HappyBlock AMA #3— Zenlink Network

7 min readAug 9, 2021

The third AMA of HappyBlock social platform product “HappyBlock Forum” went live. On August 6, Guo Tao, the head of the Polkadot ecological project Zenlink in China was joining the AMA.

On behalf of Zenlink, Guo Tao gave a detailed introduction to the Zenlink project operation mechanism, project products, core team, Polkadot ecosystem, and parachain slot auctions to users in China and abroad on the HappyBlock forum. Guo Tao also introduced Zenlink’s recent and future project plans to platform users. The following is the core content of the AMA.

Project Introduction

Zenlink is the first underlying protocol in the Polkadot ecology that was born specifically for cross-chain DEX.It can helps all parachains realize global liquidity sharing while realizing cross-chain transactions and allow users to safely exchange any assets between different parachains. Through this protocol Zenlink will build a multi-chain DEX hub of the Polkadot ecology under Web3.0, which can build the entire DEX network.

Zenlink DEX consists of two core parts: The first is Zenlink DEX Module, this Module can be deployed on the parachain by plugging and unplugging immediately to achieve “one-click DEX”. The second is the cross-chain DEX protocol based on XCMP, which can open up the liquidity of all parachains while realizing cross-chain transaction functions, So users don’t need to care about which parallel chain they are doing DEX transactions on.

For developers or parachains, it is possible to quickly realize the DEX function by integrating the Zenlink DEX Module without repeated development; Other DEXs can also be aggregated to the Zenlink DEX network with one click by calling the interface and shared liquidity. For the users, First, they can enjoy a trading network with low miner fees, low latency, and low slippage. Secondly, users of different parachains can complete cross-chain transactions without perception.

So far Zenlink have delivered three Web3 Grants, at the same time, Zenlink are also actively cooperating with Polkadot’s high-quality project parties. So far, Zenlink have established strategic cooperation with Plasm, Chainlink, Bifrost, Phala, ChainX, Darwin, etc.

The Zenlink team is currently mainly distributed in China and Singapore, and has many years of experience in the blockchain industry. The core members are from imToken and are also early supporters of Polkadot. The team is currently expanding members from the United States, Australia, and Europe, building an international team, and expanding the influence of overseas communities.

Product Progress

Zenlink DEX Protocol mainly includes “ Plug and unplug in time” DEX modules which can Promote the integration of various parachains. The development of EVM, WASM, and Module has been completed so far, at the same time, Zenlink have also completed the development of protocols for cross-chain transactions and liquidity sharing.

As for DApp, Zenlink conducted the first public test in May, and more than 30,000 independent devices participated in that test. Now they have a lot of optimization, and some related content was added, including smart routing orders, transaction charts, mining and other related content. Currently, development and internal testing have also been completed. The second public beta will be launched soon, the specific launch time is expected to be in this quarter, but it also depends on the progress of integrating Zenlink’s parachains, including Moonbeam, Plasm, and Bifrost. At that time, Zenlink will have a series of activities online.

Zenlink are not a parachain project, nor do Zenlink shoot slots. However, Zenlink will launch a machine gun pool project-Zenlink SlotVault, which serves the Polkadot ecological slot auction service “PLO is mining”. Currently, Zenlink SlotVault is also deeply integrated with the Bifrost slot auction derivative solution SALP to provide the first liquid derivatives mining product for slot auctions. At that time, users who stake KSM/DOT on Zenlink SlotVault DApp to participate in the crowd loan not only can get a variety of benefits including parachain tokens, they can also release the liquidity of the KSM/DOT locked in bidding. Zenlink provides users with the largest crowd-loan revenue. In subsequent slot auctions, Zenlink SlotVault can be used to maximize crowd-lending revenue.

Product

Zenlink think that for users, good transaction price, depth, speed, and asset types are the most important. So Zenlink have made a lot of optimizations in these areas.

Transaction price and depth: The current Polkadot ecological head projects have established cooperation with Zenlink, Users of different projects can inject liquidity with one click through Zenlink. The liquidity on each chain is interoperable, it has better TVL and depth than a single parachain DEX, and it lowers the threshold for users to trade assets on different parallel chains. Moreover, Zenlink’s aggregator can also aggregate liquidity on parachains that are not integrated with Zenlink DEX. And discover the best prices on different parachains through intelligent routing of orders.

