TL;DR ZetaChain 2.0 proposes a series of potential upgrades to achieve the first Universal EVM for chain abstraction with features such as Universal Proof of Stake and Universal Apps that automate complex cross-chain interactions.
Today, we’re excited to introduce ZetaChain 2.0, and the first Universal EVM for chain abstraction. These upgrades, proposed and developed by the decentralized ZetaChain community, focus on the Chain Abstraction Framework (CAF). They aim to unlock new prospective use cases such as Universal Proof of Stake and Universal Apps that can manage complex interactions, apps, and assets on external chains on behalf of users.
These proposed upgrades are actively being developed by the community of ZetaChain users in the public node repository. They will only pass if the community votes to approve them through on-chain governance. This post reviews the current state of the ZetaChain protocol, and articulates both the vision and what it will take to realize ZetaChain 2.0 — the first Universal EVM for chain abstraction.
ZetaChain 1.0 has been live on mainnet since February 1st, 2024. It offers a fully functional network that connects Bitcoin, Ethereum, and BNB Chain. Developers can deploy Omnichain Smart Contracts on ZetaChain’s EVM that use the ZRC-20 primitive to connect and orchestrate value and data across all connected chains without wrapping or locking tokens.
Since its inception three months ago, ZetaChain network ranks in the top five blockchains by total active users (Source: DappRadar) and generated over 100 million transactions. The ecosystem comprises more than 250 developers and partners working across infrastructure, DeFi, SocialFi, Gaming, and more, with over 5,500 dApp contracts deployed.
Last month, we launched an Ecosystem Growth Program, committing 5% of the total ZETA supply to provide grants for developers building innovative projects that advance our shared mission for chain abstraction and network development. 1% (21 million ZETA) is allocated for impactful projects that use ZetaChain to unlock the Bitcoin network.
The XP program is built to help the ecosystem understand omnichain usage and triangulate rewards for sustainable growth. May 1st marked the completion of phase one of XP. Both the Ecosystem Growth Program (5% of total supply) and User Growth Pool (6% of total supply) leverage the XP user loyalty program data to determine grants and allocations. New developments, rewards mechanisms, and grant allocations are underway and will be released in upcoming updates.
ZetaChain proposed 2.5 years ago the first Universal EVM Stack to enable true chain abstraction with near-atomic omnichain interactions. With a Universal EVM, chains, assets, and data are abstracted, orchestrated, and converged for a more ideal crypto user experience. The ZetaChain stack pioneers a new frame for viewing and experiencing a multichain ecosystem. This is the Universal EVM.
Apps on the Universal EVM can both natively access and be accessed from any connected chain without requiring users to switch networks. With complete EVM-compatibility, developers can use existing, robust EVM ecosystem tooling and deploy existing Solidity contracts to achieve Universal Apps — compatible with all connected chains, in just a few lines of code.
The Chain Abstraction Framework (CAF), comprised of the ZetaClient with its Observer-Signer nodes, enables omnichain connectivity of the network to any blockchain. This framework is accessible through the Universal EVM, which is a synchronous environment that can be called from any chain, manage native assets on any chain, and access asynchronous arbitrary messaging to call contracts on other chains. Developing with the CAF offers the ability to build robust state management combined with multi-leg, multi-chain apps’ needs, all in the familiar EVM development environment. The resulting user experience is unbounded, where the majority of apps can be used entirely from any single network while the rest of the app logic can be affordably, securely, and performantly abstracted.