Zealous Swap is an Automated Market Maker (AMM) decentralized exchange (DEX) built on the Kaspa blockchain. Positioned as a foundational DeFi protocol within the Kaspa ecosystem, its stated goal is to "Pioneer the future of Defi on Kaspa."^[2] The platform is designed to serve as a primary liquidity layer for on-chain trading, featuring a partnership with Nacho the Kat for an NFT-based fee system, protocol-owned liquidity, and a V2 AMM architecture to foster deep liquidity.^[3]

History

The Zealous Swap project began its public presence in 2022. In 2025, the project reached several development and market milestones.^[4]

• April 2022: The official project X (formerly Twitter) account was created.^[4]
• April 8, 2025: An updated version of the project's whitepaper (V3.0) was published.^[3]
• May 2025: The protocol's smart contracts underwent a security audit by the firm Hexens.^[5]
• June 11, 2025: The results of the Hexens security audit were made public.^[5][4]
• November 15, 2025: The platform's second airdrop ("Airdrop 2") became available for eligible users to claim. On the same day, the ZEAL token was listed for trading on the MEXC centralized exchange.^[4]
• November 27, 2025: A feature allowing users to preview their "Expected Earnings" before providing liquidity was launched.^[4]
• December 1, 2025: The platform was updated to allow existing liquidity providers to view projected earnings for their current positions.^[4]

Overview

Zealous Swap is a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol developed for the Kaspa network. It was founded by backend developer Louis Saad and full-stack developer Ramy Lahoud. The project's primary objective is to facilitate secure and efficient peer-to-peer token trading by optimizing capital efficiency and fostering a sustainable environment for traders and liquidity providers. As an Automated Market Maker, it replaces traditional order books with on-chain liquidity pools, allowing assets to be traded automatically through smart contracts.^[1][3]

To achieve its goals, the protocol's design integrates several key mechanisms. It incorporates a modular fee structure that can be adapted to changing market conditions and a system for creating Protocol-Owned Liquidity (POL), where a portion of platform revenue is used to build a permanent liquidity base controlled by the protocol itself. This approach aims to ensure stable and deep liquidity for trading pairs over the long term. Security is also a stated focus, with the inclusion of an on-chain insurance fund intended to provide a safeguard for user assets and a full security audit conducted by Hexens.^[1][5]

Products

The product suite offered by Zealous Swap is centered around providing functionalities for trading, yield generation, and staking within the Kaspa ecosystem. The core product is the swap feature, which allows users to exchange one cryptocurrency for another in a decentralized manner. To support this, the platform includes liquidity pools where users can deposit pairs of assets to become liquidity providers (LPs). In return for providing liquidity, users earn a portion of the trading fees generated by that pool.^[1]

For yield generation, the platform provides farms where users can stake their Liquidity Provider (LP) tokens to earn additional rewards, which are typically distributed in the protocol's native ZEAL token. A dedicated staking pool, named the "Infinity Pool," allows users to stake their ZEAL tokens directly. Additionally, Zealous Swap integrates a feature for NFT staking, which connects unique digital assets to the platform's fee system, providing benefits to stakers.^[1] The platform also includes a tool to help liquidity providers forecast returns; launched in November 2025, the "Expected Earnings" feature allows users to simulate a deposit to preview the projected APR and returns before committing funds.^[4]

Features

Zealous Swap is designed with several distinct features intended to differentiate its functionality and improve the user experience. A key planned feature is MEV (Miner Extractable Value) resistance, which involves incorporating mechanisms to protect traders from value extraction strategies like front-running that can occur on public blockchains.^[1]

Fee Structure

The platform utilizes a dual-fee system that combines a modular-fee engine with an NFT-based membership model.^[3]

• Modular-Fee System: This flexible structure allows for adaptable fee tiers based on the characteristics of a trading pair. For standard token swaps, the fee is 0.3%. For stablecoin-to-stablecoin pairs, the fee can be as low as 0.05%.
• NFT-Based Fee System: Through a partnership with Nacho, the protocol integrates the NACHO KAT NFT collection. Holders of a NACHO KAT NFT receive a 33% discount on trading fees. For these users, the standard swap fee is reduced to 0.2%, and the stablecoin swap fee is reduced to 0.03%. This discount is applied at the user interface level to ensure the underlying mathematical consistency of the liquidity pool.

In normal trades, 0.25% of the fee goes to liquidity providers and 0.05% goes to the protocol treasury. For NFT-holder trades, 0.17% goes to LPs and 0.03% to the treasury.^[3]

Liquidity and Security Features

• Protocol-Owned Liquidity (POL): A portion of protocol revenue is algorithmically used to purchase its own liquidity provider tokens, creating a permanent, protocol-controlled liquidity base. This POL is intended to never be sold but can be reallocated between different pools via future DAO governance votes.^[3]
• Insurance Fund (IF): A protective fund, financed by a portion of treasury fees, is established to compensate users in the event of a smart contract exploit. The fund is held as LP tokens that contribute to protocol liquidity but can be liquidated in an emergency to cover user losses.^[3]
• Flash Swaps: The protocol supports flash swaps, allowing users to borrow any asset from a liquidity pool with no upfront capital, use it in an external transaction, and repay the loan within the same transaction block.^[3]
• Price Oracles: Zealous Swap provides a reliable on-chain price oracle using a time-weighted average price (TWAP) model. This is designed to supply accurate price data for other dApps building on Kaspa, such as lending or derivatives platforms.^[3]

