Tokenomics Overview
$zer0 is the native utility token powering the zer0 browser economy. With a fixed supply of 21 million tokens, $zer0 enables privacy-preserving browsing rewards, mixnode operations, and agent marketplace transactions—all while implementing deflationary mechanics to drive long-term value.
📊 Token Fundamentals
Token Name
zer0
Symbol
$zer0
Total Supply
21,000,000 (fixed, hard cap)
Blockchain
Solana
Consensus
Proof of Stake (zk-shielded)
Minimum Stake
1,000 $zer0
Transaction Privacy
zk-SNARKs (Sapling pools)
Block Time
~2.5 minutes
Finality
~10 minutes
🎯 Token Utility
1. Browsing Rewards Currency
Users earn $zer0 for private browsing:
0.13 $zer0 per minute of active tab time
Distributed from advertiser pool
2x multiplier with privacy-preserving ads enabled
2. Network Access & Staking
Required for running mixnodes:
Minimum stake: 1,000 $zer0
Earn 15% base APY + transaction fees
Lock periods: 30, 90, or 180 days (higher APY for longer locks)
3. Agent Marketplace
Currency for AI agent rentals:
Rent specialized agents: 3-50 $zer0/day
Creators earn 70% of rentals
20% burned (deflationary)
10% to zer0 DAO treasury
4. Governance
DAO voting rights:
1 staked $zer0 = 1 vote
Longer stake duration = vote multiplier (up to 4x)
Proposal creation requires 10,000 $zer0 stake
5. Cross-Chain Operations
Bridge currency for multi-chain DeFi:
Bridges to Ethereum, Cosmos
5% fee on shielded swaps (2% burned, 3% to stakers)
Required for zk-shielded DeFi operations
6. Premium Features
Access to zer0 Pro and enterprise tools:
zer0 Pro: 100 $zer0/month
Priority support: 10 $zer0/month
Custom agent training: 500-5,000 $zer0
Hardware wallet integration: 50 $zer0 one-time
📈 Token Distribution
Community Rewards
50%
10,500,000
Linear 4 years
Browse-to-earn, referrals, airdrops
Ecosystem Fund
25%
5,250,000
2-year cliff
Agent dev grants, dApp incentives, liquidity
Team & Advisors
15%
3,150,000
3-year linear
Core team, advisors (locked from TGE)
Treasury
10%
2,100,000
Gov-controlled
Buybacks, liquidity, strategic reserves
Detailed Breakdown
Community Rewards (50%)
Browse-to-Earn Pool: 40% (8,400,000 $zer0)
Year 1: 25% of pool (2,100,000 $zer0)
Year 2: 20% of pool (1,680,000 $zer0)
Year 3: 15% of pool (1,260,000 $zer0)
Year 4: 10% of pool (840,000 $zer0)
Years 5-10: Remaining 30% (2,520,000 $zer0)
Airdrops & Incentives: 10% (2,100,000 $zer0)
Beta testers: 500,000 $zer0
Referral bonuses: 800,000 $zer0
Community contests: 400,000 $zer0
Strategic partners: 400,000 $zer0
Ecosystem Fund (25%)
Agent Developer Grants: 40% (2,100,000 $zer0)
Support agent creators
Bug bounties and audits
Education and documentation
dApp Incentives: 30% (1,575,000 $zer0)
Privacy-preserving dApps
Integration partnerships
Developer evangelism
Liquidity Provision: 30% (1,575,000 $zer0)
DEX liquidity pairs
Market making
CEX listings
🔥 Deflationary Mechanisms
Burn Sources
Agent Marketplace
20% of fees
730,000 $zer0
Cross-Chain Exits
2% of volume
400,000 $zer0
Premium Features
30-100% of fees
150,000 $zer0
Treasury Buybacks
Variable
1,200,000 $zer0
Total Annual Burn
-
2,480,000 $zer0
Burn Impact Over Time
2025
2,100,000
-500,000
+1,600,000
7,600,000
2026
1,680,000
-2,000,000
-320,000
7,280,000
2027
1,260,000
-2,800,000
