Horizen

Horizen (ZEN) is a privacy-focused blockchain project that began in 2017 as the proof-of-work coin ZenCash and has since reinvented itself as Horizen 2.0, an EVM-compatible Layer 3 appchain on Base. ZEN is now an ERC-20 token with a Bitcoin-like 21 million maximum supply, used for staking, governance, and ecosystem incentives.

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What Is Horizen?

Horizen (ticker ZEN) is a blockchain project focused on privacy with built-in compliance. After eight years as an independent proof-of-work network, Horizen completed a sweeping transformation known as Horizen 2.0 in 2025: its native ZEN coin migrated to a standard ERC-20 token on Base, Coinbase's Ethereum Layer 2, and the project relaunched as an EVM-native, privacy-first Layer 3 appchain that settles through Base. The goal is "privacy that works for you," meaning confidential transactions and private DeFi that remain auditable enough for businesses and regulators.

Overview - Table of Contents
What Is Horizen?
Getting Started With Horizen
How To Get A Horizen Wallet?
Horizen Resources
How To Buy Horizen?
Latest Horizen News

The project launched in May 2017 as ZenCash, a fork of Zclassic that traced its code lineage back through Zcash to Bitcoin. It was co-founded by Rob Viglione, a former physicist and military officer who was then finishing a PhD in finance, and Rolf Versluis, an electrical engineer and former US Navy nuclear submarine officer. ZenCash was a fair-launch project with no ICO or premine, and it inherited Bitcoin's hard cap of 21 million coins, a limit that survives to this day. In 2018 the project rebranded to Horizen, partly to escape constant confusion with Zcash and partly to reflect ambitions beyond a privacy currency, including a node network and a sidechain platform.

Horizen's history includes one of crypto's most cited security incidents. In June 2018 the network suffered a 51% attack in which a miner with majority hash power double-spent roughly 23,000 ZEN, worth about $550,000 at the time, against an exchange. The team responded by modifying its consensus rules to penalize delayed block reporting, making such attacks far more expensive, and the fix became a widely referenced case study in proof-of-work security. Horizen later built Zendoo, a zero-knowledge sidechain protocol, and launched the EON EVM sidechain in 2023. As exchanges and regulators pressured privacy coins, the project began deprecating its legacy shielded transaction pool in 2023 and removed it completely in a February 2024 hard fork, making the chain fully transparent and repositioning Horizen around optional, auditable privacy rather than anonymity.

Horizen 2.0 completed that pivot. In February 2025 the Horizen DAO voted to abandon the original proof-of-work mainchain entirely and move to Base. On July 23, 2025 ZEN went live on Base as an ERC-20 token, mining ended, and both the legacy UTXO mainchain and the EON sidechain were sunset. Holders on EON were migrated automatically at the same address, while legacy mainchain holders claim their coins 1:1 through an official claim portal with no deadline. In December 2025 the new Horizen mainnet launched as a dedicated rollup on Base, built with Caldera's rollup engine and integrated with LayerZero for cross-chain messaging.

The new network is designed for privacy-enabled applications: confidential balances and transfers, private DeFi strategies, and selective disclosure so that users and businesses can prove compliance without exposing everything on a public ledger. Because the appchain is fully EVM-compatible, developers can deploy ordinary Solidity contracts and tap Base's liquidity and user base while adding zero-knowledge privacy features.

ZEN's maximum supply remains capped at 21 million, with around 18 million in circulation. Since the migration, new issuance is governed by the Horizen DAO rather than mining. ZEN is used for staking, DAO governance voting, and ecosystem incentives, including a five-year, 1 million ZEN developer fund announced in 2025 to seed privacy-first applications on the network.

Getting Started With Horizen

Because ZEN is now an ERC-20 token on Base, getting started looks like using any Ethereum-ecosystem asset:

Step 1: Set up an EVM wallet that supports the Base network, such as MetaMask or Coinbase Wallet.
Step 2: Buy ZEN on an exchange and withdraw it to your wallet on Base, or swap for it on a Base DEX.
Step 3: If you held ZEN on the old proof-of-work mainchain, use the official claim portal at horizen.io to migrate your coins 1:1; there is no claim deadline.
Step 4: Explore the Horizen appchain: stake ZEN through the relaunched staking program, vote in the Horizen DAO, or try privacy-enabled apps built on the network.

How to Get a Horizen Wallet?

ZEN lives on Base as an ERC-20 token, so any wallet that supports Base can hold it. The old ZenCash/Horizen wallets such as Sphere are only needed to claim legacy coins.

MetaMask

MetaMask is the most widely used EVM wallet, available as a browser extension and mobile app. Add the Base network (and optionally the Horizen appchain) to hold ZEN, interact with DEXes, and use Horizen applications.

Coinbase Wallet

Coinbase Wallet is a self-custody wallet with native Base support, which makes it a natural fit for ZEN and the broader Base ecosystem.

Hardware Wallets

A Ledger device can be paired with MetaMask so your private keys stay offline while you transact on Base, which is recommended for larger holdings.

Horizen Resources

How to Buy Horizen?

ZEN has been listed on major exchanges since its ZenCash days, and most converted holders' coins to the new ERC-20 token automatically during the 2025 migration.

Centralized Exchanges

ZEN trades on major exchanges including Binance, Coinbase, Bybit, OKX, and Bitget, typically against USDT or USD. When withdrawing, make sure the exchange sends the new ERC-20 ZEN on the Base network.

Decentralized Exchanges

On Base, ZEN has liquidity on Aerodrome (including ZEN/WETH pools) and Uniswap (ZEN/USDC), so it can be swapped directly from a self-custody wallet.

Latest Horizen News

Horizen's recent story is the completion of its 2.0 transformation. The ZEN token migration to Base finished in July 2025, the legacy proof-of-work chain was retired, and the new privacy-focused Layer 3 mainnet went live on Base in December 2025 with launch partners including Caldera, LayerZero, and Stork. Following DAO approval of ZenIP 42408 in early 2026, ZEN staking relaunched in March 2026 with an initial 50,000 ZEN rewards allocation for the program's first year.

Development now centers on privacy-enabled DeFi and compliance tooling for the new appchain, funded in part by the 1 million ZEN developer program. Because the architecture, staking parameters, and app ecosystem are evolving quickly after the migration, the official website, documentation, and DAO forum are the best sources for the current state of the network.