Detailed Explanation of Zeus Network: Creating a Native Communication Layer for Solana and Bitcoin

Forwarded Title: Detailed explanation of Zeus Network: Building a Native Communication Layer for Solana and Bitcoin, with the Launch of Jupiter on April 4th.

The bull market of 2024 belongs to Bitcoin and Solana. After the approval of the Bitcoin spot ETF, off-exchange funds have driven Bitcoin prices to surge continuously. BTC L2 also began to emerge as startup within the crypto community. However, the bigger surprise in the crypto world is the Solana ecosystem. From DePIN represented by Helium, AI represented by BitTensor, to hardware and Meme represented by Saga and Bonk, Solana has become a de facto independent ecosystem.

Jupiter, as a significant pillar of the Solana ecosystem, will launch Zeus Network on April 4th at 9:00 PM on the Jupiter LFG Launchpad. This marks an important step in connecting the Solana ecosystem with Bitcoin. Zeus Network has attracted widespread attention, with investments from Solana co-founder Anatoly and Stacks founder, a key figure in the Bitcoin ecosystem.

Before this launch, over 300,000 addresses have qualified for airdrops, including previous Jupiter Voters, zuPoint Holders, and Dapping Gang NFT Holders. This underscores Zeus Network’s extreme emphasis on both the Bitcoin and Solana ecosystems, with each receiving a 1% proportion of ZEUS token rewards.

The significance of this lies in the long-overlooked connection between the Solana and Bitcoin ecosystems. While the early focus was on WBTC and various BTC L2 trends, the development focus has been on linking chains with the Bitcoin and EVM ecosystems, with multi-signature bridges and Rollup forms becoming mainstream.

However, expanding the financial potential of the Bitcoin ecosystem while ensuring security and meeting the real needs of cross-chain communication has long been overlooked, either intentionally or unintentionally. For example, creating a secure bidirectional communication bridge in both the Solana and Bitcoin ecosystems, can be further expanded to any type of public chain.

Zeus was born out of this line of thinking. On March 9, 2024, Zeus Network received financing from Solana co-founder Toly and the founder of Stacks, highlighting its importance in the Solana ecosystem.

Decoding Zeus, A Communication Layer Rather Than a Cross-Chain Bridge

First and foremost, it’s important to clarify a concept: Zeus Network is a permissionless communication layer, not a typical asset cross-chain bridge. In Zeus’s operation, there’s no need for asset transfers, ensuring a high level of security.

To the left, Solana; to the right, Bitcoin.

Zeus Network serves as a communication layer connecting Solana and Bitcoin. Supported by the Solana Virtual Machine (SVM), Zeus Network ensures security for Zeus nodes and provides an efficient transaction experience.

Specifically, Zeus Network facilitates communication between cross-chain dApps, thereby promoting the blending of liquidity across different networks and bringing interoperability to the Bitcoin ecosystem, revitalizing its trillion-dollar market cap.

Taking Apollo on Zeus Network as an example, it can issue zBTC anchored 1:1 to Bitcoin, linking BTC to the Solana network. Adopting a Two-way Peg (2WP) mechanism, it allows for the issuance and use of equivalent zBTC assets on Solana while BTC remains locked on the Bitcoin chain.

In the future, anyone can issue their assets based on Zeus Network, seamlessly connecting the Bitcoin and Solana ecosystems. Developing on Zeus Network is equivalent to developing for both ecosystems.

In terms of technical architecture, Zeus Network consists of Zeus nodes and the Solana Virtual Machine (SVM), similar to the EVM. It adopts a “one main chain + N sub-chains” multi-chain architecture pattern, bringing Bitcoin’s capital efficiency to the entire ecosystem through Solana.

The specific functions of Zeus nodes involve service discovery, load balancing, service invocation, API monitoring, configuration center, service governance, and service fault tolerance. These functions together form the core of Zeus Network, ensuring efficient operation and stability.

Utilizing the SVM, Zeus Network enables one-time development and multi-chain circulation, unlocking the trillion-dollar liquidity of Bitcoin and leveraging Solana’s strong on-chain processing capabilities to build an uncensored DeFi system.

As a communication layer, Zeus Network not only connects Solana and Bitcoin but also allows developers to create innovative solutions and establish diverse applications and services on the network. Developers can deploy dApps across different blockchains effortlessly. Through Zeus Network, the circulation of over a trillion dollars’ worth of Bitcoin and Solana can be interconnected.

On one hand, Solana’s TPS can reach up to 50,000 transactions per second, while on the other hand, Bitcoin’s acceptance remains at the highest level. The combination of both can break through the current inward-facing situation of DeFi.

Beyond BTC L2, Solana DeFi’s Revolutionary Moment

Solana co-founder Toly once stated that Solana could become the Layer 2 solution for all blockchains, which is significantly different from the narrow focus on BTC or ETH alone, especially with the upcoming Cancun upgrade, the war between high-performance blockchains and Ethereum L2 will truly begin.

Anatoly has said, “Solana will become a powerful Layer 2 for all blockchains, completely different from EVM Layer 2. By connecting with other blockchains, Solana will become the application layer, thus driving the emergence of more cross-chain products.”

From this perspective, Zeus’s introduction of BTC is a strategic offensive posture. If we talk about value, then BTC is synonymous with value itself. If we talk about speed, Solana’s daily TPS of over 3000 is enough to make it stand out.

