ZenIP 42406: EON and $ZEN Migration – High Level Overview

On June 6th, the official ZenIP for the technical roadmap of the migration of $ZEN and EON went live on Discourse, there’s a lot to cover on it, so we wanted to provide a high level overview of the proposal and what it means for the Horizen Ecosystem. 

At a high level, Horizen ($ZEN) and EON are currently built on older technology stacks. The Horizen Mainchain is a fork of the Bitcoin C++ codebase with a block time of 2.5 minutes, while EON is written in Scala based on the Scorex SDK with an 18-second block time. To address the limitations of these legacy systems and align with the vision of Horizen as a home for ZK and an enduring utility for $ZEN, Horizen Labs is proposing to migrate to EON 2.0.

Key Points

1. EON 2.0 will be a fully-compatible EVM. This includes backward compatibility to provide a smooth transition for existing $ZEN holders and EON developers, including incentives, emissions, staking, partner integrations, exchange continuity, and EVM compatibility. This means that existing smart contracts on EON will be transitioned over, including $ZEN in current liquidity pools.
2. This is a technical ZenIP, laying out the technical roadmap for the migration mechanics for $ZEN and EON. Tokenomics are not in scope for this ZenIP. Topics such as allocations and emissions are explicitly excluded since they will be covered in greater detail in a separate proposal.
3. It will be a snapshot-based migration, where comprehensive state snapshots of both EON 1.0 and Horizen will be taken to ensure a seamless transition to EON 2.0. We will provide the ability for anyone to independently verify the integrity of both snapshots.
4. For Mainchain $ZEN, there will be a claim process overtime, where eligible users can claim their old Mainchain $ZEN by proving the ownership of their address. As for $ZEN on EON, it will not require any claim, since balances will be migrated with the state snapshot.
5. EON 2.0 will be built using the Substrate framework (written in Rust) with tight integration with the zkVerify protocol (which is also built on Substrate) for fast and cost-efficient verification of zk proofs. Specifically, EON 2.0 will be a parachain connected to the zkVerify Relay Chain. It is not associated with the Polkadot ecosystem.

Visual Representation of the Migration Proposal

Voting Timeline

Voting for ZenIP 42406 will start on Tuesday, June 18th, 2024 at 12pm EST and end on Friday, June 21st, 2024 at 12pm EST. The snapshot will be taken as soon as the vote goes live. In order to prepare for the vote, please be sure to follow our instructions here: https://blog.horizen.io/how-to-vote-on-zenips-using-your-staked-zen/

Frequently Asked Questions

• What will be the consensus of the new EON chain?
  • Delegated Proof of Stake
  • Same as the previous EON chain
• Is $ZEN going to be the block reward on the new chain?
  • Yes, but allocations, emissions, and tokenomics are not covered in this technical ZenIP, but in a separate and dedicated proposal. 
• If there are no forger nodes, will there be some other type of staking?
  • Yes there will be staking on EON collators. 
• What will be EON’s connection to zkVerify?
  • EON 2.0 will integrate tightly with the zkVerify protocol, ensuring fast and cost-efficient verification of zk proofs. 
  • zkVerify will operate as its own relay chain. EON 2.0 will also utilize the substrate framework as a parachain to zkVerify. 
• What will happen to the Horizen mainchain?
  • It will be deprecated.
• What will happen to my mainchain $ZEN?
  • $ZEN will be the native token for EON 2.0
  • A comprehensive snapshot will be taken. 
  • Eligible users can claim their $ZEN through a claiming mechanism over time. 
• How will exchanges support this deprecation and migration?
  • We will work closely with exchanges to coordinate a seamless upgrade. 
• How will forger nodes migrate?
  • They will migrate to EON collators, migration steps will be provided.
• What will happen to Super Nodes?
  • They will migrate to EON collators
  • Will be rewarded based on the blocks that they are chosen to forge. 
• What wallet will I have to hold ZEN in? What will happen to Sphere?
  • MetaMask will be used to store $ZEN, Sphere will be deprecated.

As always, we remain available in the Horizen Discord for any community questions, comments, or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to us!