The zkBTC Bridge is a cross-chain bridge based on zero-knowledge proof technology, connecting the Ethereum and Bitcoin ecosystems, committed to achieving secure and efficient cross-chain asset transfers. As the protocol continues to develop, its team revealed in a recent community AMA that they plan to launch its governance tokens in the future, aiming to promote the decentralization of the protocol and community governance. Holders of its governance tokens will gain governance rights over zkBTC Bridge and the team's subsequent projects. This governance model ensures the long-term robust operation of the protocol, reducing reliance on the core team, thus constructing a fully decentralized Bitcoin cross-chain bridge.
By launching governance tokens, the zkBTC Bridge will officially take an important step towards becoming a public cross-chain infrastructure, committed to providing users with a secure, transparent, and sustainable decentralized asset cross-chain solution.
Decentralized Incentive Mechanism, allowing the protocol's value to return to community users.
The zkBTC Bridge team announced that approximately 75% of the governance tokens will be distributed through a mining mechanism to incentivize protocol users and miners to jointly maintain the ecosystem. Tokens will be distributed in the following proportions:
75% of tokens generated through mining: Distribution as follows
User Rewards: The vast majority of tokens will be returned to all cross-chain transaction users.
Miner and Foundation Rewards: A small portion of tokens will be allocated to miners and the foundation to incentivize miners to provide computing resources and cover on-chain fees to maintain the normal operation of the protocol. This also supports the long-term operation of the foundation.
Profit Distribution Mechanism and Fee Structure
The profit distribution mechanism of zkBTC is fully managed by smart contracts to ensure openness and transparency:
Profit Distribution: All transaction fees generated from cross-chain transactions will be allocated to a public revenue pool managed by smart contracts, and protocol revenues will be automatically distributed to token holders, allowing users to receive profits based on their token holdings.
Free Withdrawal: Users can flexibly withdraw shares from the revenue pool according to their needs, and can use their governance token holdings to withdraw shares freely from the revenue pool for $zkBTC.
The token economics of zkBTC Bridge also references Bitcoin's mining design, ensuring the scarcity and long-term growth potential of its governance tokens by periodically reducing mining rewards and bridge fees. In the economic model design, the fee and reward halving mechanism:
Bitcoin-based Assets: The governance token is designed as a Bitcoin-based asset, with its value linked to Bitcoin.
Appreciation Model: The protocol will adjust the transaction fee rates and bridge mining rewards based on a predetermined algorithm, ensuring that the exchange rate of each token relative to Bitcoin will continue to rise as the protocol continues.
Role of Miners and Composition of Revenues
Miners are crucial in the zkBTC Bridge ecosystem, as they ensure the secure transfer of cross-chain assets and data on-chain by computing zero-knowledge proofs (zk-proof).
Computing Proof and Payment of On-chain Fees:
Ensuring the integrity of transaction data and the reliability of on-chain storage.
Providing stable cross-chain transaction services and optimizing user experience.
Revenue Structure:
As a reward, miners will receive token rewards and cross-chain transaction fee revenues, incentivizing miners to continuously maintain network stability.
Role and Function of the zkBTC Foundation
To ensure the long-term stability and security of the zkBTC Bridge, the project team will also establish a foundation as the core support for ecological development, with main responsibilities including:
Network Maintenance and Security Assurance: The foundation will continuously monitor the system, promptly fix potential vulnerabilities, and optimize protocol performance.
Community Development and Ecological Construction: The foundation will also promote developer incentive programs to facilitate the expansion of innovative applications and partnerships.
OP_ZKP Development and Operations Management: The foundation will continue to fund research and development of the OP_ZKP opcode and infrastructure applications based on this new opcode, as well as maintain the long-term stable operation of the zkBTC bridge.
Dual Function of Governance Tokens
The revenue tokens of zkBTC are not only for distributing rewards but also serve as governance tokens for future projects. All token holders have decision-making power over ecological development, supporting decentralized governance:
Community Governance and Voting Rights: Token holders can participate in significant protocol changes, fund allocations, and strategic decisions.
Ecological Expansion and Innovation Support: Voting on governance proposals, partner incentives, and future application development proposals.
Through this dual-function design, zkBTC achieves an effective balance between economic incentives and community governance, ensuring the long-term prosperity of the ecosystem. In addition, the future plans for zkBTC Bridge include introducing more asset support, expanding the cross-chain ecology, and developing new projects to extend the use cases of zkBTC.
The zkBTC Bridge will establish a community-driven cross-chain ecology to achieve true decentralized management and sustainable development, further promoting Bitcoin as a circulating underlying asset across the chain.