Zero

// The Problem

Why Zero Exists

AI agents are proliferating. They need to pay for API calls, data, compute, and each other's services. These transactions are tiny, frequent, automated, and time-sensitive. No existing payment system handles this.

Property	Credit Cards	Ethereum	L2s (Base/Arb)	Zero
Min Fee	$0.30	$0.50+	$0.00025+	$0.0001 flat
Finality	Days	12 min	2-12s	<500ms
Tx Size	N/A	~110B + gas	~200B	136 bytes
Gas Token Needed	N/A	ETH (volatile)	ETH	No. Z IS the currency.
Smart Contracts	N/A	Yes (attack surface)	Yes	None. Transfer only.
Agent-Native	No	No	Partially	Yes. API-first.
x402 Compatible	No	No	Yes (USDC)	Native. Z IS the currency.
Bridge Security	N/A	Contract risk	Contract risk	Trinity Validators (2-of-3)

// Protocol

How It Works

Bridge in USDC. Transact millions of times. Bridge out.

01 BRIDGE IN Lock stablecoins in vault (USDC on Base, USDT on Arbitrum) -> Mint Z

02 TRANSACT Send 10 Z ($0.10) to any address. 0.01 Z flat fee. <500ms finality. 136 bytes on wire.

03 BRIDGE OUT Burn 20 Z -> Release 0.20 USDC on any supported L2. Fee: 0.50 Z.

Rate: 1 USDC = 100 Z | 1 Z = $0.01 | Min: 0.01 Z + 0.01 Z fee = 0.02 Z ($0.0002) | Max per tx: 25 Z ($0.25)

// Architecture

Built Different

One network. One token. One purpose. Move pennies faster than anything else.

[ BLOCK-LATTICE ]

Per-Account Chains

Each account has its own chain. Alice sending to Bob never blocks Carol sending to Dave. Inherently parallel. Throughput scales with accounts.

[ DAG-BFT ]

Leaderless Consensus

DAG-based asynchronous BFT. No single leader. No bottleneck. Validators produce events independently. Finality when 2/3+ validators build on top.

[ RING BUFFER ]

Zero Bloat

Validators use ~100 GB forever. Ring buffer transfer log continuously evicts old data. After a trillion transactions, storage stays constant.

[ STABLECOIN ]

1:1 USDC Backed

Every Z token is backed by USDC/USDT locked in auditable vault contracts. Trinity Validators (2-of-3 multisig) control all minting and burning. No volatility. No speculation. 1 Z = $0.01, always.

[ PERMISSIONLESS ]

Open Network

Anyone creates an account (just a keypair). Anyone runs a validator (stake 10,000 Z). Equivocation = 100% slash. Fees split: 70% validators, 15% bridge reserve, 15% protocol reserve.

[ x402 ]

x402 Native Settlement

Built for the HTTP 402 payment protocol. Agents auto-pay for APIs, tools, and data. Server middleware in 3 lines. The settlement rail x402 was designed for.

[ AGENT-NATIVE ]

4-Line Wallet

Generate keypair. Bridge in USDC. Send Z. Done. No gas estimation, no nonce management, no chain IDs. MCP server payments built in.

[ FLAT STORAGE ]

No Merkle Tries

Direct key-value lookups for account state. No tree traversals, no proof overhead. O(1) balance reads. Storage designed for throughput, not historical proofs.

[ TRANSFER-ONLY ]

No Smart Contracts

No VM. No opcodes. No reentrancy bugs. No gas estimation. The entire attack surface is one operation: move Z from A to B. Simplicity is security.

// Integration

Build in Minutes

An AI agent can set up a wallet and start transacting in 4 lines of code.

