Horizen Ecosystem H1 2024 Report
TL;DR
- Horizen 2.0 Upgrade is Full Steam Ahead: Community voted in favor of the upgrade to a more advanced blockchain architecture.
- Binance Monitoring Tag Removed: $ZEN demonstrates stability and meets Binance’s listing criteria.
- ZenIPs: Six ZenIPs were voted on, including the removal of shielded pools and the technical roadmap for Horizen 2.0.
- Technical Upgrades: Significant upgrades include new node software, EON 1.4, and EON Forger Nodes.
- New Ecosystem Partnerships: New integration with partners such as Magic Link, Rabby Wallet, and Math Wallet.
- Media & Events: Highlights include the Horizen Buidler House at ETHDenver and appearances at major Web3 conferences.
2024 has been quite the year so far for the Horizen Ecosystem and for $ZEN. Completing the transition away from being a privacy coin and currently undergoing the Horizen 2.0 upgrade to become the next-gen EVM optimized for ZK apps. From ZenIPs to new partners, product upgrades, Horizen turning 7, and more, let’s dive in and see what happened for the first half of 2024.
Horizen 2.0 Upgrade is Full Steam Ahead
In June of 2024, the community voted overwhelmingly in favor for transitioning $ZEN from the legacy Horizen mainchain and Horizen EON EVM to a more advanced blockchain architecture, we call this upgrade Horizen 2.0.
At a high level, Horizen ($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, a ZenIP was proposed to upgrade to Horizen 2.0, which introduces more advanced features and optimizations to enhance the network performance, security, and utility of $ZEN.
To learn more about ZenIP 42406 and Horizen 2.0, check out this high-level overview that breaks everything down.
Binance Removes the Monitoring Tag for $ZEN
On July 1st, Binance announced the removal of the monitoring tag for $ZEN recognizing its stability and performance.
The monitoring tag was placed in Jan 2024 along with several other privacy-featured coins. In the same month, the Horizen community voted in favor of removing the privacy feature from the Horizen mainchain, removing regulatory and delisting risks for $ZEN, allowing the Horizen network to maintain its versatility and compliance in the competitive landscape of web3. The shielded pool was removed from the Horizen mainchain on February 2024.
What else does this mean for $ZEN?
- Consistent Stability and Confidence: Indicates that $ZEN has demonstrated consistent stability and security, reducing concerns over volatility and risk.
- Improved Listing Criteria: Indicates that $ZEN meets Binance’s stringent listing criteria, including regulatory-compliance, strong development activity, team commitment, and a secure network.
- Positive Market Perception: Reflects a positive outlook on $ZEN, increasing user confidence and encouraging more participation in the Horizen ecosystem.
In the same month of July, $ZEN is ranked a top 10 ZK Project by Market Cap on Coingecko
ZenIPs
The Horizen community voted on 6 ZenIPs in the first half of this year:
- ZenIP 42207: Removal of the Shielded Pools from the Horizen Mainchain – 99.97% in Favor
This ZenIP represents a necessary evolution of the Horizen network to maintain its competitiveness, versatility, and compliance in the changing landscape of blockchain regulation and technology. The passing of this proposal speaks to the community’s desire to strategically pivot away from privacy-focused features towards a more scalable and regulatory-compliant framework.
- ZenIP 42400: Modernizing Horizen Technology via a Modular Proof Verification Layer – 100% in Favor
This ZenIP details a comprehensive understanding of the new modular system proposed by Horizen Labs. It outlines the strategic approach and delves into the technical aspects of a modular proof verification layer. Horizen Labs later announced that it will independently undertake the buildout of the proof verification chain in order to bring it to market more quickly.
- ZenIP 42401: Updating Proposal and Quorum Thresholds – 77.34% in Favor
The purpose of this ZenIP is to seek the community’s decision on lowering the thresholds for formally submitting improvement proposals and achieving a quorum of votes for them. The goal of this ZenIP is to make the governance of Horizen DAO more accessible for community members, increase the likelihood of successful votes (valid due to reaching a quorum), and bring quorum requirements in line with industry standards.
- ZenIP 42404: Delegated Staking Reward Mechanism on EON – 99.87% in Favor
This ZenIP proposed to improve the usability of the EON staking system at the protocol level by automating the reward distribution among the forger hosting provider and the $ZEN holders who stake their ZEN to the forger node. The goal of the upgrade is for the staking security system to calculate and pay the stake reward directly to the staker’s wallet address without first going through the forger node itself.
- ZenIP-42405: Directing the Horizen Foundation to Request a Migration Proposal for $ZEN and EON – 99.99% in Favor
This ZenIP seeks the community’s approval to direct Horizen Foundation to formally request a proposal from Horizen Labs regarding a technical roadmap for $ZEN and EON migration.
- ZenIP 42406: Technical Roadmap for the Migration of $ZEN and EON – 99.87% in Favor
This ZenIP seeks the community’s approval on a detailed strategic technical plan for transitioning the $ZEN cryptocurrency from the current Horizen Mainchain and Horizen EON EVM to a more advanced blockchain architecture. The goal of this technical upgrade is to improve Horizen’s blockchain performance, incorporate the latest advancements in zero-knowledge proof systems into Horizen, and enhance the utility of $ZEN.
Technical Upgrades and Updates
Throughout 2024 so far, we’ve seen a number of major upgrades and updates take place:
- Horizen Node Software Upgrade
- EON 1.4 Upgrade
- New Horizen EON Explorer is live
- The Removal of Shielded Pool from Horizen mainchain
- The deprecation of Secure Nodes
- EON Forger Node becomes available to the public
- Deprecation of TokenMint sidechain
New Ecosystem Partners
So far in 2024, we’ve welcomed a number of new partnerships and integrations to the Horizen Ecosystem. From new wallet integrations like Magic Link, Rabby Wallet, and Math Wallet, to a Safe integration via OnchainDen, we’re continuously growing the Horizen Ecosystem!
We look forward to welcoming our current network partners and integrators onto the new Horizen2.0 ecosystem!
Media & Thought Leadership
- CEO of Horizen Labs & Co-Founder of Horizen, Rob Viglione, talks ZK and Horizen on the Absolutely Zero Knowledge Podcast
- StealthEX AMA on Horizen, Horizen Labs, & zkVerify
- zkTalk with Gevulot on zkVerify, zk Tech, and Horizen
- Co-founder, Rob Viglione, authors “Modular Verification Proof” for CoinMarketCap Glossary
- Horizen Co-founder on Abosolutely Zero Knowledge
Events
Horizen Buidler House at ETHDenver
During ETHDenver earlier this year we hosted a Web3 Builders Day in collaboration with Supermoon camp, it was a great day full of panels, discussions, networking, and connecting!
Rolf Versluis, Co-Founder of Horizen gave a keynote presentation on Horizen, we got to hear some talks from ecosystem partners like Yuzu, Covalent, Tatum, and Stably, discussed modular vs monolithic blockchains, reviewed investing in the next Web3 unicorns and more!
For those who may have missed our recap, we have a thread to review it here: https://x.com/horizenglobal/status/1763687745694957569
In addition to ETHDenver – the team was present at some of the largest Web3 conferences and events of 2024, including Paris Blockchain Week, Token2049 Dubai, Consensus, and ETHCC!
Consensus 2024
Later this year, we are looking to have a presence at ETHMilan, zkHack, Korea Blockchain Week, Token2049, and Devcon!