Ecosystem

Zealous Swap is positioned as a foundational project for the decentralized finance landscape on the Kaspa blockchain. As the first announced Automated Market Maker DEX on this network, it aims to establish the core infrastructure necessary for liquidity and token exchange. This function is often considered essential for a broader ecosystem of decentralized applications (dApps), including lending protocols, derivatives platforms, and other DeFi projects, to develop and thrive on the network.^[1]

Use Cases

Users can interact with the Zealous Swap protocol in several primary ways. The platform is designed to support a range of activities common to decentralized exchanges and yield farming protocols.^[1]

• Perform decentralized swaps between various tokens on the Kaspa network.
• Provide liquidity to asset pools to earn a share of the platform's trading fees.
• Stake Liquidity Provider (LP) tokens in yield farms to earn additional rewards in the form of ZEAL tokens.
• Stake ZEAL tokens in the "Infinity Pool" for further yield.
• Utilize NACHO KAT NFTs to receive trading fee reductions and potentially other benefits like airdrop eligibility or whitelist access.^[3]
• Participate in the governance of the protocol through a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) by voting with ZEAL tokens.

These use cases are designed to cater to different user profiles, including traders, liquidity providers, and individuals interested in protocol governance.^[1]

Architecture

The technical architecture of Zealous Swap is based on a V2 Automated Market Maker (AMM) model and is built on the Kaspa network with smart contracts written in Solidity.^[3][2] The decision to use a V2 architecture was intended to support the nascent Kaspa ecosystem by concentrating all liquidity for a trading pair into a single, unified pool, preventing the liquidity fragmentation associated with V3 models. This design aims to simplify the experience for liquidity providers and encourage broader participation.^[3][4]

A core part of the architecture is the structure for Protocol-Owned Liquidity (POL). This system is designed to automatically channel a portion of the fees generated by the platform to build a permanent, DAO-controlled liquidity base. On the security front, the architecture includes an on-chain insurance fund to mitigate risks and incorporates features intended to provide resistance to Miner Extractable Value (MEV) exploits, aiming to create a fairer trading environment.^[1]

Security

Zealous Swap maintains a public GitHub repository for its security audits to provide transparency regarding its smart contracts.^[5] In May 2025, the protocol underwent a security audit by Hexens, a blockchain security firm that has also audited other major DeFi projects. The final report focused on five key smart contracts, covering the core DEX logic, NFT-based fee mechanics, and staking and farming systems.^[4][5]

Tokenomics

The native utility and governance token of the Zealous Swap protocol is ZEAL. The total supply is capped at 240,000,000 tokens.^[1]

Allocation

The total supply of ZEAL tokens is distributed according to the following plan:

• Farms: 24% (57,600,000 ZEAL)
• Pre-Sale: 20% (48,000,000 ZEAL)
• Infinity Pool: 18% (43,200,000 ZEAL)
• Core Team: 10% (24,000,000 ZEAL)
• Airdrops: 10% (24,000,000 ZEAL)
• Listings & Marketing: 9% (21,600,000 ZEAL)
• Nacho the Kat: 5% (12,000,000 ZEAL)
• Insurance Fund: 3% (7,200,000 ZEAL)
• Community Management: 1% (2,400,000 ZEAL)

This allocation structure dedicates significant portions of the supply to community-facing initiatives like farming rewards, airdrops, and staking pools.^[1]

Utilities

The ZEAL token is intended to fulfill several key functions within the Zealous Swap ecosystem:

• Staking: Users can stake ZEAL tokens in the "Infinity Pool" to earn rewards from the protocol.
• Governance: The token grants holders the right to participate in protocol governance by voting on proposals submitted to the DAO.
• Incentives: ZEAL is used as the primary reward token for liquidity providers who stake their LP tokens in the platform's yield farms.

These utilities are designed to encourage long-term holding and active participation in the protocol.^[1]

Governance

Zealous Swap aims to be governed by a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO), with the ZEAL token serving as the mechanism for community control. Holders of ZEAL are granted the ability to create and vote on governance proposals. This process is intended to allow the community to influence the future development of the protocol, including decisions on key parameters such as fee structures, token emissions, and the allocation of treasury funds.^[1]

Confirmed Partnerships

Zealous Swap has established several key relationships within the blockchain and cryptocurrency sectors.

• Kaspa: Zealous Swap is built on the Kaspa blockchain, positioning it as a foundational infrastructure project within that ecosystem.^[3]
• Nacho the Kat: The project has an official partnership with Nacho the Kat. The NACHO KAT NFT collection is integrated into the DEX's fee system, providing trading fee discounts to holders.^[3]
• Hexens: Zealous Swap contracted the blockchain cybersecurity firm Hexens to conduct a third-party security audit of its smart contracts in May 2025.^[4]
• MEXC: The centralized exchange MEXC listed the ZEAL token for trading on November 15, 2025, increasing the token's accessibility and liquidity.^[4]