Understanding Zebec Protocol (ZBC)

Introduction

In the era of Web3 and DAOs, users need an automatic, programmable, and instant payment protocol for activities like real-time salary payments, airdrop distributions, instant token disbursement to investors, and real-time dividends to NFT holders. Real-time funds help enhance efficiency, hence the emergence of the streaming payment sector. This sector aims to address the issue of delayed exchange of funds and goods in certain transactions. In 2019, Paul Razvan Berg first implemented streaming payment technology through Ethereum smart contracts, namely the Salier Protocol.

Blockchain technology enables streaming payments through smart contracts and currency programming. The ‘stream’ represents a directional relationship between the sender’s and receiver’s accounts. What is actually transferred in the stream is not real funds, but a ‘stream’ balance. The tokens are stored in the protocol’s smart contracts, and the stream balance defines the amount owned by the sender or receiver at any given time.

Streaming payments are not just a tool but an infrastructure. Developers can build various DApps using it, applying them in DeFi, NFTs, DAOs, and other areas. Currently, applications in the streaming payment sector are limited. Zebec Protocol, deployed on the Solana chain, offers multisig management and streaming payment functionalities and raised $28 million in a Series A funding round in February 2022. This article will detail the product features, token model, and development status of Zebec Protocol.

Overview of Zebec Protocol

Founded in August 2021, Zebec Protocol is a multisig and streaming payment protocol on the Solana chain. It announced an expansion to the BNB chain in September 2022. To date, the project has gone through three rounds of funding, securing a $22 million Series A round led by Solana Venture in February 2022.

During its launch period, Zebec Protocol completed exchange listings, AMAs, and actively sought collaborations with payment giants like Visa, attracting some capital interest. In the second half of 2022, the project initiated a node NFT sale, and the Zebec Foundation launched a $10 million incentive fund, offering 50%-250% annual returns to anyone purchasing Zepoch nodes.

Product Features

The functionality of streaming payments is relatively simple. Essentially, it involves depositing money into a third-party escrow account for immediate settlement until the funds are depleted or the user stops it manually. Zebec Protocol, a multisig asset management and streaming payment protocol on Solana, is straightforward in its product offerings. Its Card feature is planned but not yet launched. The official website mainly provides features like cryptocurrency to fiat conversion, multisig asset management, and streaming payments.

Multisig Asset Management

According to Zebec Protocol’s Github repository, the multisig feature allows multiple signatures to manage content that a regular Pubkey can manage. It can be used for BPF program upgrade permissions, provided a multisig account is created, specifying two important parameters of a Solana transaction: owner addresses (a group of addresses that sign transactions) and a threshold (the number of signatures required to execute a transaction).

Creating a multisig wallet on Zebec Protocol involves three steps: naming the new multisig wallet, adding multisig holders and confirming the number of signatories required, and confirming the multisig information to create the wallet.

Source: https://app.zebec.io/safe/create

As indicated on Github, Zebec Protocol’s multisig code has not been audited, posing certain security risks.

Streaming Payment Function

Before using the streaming payment function, users must deposit a certain amount of tokens and then fill in the transfer name, label, recipient’s wallet, total duration of the token transfer, and the total amount of tokens.

Source: https://app.zebec.io/send

Data Dashboard Display

Zebec Protocol offers a data dashboard feature that allows users to view incoming and outgoing funds, as well as ongoing transaction activities.

Source: https://app.zebec.io/

Token Model

Zebec Protocol’s native token is ZBC, with a total supply of 10 billion. It’s primarily used for staking, governance, and incentives. The officials also mentioned a buyback and burn mechanism for the ZBC token. According to the token distribution plan released by the officials, the allocation is as follows: 50% for community and rewards; 20% for the team and advisors; 10.97% for private fundraising; 5.74% for public fundraising; 4% for liquidity incentives.

The total supply of ZBC tokens is substantial. Current token distribution addresses indicate a total of 9,684 holders, with the top ten holding 89.26% of all ZBC, indicating a high concentration of token ownership.

Source: https://solscan.io/token/zebeczgi5fSEtbpfQKVZKCJ3WgYXxjkMUkNNx7fLKAF#holders

Development Status

As per the official website, Zebec Protocol’s total locked value has reached 100 million USD, with about 37,000 flow accounts.

Source: https://zebec.io/

The multi-signature functionality model of Zebec Protocol is similar to Safe multi-sign wallets on the EVM chain. However, the Github page shows that the code has not undergone an audit, posing certain security risks. In essence, flow payments are not significantly different from third-party custodial accounts and their practical utility is yet to be clearly demonstrated. Therefore, it remains a niche market with limited overall business volume. Zebec Protocol’s current business data performance is mediocre, dependent on the development of the underlying Solana blockchain. The team has proposed ideas like cross-chain BNB and modular L3 to break through these limitations.

Conclusion

The functionality of flow payment tracks is relatively simple, essentially equating to depositing funds into a third-party custodial account for real-time settlement. In terms of product features, Zebec Protocol is not significantly different from the well-known multi-signature products like Safe on the EVM chain. However, Zebec’s multi-signature functionality has not undergone code auditing, presenting certain security risks. The flow payment track has not yet attracted a significant user base with direct demand, remaining a niche market. The development of Zebec Protocol still relies on the underlying public blockchain, Solana, and lacks distinct advantages in product functionality, posing challenges for future development.