This is a text summary of our AMA in a chat with Kilavv – the Ukrainian ZetaChain community ambassador.
ZetaChain is a testbed for new omnichain dApps and a key element of the ecosystem built on the Cosmos SDK and Tendermint Consensus.
ZetaChain project
Incrypted: Introduce yourself and tell a few words about yourself and the project in general, not everyone in our community is probably familiar with ZetaChain.
Kilavv: My nickname is Kilavv and I am the Ukrainian ZetaChain community ambassador.. I’ve been in crypto since 2021, and of course I’ve been following Incrypted since my first “working” day.
For those who are unfamiliar with the ZetaChain project, I’ll make a short introduction.
ZetaChain is a Proof of Stake blockchain based on CosmosSDK and the Tendermint PBFT consensus mechanism.
Overall, it is a large platform that focuses on developing Omnichain crosschain functionality for smart contracts.
ZetaChain makes it possible to transfer assets and messages between any blockchain, including blockchains without smart contracts, such as Bitcoin.
Also, right now there is an open testing of the network in which absolutely anyone can participate. All the links are to. You can find project resources here: https://link3.to/zetachain
Incrypted: What attracted you personally to the project? I understand this is your first experience as an Ambassador, right?
Kilavv: Yes, this is my first experience, right. I was introduced to the project in July 2022, and I was drawn to it by its unique idea and perspective.
At that time very few people knew about ZetaChain, and in discord was not even a separate branch for the Ukrainian community.
Then I decided to translate all the main posts and announcements, livened up the chat a little bit and asked the main community manager – Jonathan to create a Ukrainian branch..
There I kept making all the translations and new announcements, and after about a month I was offered to become an Ambassador.
So from my experience I can say that if you take the initiative, “volunteer” for the project and keep active, the project will definitely pay attention to you.
Incrypted: So you are the first ZetaChain ambassador from Ukraine and Eastern Europe in general?
Killav: There was an ambassador before me, but he gave up his position very quickly and the “vacancy” became open. For the CIS region, ZetaChain has two Ambassador -me and Vlad Slem.
But I also can’t help but mention our VIP-Contributors, who make a very great contribution to the community, and who can also be considered ZetaChain Ambassador of sorts.
Incrypted: Yes, I have heard about the VIP-Contributors and I think there are quite a few of them.
Killav: I don’t know the actual exact number, but I don’t think more than 100 for all regions. But each of them got the role for a reason, and each of them is valued by ZetaChain for all the contributions they make.
By the way, absolutely anyone can get the role.. This is a kind of Ambassador program from ZetaChain, which is always open.
And the ranks of VIPs are replenished quite regularly. So go for it, we’ll be sure to notice you!
Incrypted: Let’s move on to questions from subscribers. There were quite a few and a lot of very interesting ones.
You mentioned that ZetaChain uses the Cosmos SDK and Tendermint technologies to build its ecosystem.
Tell us why these particular technologies and what are their advantages over others.
Killav: Thanks to the Cosmos SDK and the Tendermint consensus, ZetaChain can support the IBC protocol, a protocol for interaction between sovereign blockchains.
Interlockchains supporting IBC can establish very close interaction, such as coin transfers, atomic swaps, interconnected decentralized exchanges and even inter-network smart contracts.
And this is what underlies the idea of ZetaChain, and this is the main advantage over other technologies.
Also, thanks to the Cosmos SDK and Tendermint Consensus, ZetaChain features fast block creation time (~5s) and instant completion (no block validation required, no reorganization allowed).
The transaction throughput of the Tendermint consensus mechanism that ZetaChain uses can reach 4000+ transactions per second (TPS) under ideal network conditions.
Killav: I would like to remind you right away that not long ago the ZetaChain ambassadors team prepared a full translation of the ZetaChain WhitePaper, in which you can get a closer look at the entire technical component of the project.
Translation available in 17 languages, including
Incrypted: ZetaChain includes external asset management. In fact, this is one of the main ideas when transferring data between blockchains and for building omnichannel applications, right?
Tell us exactly how this management of external assets that are in other connected chains, including chains without smart contracts, such as Bitcoin and Dogecoin?
Killav: Yes, right. In ZetaChain, everything happens through the master virtual machine-zEVM.
ZetaEVM (zEVM) is a ZetaChain network-based module that allows users to create and deploy EVM-compatible Omnichannel smart contracts that can read, write or manage data and liquidity on any connected network from a single location.
