1) What is Boundless?
• Positioning: Provide verifiable computation for various chains/applications. Simply put: complex computations are completed off-chain first, then verified on-chain using ZK proofs, saving gas and speeding up the process.
• Operating method: There is a decentralized proof market (Boundless Market), where developers place orders for 'ZK proofs of certain computations'. Any prover can take the order to generate proofs and earn $ZKC based on workload and quality. The incentive mechanism is called PoVW (Proof of Verifiable Work).
• Why not L2: Traditional L2 (Optimistic/zkRollup) is 'moving a chain to the second layer'; Boundless is 'outsourcing ZK computing power to all chains', more like 'a ZK accelerator/proof layer callable by all chains', not a separate second-layer network.
2) Who is doing this? What is the background?
• Team: Originating from RISC Zero (the team making RISC-V zkVM). Their blog and documentation have long been focused on 'general ZK proof layer', and Boundless is the productization/decentralization of years of Bonsai remote proof service experience.
• Official channels: Boundless official website and X (Twitter) announced in September that the mainnet is ready and emphasized PoVW and general ZK computation positioning.
3) Latest updates and exchange situation
• Binance launch & HODLer airdrop: Binance's announcement clearly states that this HODLer airdrop is for $ZKC, based on historical snapshots of eligible BNB holdings, no need to claim, directly sent to the spot wallet; at the same time, multiple trading pairs will be opened on September 15 at 14:00 (UTC).
• Upbit Launch: Upbit announced support for KRW/BTC/USDT in three trading markets, with deposits/trading starting on the evening of September 15.
• Mainnet launch: Multiple media outlets and official social media disclosed the launch of the Boundless mainnet simultaneously, aiming to 'make blockchain horizontally scalable like the internet'. (The mainnet operates in the Base ecosystem, as reported by multiple media outlets.)
4) $ZKC Token: Key points on use, supply, and airdrop
Use (Utility)
• Incentives for provers: Under the PoVW mechanism, generating valid proofs can earn $ZKC rewards.
• Governance and staking: Participating in Boundless DAO requires staking $ZKC to gain voting rights; the official approach is 'time-weighted/locked' governance.
Supply and inflation (Tokenomics)
• Genesis supply: 1,000,000,000 tokens (1 billion).
• Cap: Unlimited (inflation model). Year 1 inflation is 7%, gradually declining, stabilizing at 3% per year from year 8.
• Circulation at the time of Binance launch: Approximately 200,937,056 tokens (approximately 20.09% of the genesis).
• HODLer Airdrop: 15,000,000 tokens (accounting for 1.5% of the genesis). The above details can be found in the Binance announcement/interpretation page.
Airdrop tips for beginners (HODLer)
• As long as you hold BNB within the snapshot period specified by Binance (including some financial products), and meet the rules, you will automatically receive the airdrop to your spot wallet; no need for manual claiming.
5) What can it do? Examples of real-world scenarios
• Expansion and cost reduction: Move complex calculations off-chain, with provers generating proofs and quickly verifying them on-chain, significantly reducing on-chain recomputation and Gas (for example, for settling/penalty calculation proofs in scenarios like EigenLayer).
• Cross-chain/bridges and privacy: Any chain and application can 'borrow' ZK proof capabilities for cross-chain verification, privacy computing, L2 state proofs, etc. Official documentation and tutorials provide quick integration paradigms and Foundry templates.
6) Differences from traditional Layer 2 (simple comparison)
7) How to participate (from easy to difficult)
1. Exchange trading: Binance/Upbit are now live and can be traded directly.
2. Governance staking: Stake $ZKC in Boundless DAO to participate in governance (proposals/voting rights are proportional to staking amount and duration).
3. Becoming a prover 'mining': Prepare GPU/CPU, run Boundless prover software, and compete for rewards through PoVW; this is 'doing real useful ZK proofs with computing power' rather than traditional PoW. Beginners can refer to the official quick start and development documentation.
8) Risks and precautions (must read)
• Inflation model: ZKC has no hard cap, initial inflation is 7% per year, long-term 3% per year, requiring real usage demand to hedge dilution.
• Listing volatility: The mainnet launch and airdrop synchronized to bring supply release, media reported significant pullbacks after listing, with high short-term volatility.
• Early stage of the network: The degree of decentralization of provers, task volume, and market pricing of fees are still evolving; there are many competitors in the same track (various ZK/proof networks). The performance of such 'infrastructure tokens' highly depends on the real adoption by developers.
9) Summary (3 sentences)
• Boundless provides 'ZK proof computing power for all chains', not L2.
• $ZKC is used to incentivize computing nodes & governance, with a genesis supply of 1 billion, 7% inflation in the first year, dropping to 3% long-term.
• Already listed on Binance/Upbit, BNB HODLer airdrops are automatically distributed to spot wallets, no need to grab or claim.
👉 #Boundless $ZKC #ZKProof #ZKVM #Web3 #DeFi
