Züs (formerly 0Chain) is a decentralized data storage platform launched in 2018, providing data privacy, protection, and private sharing. It is positioned as a high-performance, cost-effective alternative to traditional cloud storage with a focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI), Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePIN), and breach-proof security for enterprises.^[3] It aims to help businesses achieve GDPR/CCPA compliance, transparency, and near-zero liability. ZCN is the native token of the platform and can be used for storage services or staked to generate interest for holders.^[4]

Company

Züs is developed by the US-based organization, 0chain LLC. It was founded in 2017 by Saswata Basu and Tom Austin. The company has a primary office in Cupertino, California, and has around 11-50 employees.^[5] The project has undergone a significant rebranding, changing its public-facing name from 0Chain to Züs.^[6]

Team

The project was co-founded by CEO Saswata Basu and Tom Austin, who have extensive backgrounds in cloud architecture, software engineering, and academia.^[3]

• Saswata Basu (Co-founder and CEO): Prior to Züs, Basu was a co-founder and CTO at GuruHub, a cloud architect at Energous Corporation, and a cloud consultant.
• Tom Austin (Co-founder): Austin is an Associate Professor at San Jose State University and has past experience as a Senior Software Engineer at Knight Ridder Digital and held internships at the Mozilla Corporation.^[3]

Overview

Züs is a decentralized storage platform featuring high performance and private data sharing. It is built to provide no vendor lock-in, allowing users to retain full ownership and control of their data. The platform provides automated data privacy compliance, continuous protection, and secured sharing for user applications. Züs has an immutable data ledger to resolve disputes, conduct audits, and eliminate data liability.^[4]

In addition, Züs enables secured data sharing between customers, partners, internal groups, and employees. The platform extends private data usage in smart contract applications on blockchain platforms such as Hyperledger and Ethereum with simple API interfaces. It aims to help businesses and enterprises to comply with GDPR/CCPA with transparency and near-zero liability.^[2]

The Züs protocol addresses typical issues related with proof-of-work blockchains (e.g. Bitcoin) such as scalability and energy waste, as well as problems like data breaches and data replication associated with traditional data storage protocols. It utilizes various protocols in its ecosystem to achieve fast performance and data protection. The miners have multiple ways to earn the native ZCN token for providing the network with stability and security.^[7]

The project's mainnet, codenamed 'Fuji', was launched, moving the platform from its initial development and testnet phases into a fully operational network.^[1]

Züs Protocols

Züs makes use of various protocols and technologies to get faster transaction speed and latency, and also to achieve data protection with privacy.^[7]

Consensus Protocol

Züs uses a Proof-of-Stake consensus protocol to enable a fast and flexible platform. By dividing the work among different groups, confirmation time is improved by reducing network latency. To achieve this, the network relies on three main types of service providers performing duties such as consensus, storage of blocks, and storage of data.^[4]

1. Miners: Miners run the consensus protocol and add new transactions to the network. They accept transactions from users and build, verify, notarize, and finalize blocks. They store wallet and smart contract states on their ledger.
2. Blobbers: These are the storage providers on the Züs network. They store required data of any size needed for dApps and provide a single source of truth for that data.
3. Sharders: Sharders store the blockchain history and respond to queries about it. They store blocks and keep records of view changes.

In the Züs network, a client sends transactions to the miners and queries the sharders for status. Miners and Sharders get paid for each validated block. This division of labor allows for greater network efficiency. The platform implements a squared-staking approach, where the influence of miners and sharders is based on the square of their staked ZCN tokens. This method encourages staking from a single account and places a greater risk of penalties if they fail to correctly run the protocol.^[1]

Storage Protocol

The Züs protocol divides the tasks of performing consensus, storing blocks, and data storage into three separate entities—miners, sharders, and blobbers. The platform employs a three-layer security model for data protection.^[7][4]

1. Fragmentation & Erasure Coding: Data is first broken up using an erasure code before being distributed across a network of data and parity servers (Blobbers). This ensures data integrity and availability even if some servers go offline, with an efficient data expansion rate of 1.5x.
2. Proxy Re-encryption: A unique privacy protocol allows users to share encrypted data without exposing their private keys. The data owner generates a "Proxy Key" which is given to Blobbers, who then re-encrypt the data for the intended recipient. Only the recipient with their private key can decrypt the information.
3. Immutability: The underlying blockchain technology ensures that all data contracts and metadata are immutable, preventing tampering.