PYTHON SDK

from zero import Wallet

w = Wallet.from_env()         # reads ZERO_KEY env var
w.send("zr_recipient", 10)  # send 0.10 Z, fee: 0.01 Z
print(w.balance())           # 489.89 Z
        

x402 PAYWALL

from zero.x402 import paywall

@app.get("/api/search")
@paywall(amount=10, address="zr_merchant")
async def search(q: str):
    return do_search(q)
        

JAVASCRIPT SDK

import { Wallet } from '@zero-network/sdk';

const w = Wallet.fromEnv();
await w.send('zr_recipient', 10);
console.log(await w.balance());
        

CHAT WALLET

> /zero balance
489.89 Z ($4.8989)

> /zero send 0.50 to zr_api_provider
Sent 0.50 Z. TX: zr_a1b2. Balance: 489.39 Z

> /zero bridge-in 5 USDC from arbitrum
Bridging... 500 Z received. Balance: 989.39 Z
        

// Use Cases

What You Can Build

A frictionless penny-value layer unlocks transactions that were never economically viable before.

AGENT-TO-AGENT

Task Delegation

Agent A pays Agent B 0.05 Z to summarize a document, translate text, or classify data

Swarm Coordination

Orchestrator pays worker agents per subtask -- research, coding, testing -- each 0.02-0.10 Z

Data Marketplace

Agents sell real-time data feeds (weather, prices, sentiment) at 0.01 Z per query

AGENT-TO-SERVICE

Pay-per-Call APIs

No API keys, no subscriptions. Pay 0.01-0.25 Z per call to any x402-enabled endpoint

MCP Tool Payments

AI agents pay for MCP server tools -- search, code execution, database queries -- per invocation

Compute on Demand

GPU inference, code sandboxing, image generation -- pay per execution at penny scale

CONTENT & PUBLISHERS

Article Paywalls

Read any article for 0.05 Z ($0.0005). No login, no subscription, no friction

Streaming Micropayments

Pay creators per second of audio/video. 0.01 Z per minute of content consumed

AI Training Data

Content creators get paid 0.01 Z each time their data is used for training or RAG retrieval

INFRASTRUCTURE

Bandwidth Markets

Pay for CDN, proxy, or VPN bandwidth per MB transferred. No monthly commitment

Storage Micro-Rent

Rent storage per hour or per object. Pay 0.01 Z to pin a file for 24 hours

IoT Machine Payments

Devices pay per sensor reading, per charge event, per unlock -- no billing infrastructure needed

GAMING & VIRTUAL

In-Game Purchases

Buy a skin for 0.10 Z, a power-up for 0.02 Z. No app store cut, no minimum purchase

Player-to-Player Trading

Trade items, tips, and bounties between players instantly. No escrow delays

Tournament Entry

Enter a tournament for 0.25 Z. Prize pool auto-distributes to winners on finality

SOCIAL & TIPPING

Micro-Tips

Tip a post 0.01 Z, a comment 0.02 Z. Creators earn from every interaction, not just ads

Pay-to-Message

Charge 0.01 Z to DM a public figure. Eliminates spam, compensates attention

Bounties & Rewards

Post a 0.25 Z bounty for the best answer. Community-driven Q&A with real incentives

// For Providers

Accept Zero Payments

Three patterns to charge users and AI agents for your content, APIs, or MCP tools.

WEBSITE PAYWALL

// Drop-in paywall for any webpage
// Returns 402 until paid, then serves content

app.get('/article/:id', async (req, res) => {
  const paid = await zero.verifyPayment(
    req.headers['x-zero-receipt']
  );
  if (!paid) {
    res.status(402).json({
      "x-402-version": 1,
      "x-402-network": "zero",
      "x-402-amount": 5,     // 0.05 Z
      "x-402-address": "zr_pub...",
      "x-402-description":
        "Pay 0.05 Z to read"
    });
    return;
  }
  res.json(article);
});
        

API MIDDLEWARE

# Python: x402 middleware for FastAPI
# One decorator to charge per endpoint

from zero_sdk import x402_gate

@app.get("/api/sentiment")
@x402_gate(amount=1)  # 0.01 Z
async def sentiment(text: str):
    return analyze(text)

@app.get("/api/translate")
@x402_gate(amount=3)  # 0.03 Z
async def translate(
    text: str, lang: str
):
    return do_translate(text, lang)

# Agents hit 402, pay, retry.
# You get paid. No API keys.
        

MCP SERVER

# MCP server with per-tool pricing
# Agents discover prices, pay, use

@server.tool(
    name="web_search",
    zero_price=2  # 0.02 Z per call
)
async def search(query: str):
    return search_web(query)

@server.tool(
    name="run_code",
    zero_price=10  # 0.10 Z
)
async def run_code(code: str):
    return sandbox_exec(code)

# Price advertised in tool schema
# Agent pays before execution
# Receipt verified automatically
        

// Agent Perspective

How Agents Pay

When an AI agent encounters a Zero-gated resource, the payment flow is automatic.

