Zero Knowledge (ZK)

Zcash began with ceremony-dependent Sprout, moved through Sapling to Halo-based Orchard, then had to disable and repair Orchard in 2026. NU6.3 now routes new shielded value into Ironwood and seals Orchard to inflows. ZEC remains optional-privacy proof-of-work money; Ironwood prepares recoverability but is not itself post-quantum protection.

NIGHT is Midnight’s public 24-billion-unit token; DUST is its private, non-transferable fee resource. NIGHT began on Cardano before Midnight mainnet went live in March 2026. The production chain still uses federated governance and up to 13 permissioned nodes, while community voting, Treasury spending and validator rewards remain phased features.

Humanity Protocol turns palm print or vein checks into reusable credentials and uses H for fees, staking and proposed governance. Its privacy white paper and binding policy describe different biometric-data paths; H ownership neither owns an identity nor guarantees yield, votes, redemption or company rights.

Starknet is a general-purpose Ethereum validity rollup whose Cairo execution is proven with STARKs and settled through Ethereum contracts. It is separate from StarkEx, StarkWare’s application-specific scaling service. STRK now pays all Starknet transaction fees, supports delegation and phase-2 validator attestation, and carries protocol voting power; it is not equity or a claim on StarkWare or the Foundation. The network has distributed sequencing components and a live S-two prover, but block production, proving and upgrade control have not yet reached the permissionless end state described in its roadmap.

Ozone Chain is a live EVM network with native OZO, chain ID 4000 and four published QBFT validators. Its public code shows QRN bytes entering Linux entropy and file-based peer permissioning; it does not show post-quantum user signatures. NTRU/Kyber documentation conflicts, token vesting is not proven onchain, and DAO voting remains undocumented.

IMX outlived the chain that gave it a name. Immutable X stopped writes in February 2026, while the fully minted 2-billion-cap Ethereum token became native gas on Immutable Chain; staking, bridge passage, Passport policy and corporate rights still sit in separate trust systems.

Nexus turned a general-purpose proving project into a finance-focused Layer 1. Its chain and NEX gas token are live; its exchange, USDX and mainnet proof coverage remain separate launches. That gap—and who controls the token and bridges while it closes—is the NEX story.

RAIL is the Ethereum governance token at 0xe76c…a33d. RAIL is not required to use RAILGUN privacy, but RAIL itself may be shielded. Shielded commitments and zero-knowledge proofs protect private balances; locking RAIL grants voting power and conditional treasury-allocation eligibility, not ownership of other users’ pooled assets. PPOI checks selected lists, while governance controls upgrades, fees, verification keys and eligible tokens.

ZKsync developed from Lite’s Ethereum payments into Era and a network of public and permissioned chains. Its ZK token governs upgrades and token programs; Lite’s 2026 closure, a paused staking pilot and the planned EraVM transition show how much remains in motion.

Horizen’s ZEN crossed three different systems: a 2017 privacy-focused PoW coin, the EON sidechain era, and a 2025 Base migration. Today ZEN is a capped ERC-20 and optional staking/governance asset; ETH pays gas on the live L3, and ordinary transfers are not private.

ON pairs delivered proof software with a token story whose official one-billion allocation is not yet reconciled to 600 million Ethereum and 100 million BSC base units.

Linea began as Consensys' zkEVM rollup and later added LINEA, a token that shares L2 revenue with ETH burns but does not pay gas or vote on-chain. Its 2025 design replaced an earlier holder-governance promise with Consortium stewardship.

Mina's famous 22KB is a proof of the latest state, not a zip file containing every payment. Producers still need ledger state, archives keep history, and SNARK workers sell proof labor. That division made a small verifier possible—and made MINA an uncapped reward currency for the larger machine behind it.

Concordium requires an approved off-chain identity before a regular account is created, then divides exceptional disclosure among courts, two of three Privacy Guardians and the identity provider. CCD is currently minted at 4% a year; holders elect seven of nine Governance Committee members, while the Foundation Board remains the final approver in the published framework.

DUSK moved from Ethereum and BSC onto its own mainnet in January 2025. It pays gas and supports staking, but privacy depends on network operations: the Rusk 1.7 Boreas restart paused new Phoenix transactions while Moonlight stayed available. Published sources establish neither binding holder votes over upgrades nor claims on assets issued by network users.