Crypto Society Ama Recap with Zeus Network — 2nd December 2024

Crypto Society

9 min readDec 4, 2024

💠Solana Layer 1.5: Enabling permissionless cross-chain interactions with the leading blockchains.

💠 Earn yield on your BTC with DEFI via the first Bitcoin permissionless bridge with zBTC.

💠 Major announcements incoming 🔥

💠 Early backers include Solana CEO & Cofounder Anatoly Yakovenko.

Bilo | Crypto Society

Welcome, it’s our pleasure to have you with us today. I would like to welcome you here on behalf of our entire community.

To our audience, you can type in your questions into the comments section of the muted portion of the AMA and our guest from Zeus Network will answer as many as possible depending on the time available

Could we begin with a brief history of yourself and your team, your role at Zeus Network, what you were doing before Zeus Network & How Zeus Network started?

Justin | Zeus Network

Hi guys, I am the founder of Zeus Network. We have been building on Solana for almost 4 years already, we have pivoted 3 times before we committed to Zeus. Our team is probably one of the most resilient team in the space. We did not give up because of FTX, crash of $SOL.

Instead, we kept going; and finally, we came out with Zeus as an idea last August. and here we are 🙂

Zeus is pioneering permissionless Bitcoin-Solana cross-chain interaction to unlock Bitcoin liquidity for scaling the Solana ecosystem.

Positioned as Layer 1.5 of Solana, Zeus Layer is composed of the Zeus Program Library (ZPL) and Zeus Node. Our vision is to enable developers to permissionlessly build decentralized applications (dApps) on top of Zeus Layer, opening a trustless pathway for Bitcoin liquidity to flow into Solana.

Bilo | Crypto Society

Love it

Please explain what Zeus Network is as simply as possible. We will dive deeper as we progress in this AMA.

Justin | Zeus Network

Zeus is a Layer 1.5 of Solana (Layer extension): the first permissionless communication layer connecting Bitcoin to Solana permissionlessly.

Any incoming $BTC transaction to Solana; all will be validated by the Solana virtual Machine.

on-chain / permissionless. No third party, no off-chain data involved.

Bilo | Crypto Society

Zeus is built on the Solana Virtual machine (SVM). Why did you make that choice?

Justin | Zeus Network

Solana is probably the best performance chain out there. If we are looking at future of web3; it is definitely Solana over Ethereum.

A chain has to be usable/efficient/cheap, low-cost. Solana has all; hence the reason why we think Bitcoin as a mega asset on Solana could spark more innovations moving forward.

Bilo | Crypto Society

I can’t agree more 🥲

Tell us about Apollo & its relationship to Zeus network.

Justin | Zeus Network

Zeus Network is built with composable SDK; meaning that anyone could interact with ZPL (Zeus Program Library)

Essentially anyone can build on top and leverage the communication portal between Bitcoin and Solana.

Apollo (Bitcoin Liquidity terminal on Solana) as the first dApp that’s ever built on top; incubated by Zeus Foundation, it aims to bring 1% of Bitcoin to Solana by $zBTC.

Bilo | Crypto Society

Tell us about $Zeus, its use cases, and why the token is needed for zBTC. Tell us also about the Dynamic ratio and how this ratio was decided upon.

Justin | Zeus Network

$ZEUS,

To ensure the security of ZPL assets and the network, $ZEUS takes center stage through its delegation functionality. Zeus Node Guardian will accept delegation from $ZEUS holders at an initial ratio of $BTC 1:20,000 $ZEUS, creating a strong and secure foundation during the network’s early stages.

As more Bitcoin liquidity enters Solana, this ratio will dynamically adjust based on the $BTC market and the liquidity demands on Solana.

By aligning $ZEUS and $BTC within the ecosystem, this chapter establishes a strong base for the long-term goal of onboarding 1% of Bitcoin’s total supply onto Solana.

There is Chapter #2 and #3 utility coming soon in Q1 and Q2 next year.

Bilo | Crypto Society

This is so awesome. I love the concept and the use case. 💯🙌

Is it safe to say that as Zeus will make Solana an L1.5 to BTC via DEFI it will do so across multiple chains and not just Solana?

Justin | Zeus Network

Yes, and we are planning to release something bigger as we think Zeus as an innovation can be greatly used on any other chains; what if we can deploy Zeus as an infra to any other blockchains?

Zeus could become the biggest liquidity layer between Bitcoin and other blockchains. hint: Zeus Layer

Bilo | Crypto Society

Thanks for confirming.

I knew it 🥹

How does zBTC compare to WBTC & cbBTC?

Justin | Zeus Network

zBTC is the first wrapped-Bitcoin with no kyc/ kyb. you can convert back and forward. anytime / anywhere!

Every $BTC thats brought by Zeus to Solana; SVM ensures is 1:1 back, pegged and minted.

However, wBTC is 100% centralization; plus you cannot convert back to real”””” $BTC.

Not to mention, cbBTC you will need to be KYC / KYB for you to mint and convert back to $BTC.

Not your key / not your coin / your choice.

Bilo | Crypto Society

That is amazing. I think that the more people know and understand the difference, the more successful this will become. I’m not sure most comprehend this right now. You’re doing a great job putting it out there.

