on-chain and off-chain. Possible modifications for enhancing the system’s extensibility include implementing alternative signature algorithms, integrating broadcast service interfaces to support Bitcoin L2, EVM, MoveVM, and developing on-chain registry programs or smart contracts in various programming languages like Solidity, Move, and more.
In terms of consensus mechanisms, validators focus solely on validation and are separate from on-chain transactions. Validators implement a threshold signature mechanism, leveraging the Schnorr signature by Bitcoin’s main root. This concept extends to Solana’s Ed25519 signature algorithm. Off-chain signature aggregation improves efficiency compared to on-chain voting, aiding in smoothly broadcasting signature transactions to Solana. Additional layers of protection include fraud proofs and assumptions of honest validator behavior.
Economic security is reinforced through Slash design or programs. Executed under the assumption of honesty, the framework requires at least one honest validator, incentivizing each node to submit fraud proofs (identifying unauthorized transactions) and receive a certain percentage of Slash funds as a reward.
To ensure the integrity of operations signed by Zeus validators, there is a “challenge period” following any such operation. This period includes operations such as locking and unlocking Bitcoin, Solana withdrawals, distributions, as well as minting or burning operations.
Token Economics
The total supply of Zeus tokens is 1 billion, distributed as follows:
Ecosystem and community growth (45%):
10% for TGE, with the remaining portion unlocking after 12 months;
Foundation (20%):
10% for TGE, with the remaining portion unlocking after 12 months;
Team (15%):
Unlocking after 15 months, released linearly over 15 months;
Early supporters (10%):
5% for TGE, with the remaining portion unlocking after 3 months, released linearly over 15 months;
Launchpad (5%):
100% for TGE;
Advisors (5%):
5% for TGE, with the remaining portion unlocking after 6 months, released linearly over 15 months;
Additionally, Zeus Network will airdrop ZEUS to 300,291 unique addresses, including:
181889 addresses that participated in the Jupiter LFG Launchpad vote;
114772 zuPoint holder addresses;
3630 Dappie Gang NFT holder addresses.
The token in the Zeus network serves various purposes, including running Zeus nodes, fee sharing, and activities like cross-chain collateralization (e.g., BTC).
Roadmap
According to official documentation, Zeus’s main goal is to introduce node, ZEUS token staking, and BTC staking functionality by the end of this year. Specifically, the second quarter of this year will see the “Muses upgrade,” focusing on developing Zeus nodes to ensure the network’s smooth operation. The third quarter will involve the “Gaia upgrade,” providing staking services for ZEUS and BTC to earn rewards. The fourth quarter will see the “Athena upgrade,” releasing programming libraries for ecosystem project development, including integrating browsers, collecting relay fees, and more.
Conclusion
Earlier this month, Zeus announced that it had received angel investments from industry-renowned figures such as Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko, Mechanism Capital founder Andrem Kang, and Stacks co-founder Muneeb Ali. Their official tweet hinted at a public offering on April 4th, with endorsements from Solana ecosystem projects, prominent figures, and the blessing of Jupiter’s first launch project, the public offering activity may attract significant attention.