To validate work, blobbers are challenged by the blockchain to prove they are storing content correctly. They must provide proofs and respond within a time limit determined by the file size to pass the challenge. Based on the blobber’s ability to provide the requested data, their stake is rewarded or punished accordingly via a smart contract.^[7]

Wallet Security Protocol

To address challenges with cryptographic key management, Züs has implemented an innovative approach called Split Key technology. Users have more than one device at their disposal (such as a mobile device and laptop) in which their master key, anchored on the blockchain, can be used to generate derivative "Split Keys" that are stored on each device.^[4] By splitting the key into multiple components across different devices, the wallet achieves several security benefits:

• Adequate protection even if a component of the key is lost or corrupt.
• In the case of losing a device or theft, the key remains protected as the master private key is never exposed.
• Signatures for transactions must contain all the split components.
• The components of signatures from each device are secure on their own and cannot be used for an attack or to expose other portions of the key.^[4]

If one of the devices is compromised, the user’s assets remain safe, and users can regenerate a new set of keys using their original mnemonic seed. This technology is a core feature of the Züs wallet, Bolt.

Ecosystem

Züs has a growing ecosystem of applications and services built on its decentralized storage network.^[7]

• Blimp: An S3-compatible cloud migration platform that utilizes Züs for backend storage.
• Vult: A personal cloud application and digital vault for storing encrypted data and sharing it privately. It also integrates AI agents to enhance user productivity.^[3]
• Chalk: A high-performance storage solution designed for NFT artists and their creations.
• Bolt: A secure wallet featuring the air-gapped, 2FA Split Key protocol. It allows users to stake ZCN tokens and earn rewards from storage providers.
• Atlus: A blockchain explorer for the Züs network.
• Chimney: A platform that enables individuals to become storage providers (Blobbers) by using their own servers or renting capacity.
• ZS3 Server: A high-performance, S3-compatible object storage server that acts as a gateway to the Züs network, enabling easier migration and integration for applications built on the Amazon S3 standard.^[6]

Development

The Züs blockchain and its ecosystem products are live and in active development. The mainnet, codenamed 'Fuji', was announced in late 2020 and launched thereafter, with a miner and sharder registration program initiated in February 2021 to bootstrap the network.^[1]

For the launch of the Mainnet, the active set of consensus-providers was established with 100 Miners and 25 Sharders. The number of Blobbers (storage providers) is uncapped.^[5] As of May 2025, the core blockchain repository released version v1.20.1, indicating ongoing development and maturation of the platform.^[7]

Tokenomics

Züs has a native utility token denoted by the ticker symbol ZCN. It is an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum blockchain.^[3]

• Ethereum Contract: 0xb9ef770b6a5e12e45983c5d80545258aa38f3b78
• Max Supply: 400,000,000 ZCN
• Total Supply: 200,000,000 ZCN

The token registered an all-time high of $2.68 on April 21, 2021, and an all-time low of $0.00226 on April 9, 2025. ZCN is available for trading on exchanges such as Gate.io, Bitfinex, Uniswap (v2), and Bancor Network.^[3]

When the Züs mainnet launched, ZCN token holders were allowed to swap their ERC-20 tokens for the native mainnet token. The mainnet tokens can perform fast transactions with near-instant finality. Züs offers innovative token economics where users can lock ZCN tokens to collect upfront interest, which can then be used to pay for services like storage, effectively making them "free".^[8]

Token Distribution

The 200 million pre-mined tokens were allocated as follows:

| Beneficiary | No. of ZCN tokens || ----------- | ----------------- || Team | 100,000,000 ZCN || Investors and Advisors | 20,000,000 ZCN || Private Pre-sale investors | 40,000,000 ZCN || Reserved and locked with unlock terms for when ZCN value is greater than $10 USD | 40,000,000 ZCN |

.

Token Vesting

The pre-sale tokens were distributed in June 2018. All team and seed tokens vested over four years from January 2018, with the vesting period concluding in January 2022. About 40M team tokens were designated to be locked to preserve the integrity of the network for several years.^[1]

Partnerships

Züs has formed several strategic partnerships to drive adoption and integrate its technology across various industries.^[4]

• Huawei Cloud Singapore: A collaboration focused on data ownership and security. Lance Yap, Senior Business Director at Huawei Cloud Singapore, has endorsed the platform's ability to provide users with control over their data with high security and privacy.
• GEEQ: A partnership aimed at leveraging blockchain to transform industries from logistics to media. GEEQ's CEO, Ric Asselstine, noted the potential for creative solutions through the collaboration.
• Morpheus Lab: Züs partnered with Morpheus Labs to enable enterprises to utilize blockchain technology for greater flexibility and scalability.
• Amazon Web Services (AWS): Züs is an official vendor on the AWS Marketplace, making its data privacy and protection services available to AWS customers seeking to lower security costs and enhance their data privacy reputation.^[9]