After Solana’s rebirth, how DeFi will develop in the post-FTX era becomes an urgent consensus for the ecosystem to achieve.

On March 9, 2024, Zeus Network received an angel round financing from Solana co-founder Toly, Mechanism Capital founder Andrew Kang, and the founder of Stacks.

Zeus believes that overall collaboration and refined operations are indispensable duets. This is especially true for Zeus Network and the numerous DeFi projects within the Solana ecosystem, such as Jito, Jupiter, and Marginfi.

Symbiosis with Solana DeFi projects is crucial.

Especially, Jupiter, Zeus Network received over 50% of the votes in the voting on the Jupiter LFG Launchpad and ultimately became the first batch of projects selected by the Jupiter DAO for launch. The launch is scheduled for April 4th at 9:00 PM (SGT).

In addition, Marginfi will also issue a high-yield decentralized stablecoin, YBX, supported by the Solana ecosystem’s LST, and can earn Solana staking rewards (approximately 8%), MEV capture, requiring users to use Jito’s MEV client. All of these factors can incorporate Zeus into the ecosystem.

Moreover, in Zeus’s own node staking mechanism, priority support is given to various LSD assets, such as SOL or mSOL, embedding itself deeply within the Solana ecosystem, which has always been Zeus’s consistent strategy.

In terms of operational strategy, Zeus prioritizes user-centric approaches and actively builds its exemplary application, Apollo, to drive enthusiasm for Zeus construction.

Refined operations are an inevitable part of growth. Regarding the development of Zeus Network, by the end of 2024, a series of significant improvements will be completed, including the deployment of network nodes, staking functions for the ZEUS token, and BTC staking functions.

Zeus’s decentralized nodes will ensure network operation, and Apollo will also enable native BTC staking functionality. Specifically, the arrangement is as follows:

• Q2 2024: Muses upgrade
  • Deploy Zeus nodes;
  • Start the audit process;
  • APOLLO testnet V0.3 version is launched, supporting tBTC deposits and withdrawals and zBTC custody;
• Q3 2024: Gaia upgrade
  • Introducing ZEUS token staking and native BTC staking functions;
  • The Zeus network mainnet experiment supports Schnorr and EdDSA threshold signatures;
  • APOLLO mainnet supports BTC staking;
  • Zeus nodes support staking SOL tokens.

It can be observed that Zeus Network adopts a dual-axis development approach, gradually connecting Zeus Network to both the Bitcoin and Solana ecosystems, and actively exploring the adoption and application of Bitcoin-native technologies.

Promoting ecosystem development to attract BTC into Solana.

In addition to ecosystem, developer, and operational strategies, Zeus’s token economics are also unique.

ZEUS has a total supply of 1 billion tokens, with nearly half allocated to ecosystem and community growth, accounting for 40%. The team’s allocation is only 15%, much less than the foundation’s reserve of 20%, indicating that Zeus Network has reserved ample ammunition for future ecosystem competition.

In terms of specific usage, besides earning points through zuPoint, obtaining token airdrops is possible by participating in various Zeus ecosystem projects, such as the first multi-chain wallet Zues, which is primarily based on Solana. Additionally, Solana and Jupiter developers can use the Zeus SDK to support BTC holders in directly purchasing SPL assets on Solana.

For regular users, a more convenient way is to use the Apollo network. Users only need to connect their Bitcoin wallet and Solana wallet to enjoy the convenience brought by Zeus Network. When using Apollo, users do not actually transfer BTC to the Solana network but can still benefit from BTC’s earnings within the Solana ecosystem.

For novice users, they can simply let Apollo earn profits automatically. Zeus Network will manage asset earnings and distribute them to users’ SPL wallets. Advanced users, can manually manage zBTC, design their own profit strategies, and invest in the Solana network.

In summary, attracting BTC into the Solana ecosystem is the original intention of Zeus’s design.

As mentioned earlier, prominent figures from both the Solana and Bitcoin ecosystems are involved in Zeus investments, and Zeus’s future will continue to gain momentum, especially in the areas of wallets, stablecoins, and DEXs, further unleashing asset liquidity..

Conclusion

BTC has become the biggest breakthrough and hotspot of 2024, but methods like WBTC and BTC L2 are either centralized or too closely tied to the Ethereum ecosystem. Zeus, on the other hand, takes a different approach by introducing BTC into the Solana ecosystem. Currently, the market value of the Solana ecosystem is only within 10% of Bitcoin’s, indicating enormous growth potential.

Moreover, Zeus originated from Solana but will interconnect with numerous public chains in the future. zBTC is not just a decentralized transformation of WBTC; it also serves as an on-chain liquidity management solution with its built-in AMMM mechanism design, giving users the choice between self-organization and centralized organization.

In terms of specific mechanism implementation, Zeus also draws inspiration from the experimental mechanisms of BTC L2, such as using fraud proofs to verify transaction validity. Additionally, for solutions like EVM and Move VM, Zeus maintains an open-minded approach. It’s not merely cross-chain; it’s more like surpassing cross-chain. Ultimately, the goal is to communicate across all chains, making interoperability a foundational feature.

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1. This article is reprinted from techflowpost. The original title is “Detailed explanation of Zeus Network: Creating a native communication layer for Solana and Bitcoin, which will be launched on Jupiter on April 4.” Copyright belongs to the original author[Deep tide TechFlow]all. If you have any objections to this reprint, please contact the Gate Learn Team. The team will handle it as soon as possible according to relevant procedures.

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