Request

Agent calls API or MCP tool

402 Received

Server returns price + address

Auto-Pay

SDK checks spending limit, sends Z

Access

Receipt attached, content returned

AGENT SDK (AUTO-PAY)

from zero_sdk import Wallet, x402_fetch

w = Wallet.from_env()

# Automatically handles 402 -> pay -> retry
result = await x402_fetch(
    "https://api.example.com/data",
    wallet=w,
    max_price=25  # spending limit: 0.25 Z
)

# Agent never sees the payment flow
# Just gets the data back
print(result.json())
        

MCP CLIENT (AUTO-PAY)

// Agent discovers tools with prices
const tools = await mcp.listTools();
// -> [{name: "search", zero_price: 2},
//     {name: "run_code", zero_price: 10}]

// Call tool -- payment is automatic
const result = await mcp.callTool(
  "search",
  { query: "latest AI research" },
  { wallet: w, maxPrice: 5 }
);

// 0.02 Z deducted, results returned
// Spending limits enforced per-call
        

// Economics

Network Fees

Transparent, predictable, flat fees. No gas auctions. No priority tips. No surprises.

TRANSFER FEE

0.01 Z

$0.0001 per transaction

Flat fee on every transfer. Same whether you send 0.01 Z or 25 Z. Deducted from sender's balance on top of the transfer amount.

ACCOUNT CREATION

5 Z

$0.05 one-time

Paid once when an account first receives Z. Prevents address-space spam. Deducted from the first incoming transfer. Keypair generation is free.

BRIDGE OUT FEE

0.50 Z

$0.005 per withdrawal

Covers L1/L2 gas costs for releasing stablecoins from the vault contract. Flat fee regardless of withdrawal amount.

BRIDGE IN

Free

$0.00

Depositing stablecoins costs nothing on the Zero side. You pay only the L1/L2 gas for the vault transaction. Full amount minted as Z.

FEE DISTRIBUTION

Recipient	Share	Purpose
Validators	70%	Block production rewards, proportional to stake
Bridge Reserve	15%	Covers gas costs for bridge-out operations
Protocol Reserve	15%	Development, audits, infrastructure

RATE LIMITS

Parameter	Limit
Max per transaction	25 Z ($0.25)
Min transfer	0.01 Z ($0.0001)
Min with fee	0.02 Z ($0.0002)
Rate limit per account	100 tx/s
Dust pruning threshold	<0.10 Z inactive 30 days

WHAT'S FREE

Keypair Generation

Create a wallet offline, no transaction needed

Bridge In

Deposit stablecoins, full amount minted as Z

Balance Lookups

Query any account balance via API or SDK

Transaction History

View transfers, receipts, and account activity

// Validators

Run a Validator

$30/month VPS. 4 cores, 16 GB RAM, 256 GB NVMe. Earn 70% of network fees (proportional to stake).

# Install and run
$ curl -sSf https://install.zzero.net | sh
$ zero-node init --stake-key /path/to/key
$ zero-node run

# That's it. You're validating.
    

Daily Transactions	Fee Pool	Validator Share (70%)	Per Validator (100)
100M	$10,000	$7,000	$70/day
1B	$100,000	$70,000	$700/day
10B	$1,000,000	$700,000	$7,000/day

70% Validators

15% Bridge Reserve

15% Protocol Reserve

Validator Parameters
Min Stake	10,000 Z ($100)
Max Validators	1,024 (ranked by stake)
Trust Score	0-1000 (start 500, +1 timely, -5 miss, -1000 equivocation)
Unbonding Period	7 days
Epoch Ejection	Bottom 5% ejected per epoch
Slashing (Equivocation)	100% stake burned
Slashing (Downtime)	10% stake burned
Slashing (Bad Attestation)	100% stake burned