In terms of security, security has always been the most important part of the Zenlink team. In terms of safety awareness, Zenlink has safety-related assessments and OKR goals every quarter. In terms of code security, Zenlink believes that code auditing is a basic and very important part. Project products will also cooperate with industry-leading security auditing companies before they are officially launched. The internal development process and quality requirements of the team are also important. In terms of account authority management, Zenlink will strictly control the account authority management involved in asset-related and inter-protocol calls.

Economic Model

Zenlink’s project token is $ZLK, with a total of 100 million, using a deflationary destruction mechanism, so the actual total will be less than 100 million. It is hoped that ZLK can truly capture the value of participants in the entire network. The Zenlink economic model has been designed and will be specifically announced recently. It will encourage the entire product participating roles, including holders, traders, liquidity providers, parachain project parties, developers, etc. There are greater incentives for ZLK holders, and it also includes basic mechanisms such as liquidity mining, pledge mining, and transaction mining.

Zenlink DAO

Zenlink DAO will also gradually complete decentralization, so far Zenlink have completed the first phase of the selection of DAO members. Mainly the community KOLs and media who helped Zenlink more in the past year.

At present, Zenlink mainly develop DAO governance through proposals. For example, if members have good ideas, they will ask to submit corresponding proposals. Then other members vote, if it pass, it will be executed, and the quality of the work will be evaluated based on the execution effect. In order for NFT to better serve the community. Zenlink have carried out corresponding explorations, combining NFT with the community and DAO. Everyone who wants to participate in Zenlink DAO can obtain the corresponding NFT through the community workload proof and become a member of the community. Zenlink will greatly give NFT community attributes and economic value attributes. Zenlink will determine the future stay and the number of airdrops based on the evaluation of the members’ work.

Planning

First of all, Zenlink are a DEX protocol, not a parachain project, So Zenlink will pay attention to the cooperation with Parachain. Only by deploying on parachains can DEX be truly used by users, their economic model will fully consider parachains and users. For example, Zenlink’s transaction fees will incentivize parachains based on the proportion of transactions on each parachain. Zenlink will also consider cooperating with Parachain when they are launching a new feature, for example, their SlotVault for slot auctions will cooperate with Bifrost.

Secondly, in the development of DEX, Zenlink will develop in the direction of DEX composability. The business of different parachains is different, DEX is a basic function, It can be combined with the characteristics of parachains to build different types of DEX, Zenlink will develop this area in cooperation with the project party or advance it through the developer plan.

Zenlink have a close relationship with other Polkadot projects. Currently, Zenlink have established a cooperative relationship with 11 projects including Plasm, Bifrost, ChainX, Phala, Chainlink, Bondly, Mathchain, etc. Three of them have already obtained slots and the integration of Zenlink DEX is in progress. Zenlink believe they will be online soon. After they are online, Zenlink will also have some joint activities with Bifrost and Plasm, at that time, users can experience Zenlink DEX and participate in mining.

Parachain Auction

Parachain slot auction signifies the beginning of the launch of Polkadot’s ecological project products. It is a big event for the ecological project party, Polkadot official, and Polkadot community.

For the project party, each project can share the security of Polkadot’s main network by connecting to the parachain, and the product can also be officially launched and interact with the entire Polkadot ecological project. This is definitely a milestone. Projects that can win slots will gain a certain first-mover advantage or community attention, which is also vital to the development of the project itself.

To community users: the slot auction should be considered Polkadot’s first DeFi product, and it is the most native Polkadot application. Everyone’s DOT/KSM can finally leave the exchange or wallet to participate in the mining activity. However, there are many projects in Polkadot. Users need to do their own market research and decide which ones are worth participating in.

More Project Details

Entire AMA: https://happyblocklabs.com/p/f/t/zen_ama

Zenlink Web: https://zenlink.pro/

Zenlink Twitter: https://twitter.com/ZenlinkPro

Zenlink TG: https://t.me/ZenlinkPro_EN

Zenlink WeChat Official Account: zenlink-pro