How do you ensure that the BTC that’s bridged to zBTC is always safe and hack-free? Is insurance a possibility?

Justin | Zeus Network

Zeus Node Guardians will be the MPC signers for all incoming $BTC to Solana.

In the beginning, we are planning to release 7 Guardians, and of course as more guardians; there will be more secure / signers for any incoming $BTC

Even Zeus as a foundation cannot sign out any $BTC. Every guardian has to sign and agree to it.

Bilo | Crypto Society

Thanks. Tell us about the SC audits performed so far. How does it all look and when can we look forward to reading the results?

Justin | Zeus Network

We are 2–3 weeks from the complete auditing report. The second auditor also has begun their work on Zeus as well.

We treat security seriously / carefully and this will be done regularly.

Bilo | Crypto Society

I will have some more questions on the guardians a few questions down the line

Forgot to ask; Can bridged BTC be redeemed at any time or is there a minimum period?

Justin | Zeus Network

Anytime / Anywhere.

Only one situation where if we are facing attack then we could hold the withdrawal; but it is unlikely to happen as hackers could only attack and drain Solana version $BTC.

Again to do this we will have to get approved by all guardians; it will not be a single signer decision.

Bilo | Crypto Society

This is incredible.

I’ve been seeing all kinds of posts on X about people having a hard time converting their CBBTC or WBTC.

Justin | Zeus Network

P.S. All Guardians are reputable institutions like VCs and Miners.

Bilo | Crypto Society

Tell us more about Zeus nodes and guardian nodes and what the differences are between the two. Have they been launched yet?

Justin | Zeus Network

Zeus Node and Guardians are essentially the same. Treat Zeus Node as the main node and where guardians are sub Node with a key to sign transactions.

All of these are done in MPC fashion where multiple guardians will sign with any incoming $BTC.

Bilo | Crypto Society

Wen launch of nodes?

Justin | Zeus Network

Let’s say even Zeus Node gets shut down, Zeus as the foundation still can’t sign out $BTC that’s stored under guardians, Guardians have to sign and agree to it.

Alpha; coming this week…

Bilo | Crypto Society

Ser, help me decipher this,

I have an Inkling. these are dates, aren’t they 👀👀👀

Justin | Zeus Network

The team has been working hard; transparent and super dedicated to building this into a one-of-a-kind product/solution in the world.

I can't disclose much, we are something bigger in Q1 next year too

Remember this…..

Bilo | Crypto Society

Ok. Will try again soon.

Justin | Zeus Network

Zeus is the only multichain solution on Solana now.

We are bridgeless

We are Thorchain on SVM

Bilo | Crypto Society

What’s the APY for delegating $Zeus to a regular node vs a guardian node Also, is there a minimum lockup and de-delegation period?

Justin | Zeus Network

15–18% yield in $ZEUS. you can choose to lock 6–12–24 months according to your plan

We were also planning to give out fee sharing with the amount of bitcoin coming through us.

A lot of this information will be released in early Q1 next year

Bilo | Crypto Society

What are the prerequisites to get a Zeus and/or guardian node?

Justin | Zeus Network

Some hardware requirements on this but again anyone with $ZEUS can delegate to any guardians; securing BTC to Solana, together as a force/family

We have over 10+ guardian requests already, each guardian will need x amount of $ZEUS to activate.

Bilo | Crypto Society

Where do you see the Zeus Network project next year? How many zBTC do you project will be in existence?

Justin | Zeus Network

There won’t be just $zBTC on Zeus as a layer. if Zeus is going to succeed, We need X-Y-Z btc on Solana.

There can be 5 dApps like Apollo building on Zeus; leveraging ZPL, ZPL assets.

Bilo | Crypto Society

I know we have a few possibilities already

Justin | Zeus Network

The sky is the limit; I imagine all defi projects on Solana will want to grasp this BTC liquidity

Bilo | Crypto Society

Babylon protocol seeks to secure the Solana chain with BTC. I can’t help but think there should be some sort of relationship between Zeus & Babylon. Are you at liberty to discuss this ser?

Justin | Zeus Network

We are tight as a partner.

Honestly, any defi protocols can launch their version of BTC.

Bilo | Crypto Society

Ser, this part of the AMA is a little tricky for me.

You’ve been a sport and provided some alpha already.

But, I’m placed in a position where I can lose my job as I’m under a lot of pressure to extract alpha and breaking news. If not, I’m fired and my wallet drained as all my holdings were a present given to me by the community on the condition that I extract alpha. 🥹

Justin | Zeus Network

We have secured a large amount of $BTC coming through Zeus on Apollo

We want to compete with Coinbase, cbBTC, and we can do better!

Both December and January — We have serious announcements.

Stay tuned ⛈️⛈️

Bilo | Crypto Society

Do you wish to let us know anything else that was not covered in the questions above?

Justin | Zeus Network

I think we’ve covered most of it already.

Bilo | Crypto Society

Thank you for your time in answering our questions here today. We are all very appreciative of your time and of the answers you have provided

With this, we will open up the chat for those who wish to personally thank you for your time with us here today.