ZEN USD (ZUSD) Stablecoin Launches on the Horizen EON Network

Horizen Labs
4 min readNov 6, 2023

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We are excited to announce the launch of ZEN USD (symbol: ZUSD), the first natively-issued USD stablecoin, on the Horizen EON network, a fully EVM-compatible sidechain and smart contract platform powered by Horizen that is built with massive scalability in mind.

What is ZUSD

ZUSD is a fully-backed stablecoin created in collaboration with Stably, a venture-backed FinTech company that offers regulatory-compliant Stablecoin-as-a-Service (SCaaS) and fiat ramp infrastructure. The collateral of ZUSD is held in liquid USD-denominated assets — including bank deposits, money market instruments, and USDC — by a designated trustee for the benefit of ZUSD token holders. Every ZUSD token can be minted or redeemed 1-to-1 with USD or USDC (minus fees) by users who are KYC-verified by Stably.

Administered by Stably’s Wyoming-based registered money service business subsidiary, ZUSD is issued in compliance with FinCEN’s convertible virtual currency guidance (FIN-2019-G001), including BSA/AML regulations and OFAC sanctions. Additionally, periodic attestations will be performed by an independent attestor to verify that every ZUSD token in circulation is backed 1-to-1 with collateral.

“This partnership with Stably is a major step towards achieving a more interconnected and seamless blockchain ecosystem. The integration of Stably’s stablecoin infrastructure with Horizen EON’s platform will not only enhance the user experience but also pave the way for a more robust and compliant digital asset space.”

- Rob Viglione, Co-founder of Horizen and CEO of Horizen Labs.

Why Horizen EON

The Horizen EON network, through its unique capabilities, has positioned itself as a preferred platform for innovative projects, as evidenced by the collaboration with Stably for the launch of ZUSD. Horizen EON’s notable compatibility with the Ethereum Virtual Machine allows projects to smoothly integrate tools and resources from the Ethereum ecosystem. Furthermore, EON’s commitment to scalability ensures the platform remains consistently efficient, even as adoption surges and transaction volume grows. The network’s developer-centric approach played a pivotal role in enabling Stably to deploy ZUSD on Horizen EON in just under two months.

Beyond these technical merits, Horizen EON proactively addresses challenges prevalent in other chains, including inadequate tooling, network congestion, and potential centralization pitfalls. The alignment of core values between Horizen EON and network supporters like Stably, with an emphasis on transparency, security, community engagement, and growth, underscores Horizen EON’s mission to be at the forefront of the Web3 economy.

“I’ve personally met and known Robert Viglione since 2018 and we have been talking about stablecoin collaboration for a long time. It’s great to finally make it a reality and Stably is excited to continue working together with Robert and the team behind Horizen as well as the community for many years to come!”

— Kory Hoang, Co-founder and CEO of Stably

How to Mint & Redeem ZUSD

Individual and business users worldwide can now onboard from 170+ countries/regions to mint/redeem ZUSD on EON through a variety of payment methods such as ACH, Fedwire, Visa, and Mastercard, plus other popular stablecoins on major networks (e.g., USDC). All of this is accessible through Stably Ramp, a powerful on/off-ramp widget that can also be embedded into third-party applications such as Web3 wallets and DeFi protocols. Through Stably Ramp, users can easily buy, sell, or swap digital assets, including ZUSD, using stablecoin and fiat payments for as low as 0.5% in transaction fees (excluding gas).

For additional instructions, please refer to our support article for ZUSD.

About Horizen EON

Horizen EON is a fully EVM-compatible smart contracting platform and the first of many smart contract sidechains in the Horizen ecosystem. It allows developers to efficiently build and deploy decentralized applications (dapps) on Horizen, the layer 0 public blockchain, while fully benefiting from the Ethereum ecosystem. EON is built with scale and user experiences in mind, on Horizen’s powerful horizontally scaling protocol, Zendoo. To learn more, visit eon.horizen.io

About Horizen Labs

Founded in 2019, Horizen Labs is the leading web3 development company that specializes in zero-knowledge cryptography and key Web3 tools that enable programmable blockchains that are secure, scalable, and privacy-preserving. Horizen Labs is the development company engaged by the Horizen DAO to provide technical support to Horizen and the Horizen EON network. To learn more, visit horizenlabs.io

About Stably

Stably is a venture-backed FinTech company headquartered in Washington, with a registered money service business subsidiary in Wyoming. The company offers regulatory-compliant Stablecoin-as-a-Service (SCaaS) and fiat on/off-ramp infrastructure to emerging blockchains, Web3 applications, and financial institutions. By leveraging Stably’s solutions, users from 170+ countries/regions can effortlessly onboard to buy, sell, or swap digital assets at competitive rates across various blockchain networks via stablecoin or fiat payments. To learn more, visit stably.io.

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Horizen Labs

A leading blockchain development company that specializes in web3 tools and services.