The Role of $ZEX
Beyond the Airdrop: How $ZEX Fits into Zeta's Grand Plans
Contents:
Overview
Supply Distribution
Airdrop
Initial Airdrop
Allocation Principles
Staking Airdrop
Claim Process
$ZEX Utility
Incentives
Staking
Governance
Zeta X
Relevant Sources
Overview
$ZEX is coming!
The Token Generation Event (TGE) will mark the first step towards a future where Zeta and its community redefine the decentralized trading arena, setting new standards for what’s (only) possible on Solana.
$ZEX has been designed to elevate Zeta into the ultimate exchange, driving community ownership and fueling optimal trading conditions through governance, staking, and incentives. Moving forward, $ZEX will also serve as the native token for Zeta X (ZX), our upcoming DeFi Layer 2 on Solana crafted to achieve CEX-like performance on-chain.
Here’s everything you need to know about $ZEX and why the upcoming airdrop is just the beginning.
Supply Distribution
$ZEX has a fixed total supply of 1,000,000,000 tokens.
62.5% of the $ZEX supply is reserved for our community:
10% is distributed via airdrop to traders (8%) and early stakers (2%).
30% is allocated to platform incentives. These incentives are exclusively reserved for Zeta traders, rewarding genuine usage of our platform and driving top-tier liquidity conditions.
22.5% fuels the Community Treasury. This allocation funds various community initiatives, including Zeta’s multi-year Creator and Ambassador Programs, set to launch in the next few days. Stay tuned!
The remaining 37.5% of the $ZEX token supply is reserved for contributors and investors, with extended lock-up periods to ensure alignment with the protocol’s long-term success:
Investors are subject to a 1-year cliff and 2 years of vesting.
Contributors are subject to a 1-year cliff and 3 years of vesting
For more information, visit the $ZEX Whitepaper.
Airdrop
The $ZEX airdrop enables direct distribution of our native token to community members who truly embrace and support Zeta’s vision. It also kickstarts staking activity from TGE to enhance governance participation and decentralization as we transition to a DAO-governed protocol.
Initial Airdrop
The initial airdrop of $ZEX accounts for 8% of the total supply:
7% is distributed to users based on the trading activity performed during Z-Score Season 1, Season 2, and pre-Season 1 (OGs).
1% is distributed to members of Zeta’s ecosystem partners who participated in the community airdrop competition.
The snapshot was taken on June 7th, 00:00 UTC. Verify your eligibility and allocation by connecting your wallet to https://token.zeta.markets/.
Allocation Principles
Recent weeks have involved rigorous number crunching and learning from community feedback. Our goal was to place $ZEX in the hands of committed, long-term aligned traders who actively contribute to our protocol’s growth.
To achieve this, airdrop allocations have been determined by Z-Score and fine-tuned through the following mechanisms:
Minimum Z-Score of 500 to help cut down on low-effort sybils while being achievable for traders of all sizes.
Maximum token allocation to ensure a fairer supply distribution among regular users.
Linear distribution design to favor real users rather than short term farmers.
Multipliers for OGs and Season 1 traders to reward our early supporters.
Additional activity boosts and sybil detection measures to minimize the impact from opportunistic airdrop hunters.
We believe this approach is the best way to ensure a fair and balanced distribution, rewarding our early supporters and acknowledging everyone who participated in our journey.
Staking Airdrop
Upon TGE, anyone can stake $ZEX for up to 4 years.
Staking $ZEX within the Genesis Epoch (ending 28 days after the token launch) will automatically qualify you for the staking airdrop (2% of the supply):
Allocations are determined by a user’s average gZEX (staked form of $ZEX) over the Genesis Epoch: the longer and more tokens a user commits to staking, the larger their gZEX and airdrop allocation.
The staking airdrop is issued at the end of the Genesis Epoch as gZEX staked for 90 days.
Claim Process
When connecting your wallet at https://token.zeta.markets/, you’ll see your airdrop allocation divided into different categories, based on the criteria described earlier, plus a 7-day bonus.
This bonus unlocks linearly over 7 days following the TGE. It can be claimed at any time for a discount or claimed in full after the 7 days. The maximum value of the bonus is equal to the sum of all the other allocations.
At TGE, you can claim your airdrop via two alternative methods:
Diamond hand claim: this option allows to claim all allocations in full at TGE and stake them in one action for maximized benefits, including direct qualification and better allocation for the staking airdrop, boosted $ZEX trading incentives, and enhanced governance power upon implementation. If you’re with us for the long haul, this is your go-to choice.
Immediate claim: this option allows to instantly claim the allocations deriving from your trading activity and community airdrop, plus any portion of the 7-Day Bonus that has already unlocked.
$ZEX Utility
$ZEX tokenomics have been designed to accelerate growth, powering a value flywheel through three core utilities.
Incentives
Over the next 90 epochs, 300 million $ZEX is designated for ongoing trading incentives, aimed at enhancing liquidity on Zeta and rewarding our most active users. Trader rewards are distributed at the end of each epoch (every 28 days) based on Z-Score. Incentives have already kicked off with the Genesis Epoch, featuring 8 million $ZEX up for grabs. It’s time to climb the leaderboard - check out all the details!
Staking
$ZEX introduces one of the first vote-escrow models on Solana, providing exponentially greater benefits to long-term protocol supporters.
A user’s commitment is measured by gZEX, the score received for staking based on stake size and duration. Upon the token launch, users will be able to stake $ZEX for up to 4 years.
In addition to the staking airdrop, starting from Epoch 1 stakers of $ZEX will receive boosted $ZEX trading rewards, as well as enhanced governance power upon implementation, in proportion to their gZEX holdings.
The more $ZEX staked and longer duration, the greater the benefits.
Trade on Zeta, stack Z-Score, earn $ZEX.
Stake $ZEX, boost Z-Score, earn more $ZEX. Repeat!
Governance
Over time, community members will be able to propose, discuss and vote on the future developments of the protocol, including market listings, incentive emissions, and more. A user's governance power will depend upon their gZEX holdings, ensuring sustained alignment between Zeta and its community.
Zeta X
In addition to the above, $ZEX will also play a central role on Zeta X (ZX), the first DeFi Layer 2 on Solana, set to launch on mainnet in Q1 2025.
Our rollup will utilize an off-chain matching engine to achieve performance on par with centralized exchanges, while leveraging the transparency and security of Solana's Layer 1 for data availability and settlement.
This infrastructure is designed to offer unparalleled performance and a seamless user experience, enabling features like multi-collateral trading with up to 50x leverage, and transaction speeds that compete with top centralized exchanges (up to 10,000 TPS and 3-5ms latency), all supported by Solana’s premier security and transparency.
ZX will utilize $ZEX, further expanding our token's utility for long term stakeholders that stake $ZEX such as exclusive fee tiers.
Welcome to the future of trading. It all starts with $ZEX.