In zEVM, a smart contract can directly store and manage external assets as if they were native zEVM assets.
Using the modern TSS (Threshold Signature Scheme) architecture, ZetaChain can control interchangeable tokens even in networks without smart-contract support, such as the aforementioned Bitcoin and Dogecoin.
Incrypted: How does ZetaChain tackle blockchain scalability, and what methods and approaches are used to ensure high throughput and transaction processing speed on the platform?
As I understand it, this is also provided by Cosmos SDK and Tendermint Consensus?
Killav: ZetaChain is primarily a public blockchain with Proof-of-Stake validators. It is believed that the vast majority (>66% of nodes) of node-validators are honest and act in accordance with the requirements of the protocol.
In ZetaChain, node validators are divided into two categories according to different needs – observers and signers, who are responsible for transaction input and output information, respectively.
Supervisors are responsible for the task of entering information about the transaction.
They observe transactions/events/states in the external network, check them and vote to reach consensus.
Subscribers are responsible for the work of outputting information about the transaction.
They update transaction states for external networks via a Threshold Signing Scheme (TSS).
ZetaChain also uses data compression algorithms that reduce the amount of data needed to transmit and store transactions, increasing throughput and transaction processing speed.
And again, a huge advantage of ZetaChain is that it is built on Cosmos SDK with the Tendermint consensus mechanism, giving it high transaction throughput and fast block validation times..
But it must be understood that inter-network TPSs cannot reach very high rates because inter-network transaction latency/throughput can be limited by external network latency/throughput, TSS key signing throughput and various other factors such as external node RPC speed, etc.
Incrypted: How does ZetaChain plan to secure/ensure its network?
What security measures are in place to protect against hacker attacks?
Also, what mechanisms guarantee the integrity and confidentiality of user data?
Killav: As the saying goes: decentralization is our everything. ZetaChain is architecturally and infrastructurally decentralized.
As I mentioned, ZetaChain uses a leaderless GG20 threshold signature scheme (TSS) that performs key generation and signing in a distributed, decentralized way.
No ZetaChain node or other person ever has access to the full private key.
In fact, the only value that can be exposed to hacking is the Zeta token – the saplay of which could theoretically be inflated by a compromised minet across networks.
But ZetaChain has of course thought this through and has implemented its own methodology to protect against such a scenario: Contracts at the networks check the total supply of ZETA tokens across the networks before each min of new coins.
The total ZETA saplay is provided by Chainlink and is published on each connected network.
This protection ensures that no one can mine tokens arbitrarily and that the overall ZETA offering remains fixed across all networks.
All incoming/outgoing transactions and decisions made (via state changes) are recorded in ZetaChain blocks that are accessible, immutable, verifiable and fully transparent.
Incrypted: Coinlist recently opened a set of 150 validators for ZetaChain. Is this number final or will there be an additional set?”
Killav: You could say it’s already an additional set. Initially, back on March 16, there was an announcement about an Incentivized testnet for validators, and according to reports, the team wanted to select about 50 validators.
The form is still open, as well as additional recruitment through the CoinList platform.
The number is not exact, maybe more will be taken away, maybe less.. But those who already have experience with this should definitely apply.
Incrypted: Can we expect a sale on CoinList?
Killav: I have no information on this.. And even if he had, he wouldn’t have the right to share.. Let’s wait and see.
Incrypted: Are there any projects that are built on ZetaChain already? When should we expect to add more blockchains?
Killav: Yes, there are projects, building is in full swing. There is even information that one major exchange is building its omnichain code based on ZetaChain.
Unfortunately the name and details of this exchange have not been disclosed yet.
Additions of new blockchains should be expected closer to mainnet or already in mainnet itself.
Incrypted: And can you tell us the upcoming plans of the project and/or even possible mainnet release dates?
Killav: No exact dates, but yesterday the team assured us that mainnet will be launched by the end of Q2.
They’re working very hard on it, the best part is yet to come.. Be sure to follow the announcements in the ZetaChain discord.
Incrypted: There are already many accounts created in the ZetaChain network and judging by the Leaderboard, ordinary users will have difficulty competing with those who have already scored millions of points.
Are there plans for rewards for early users in the form of drops or possibly WL for the sale?
Killav: Officially, the ZetaChain team has not given any information about drops, or vl.. But that begs one question – why all this system with points, leaderboard, etc.)
We ambassadors don’t have any unique information and learn about all the announcements only a day or two before they are released to the public..
So I don’t have any information that I can confirm/disprove the dropping theme.