-1,540,000
5,740,000
2028
840,000
-3,200,000
-2,360,000
3,380,000
2030
500,000
-3,500,000
-3,000,000
1,500,000
Result: Token becomes increasingly scarce while utility grows
💎 Tokenomics at Scale
Scenario: 1 Million DAU (Conservative)
Daily Metrics:
User Earnings: 15.6 $zer0/user × 1M = 15.6M $zer0/day
Ad Revenue: $2M/day (@ $50 CPM, 40M ad impressions)
Treasury Buyback: $800K/day (40% of ad revenue)
Daily Burns: 50,000 $zer0 (from all sources)
Monthly Metrics:
Total Earned by Users: 468M $zer0
Total Burned: 1.5M $zer0
Net Inflation: 466.5M $zer0
Buyback Support: $24M/month
Price Implications:
Minimum Price Floor: $24M buyback ÷ 466.5M earned = $0.051/token
With Staking (80% locked): Only 93.3M liquid = $0.26/token floor
With Speculative Premium: Likely $0.50-1.00/token
Scenario: 5 Million DAU (Optimistic)
Daily Metrics:
User Earnings: 78M $zer0/day
Ad Revenue: $12M/day (network effects, higher CPM)
Treasury Buyback: $4.8M/day
Daily Burns: 300,000 $zer0
Monthly Metrics:
Total Earned by Users: 2.34B $zer0
Total Burned: 9M $zer0
Net Inflation: 2.33B $zer0
Buyback Support: $144M/month
Price Implications:
Minimum Price Floor: $144M ÷ 2.33B = $0.062/token
With Staking (80% locked): Only 466M liquid = $0.31/token floor
With Speculative Premium: Likely $1.00-2.50/token
📊 Valuation Models
Price Discovery Mechanisms
1. Treasury Buyback Floor
Price Floor = (Monthly Ad Revenue × 40%) ÷ (Monthly Emissions × 20% Liquid)2. Staking Demand
With 15% APY target, price rises until APY normalizes:
If supply earning 15% = demand to stake3. Network Value
FDV = (Annual Ad Revenue × P/S Multiple)
Conservative P/S = 5-10x (vs Brave/Arweave)Comparable Analysis
Brave (BAT)
$420M
8.5x
101M
Basic rewards
Arweave (AR)
$1.2B
4.2x
N/A
Storage payments
Helium (HNT)
$1.8B
3.8x
600K
Network rewards
zer0 (Projected)
$5-10B
5-10x
5M
Full economy
Why higher valuation?
✅ More utility (agents, staking, governance)
✅ Deflationary vs inflationary
✅ Higher revenue per user ($200+ vs $5 for Brave)
✅ Premium audience (crypto-native)
🎯 Token Launch Strategy
Phase 1: TGE (Token Generation Event)
Launch Details:
Date: Q1 2026
Initial Circulating Supply: 6,000,000 $zer0 (28.6% of total)
Initial Price: $0.10-0.20 (seed/private rounds)
Public Price: $0.25-0.35 (IDO)
Initial Liquidity:
$2M DEX liquidity ($1M from treasury + $1M from LPs)
Listed on Uniswap, PancakeSwap, SushiSwap
Liquidity locked for 2 years
Phase 2: CEX Listings (Q2 2026)
Target Exchanges:
Tier 2: OKX, Bybit, Gate.io (Q2 2026)
Tier 1: Binance, Coinbase, Kraken (Q3 2026)
Listing Requirements:
$10M+ daily volume for 30 days
100,000+ token holders
Clean audit reports
Phase 3: Mainstream Adoption (2027+)
Growth Milestones:
1M MAU → Coinbase listing
5M MAU → Top 50 token by FDV
10M MAU → Top 20 token by FDV
🔒 Security & Audits
Smart Contract Audits
Completed:
✅ Trail of Bits (Q1 2026) - Token contract, staking
✅ Least Authority (Q1 2026) - zk-circuits
Ongoing:
🔄 Bug bounty: $500,000 pool on HackerOne
🔄 Quarterly audits as features added
Decentralization
Progressive Decentralization:
Year 1: Core team-controlled (security)
Year 2: DAO proposals (community input)
Year 3: Full DAO (on-chain execution)
📚 Learn More
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